Bluetooth or IR Keyboard and Battery Life

[mozambique]

I am wondering if any of you have an opinion on how much differently the battery life of the TX will be affected by using a BT vs IR keyboard. I am about to buy my first keyboard and can't decide which route to go. Any opinions.


Who uses which and why. Any favorites out there. I am considering Think Outside.

Thanks

[Papageoff]

I use a PalmOne? Universal Wireless Ir Keyboard with my T5. It has very little affect on the battery life. There is some, to be sure. But, nothing to worry much about. It also has a 5 row design(like full size KB) which I see as manditory. I don't think the T.O. keyboard has that.

Anyway, I like my POUWK. And I will leave it to someone else to comment on the battery life in the new device.

[mozambique]

Thanks for the insight. I have looked at the Palm keyboard just for its five rows and if I go with an IR it very well may be the Palm Universal.

Is there anyone out there who has experience with both a BT and an IR keyboard. Battery life is important to me but so is pocketability. I what to know just how much extra battery life I will save by using an IR vs BT keyboard.

There are bound to be others that want to know this too.

Thanks again.

[mozambique]

You guys all seem to have so much knowledge and many of you have become so connected with your PDA. I find my Palm almost indespensible. Whether it is watching a movie with my son on a long trip, keeping the day straight, reading the news, writing email replys or shopping with the list my wife beamed me ( I think I have finally converted her).

Surely you have a few opinions about battery life with the use of an external keyboard and how BT will differ from IR.

I can really use your advice and help.

[Jonavin]

I remember reading in another thread that the IR uses less battery than BT. I'm also interested in knowing the truth. I like the BT keyboard just because I don't have to worry about aligning the IR port and I can flip it landscape/portrait.

[n1ck]

I can give you my experiences with both IR and Bluetooth. I have the Palm Universal Keyboard (IR). Ive been known to use it at times up to 45 minutes in one sitting. I saw next to nothing for battery loss on my T5 from operating it. Also I saw nothing for battery loss on the Keyboard.

I was setting up bluetooth networking for my T5 and the 45 minutes of playing around with settings to get it to work, it sucked up 25% of my battery life while bluetooth was turned on.

I can't imagine how much battery life a Bluetooth keyboard could have. It probably doesnt even last 1/4 of the time from an IR version.

This is my experience. Your mileage may vary.

[mozambique]

Has anyone else noticed more significant battery drain due to using a BT keyboard or almost no battery drain with an IR keyboard?

I am also wondering what you guys think about the longevity of IR. Is it about to become the floppy disk of the PDA and be replaced by BT? Who wants to buy a IR keyboard if their next PDA wont have IR?

Thanks again

[rpankratz]

If have all three keyboards... Palm version of the 4 row Thinkoutside IR KB, the Thinkoutside BT keyboards, and the Palm 5 row universal. The power drain efficiency is as follows:

Most efficient: Palm 5 row IR
Middle efficient: Palm 4 row IR
Least efficient: TO 4 row BT

I use the keyboard extensively; I have not carried a laptop in a long time using the palm instead. I have been doing this with a T3, a T5, a HX2755 PPC, an HX4700 PPC, and the TX. (note 4row IR didn't work with the PPCs).

The performance is the same for all of these PDA with the keyboard. I have concluded it is the drivers that make the difference.

The BT/4row IR driver will interfere with FITALY sliding, and will make programs like Life Balance run slow due to the way they latch into the cpu interrupt cycle. The 5row IR Universal driver does not have that problem. The 5row IR last longer on it's own batteries as well.

The BT keyboard's major advantage is that it can wake up a sleeping palm; the IR's can't do that; you have to power on the PDA first. This is why the BT keyboard drains faster the palm continues to sweep the air for it.

I can't remember if the TX is BT 1.2 or not; but if it's only 1.1 then you won't be able to use a BT phone connection to the internet via a phone and a keyboard at the same time.

Any how that's what I know.....

The 5row IR is the one I carry; the 4row is in a drawer cause nobody on ebay wants that one; and the BT 4row was sold by me this week on ebay....

YMMV.

[oz-nom]

I use the Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard (PUWK). No noticable effect on my T5's battery, and the batteries in the keyboard last for months (I haven't had to replace them yet). Like rpakrantz, I use keyboard & PDA instead of a notebook.

Positives: Handheld can rest in portrait, "left" landscape or "right" landscape mode (the original Palm wireless only allowed one landscape orientation). 5 rows of keys is great. Size when folded is excellent (will easily fit in jacket pocket) yet still near full size when open. Very responsive keys. Also (for me) acts as a pseudo "dock" (photos are posted by me somewhere on 1src, but I can't remember which thread. Sorry).

Negatives: I'm on my 3rd PUWK. First 2 either some or all of the keys began to fail. Palm, to their credit, replaced both rapidly & without fuss. Occasionally (very rarely) current keyboard won't respond, especially if on but unsed for a long time. When this happens, I simply switch both keyboard and handheld off & on to restablish IR response.

Overall, I highly recommend the PUWK.

Cheers,
Tim

[mozambique]

Now that was seriously helpful. It sparks a few questions.

Can you tell me a few more things? How much larger is the Palmone keyboard than the Think Outside? I am a bit size conscious. A more packable keyboard might suit my style more. Could you describe the size difference? Is it at all significant?

Do you ever have lags from the IR keeping up with your typing speed? I figured the BT might keep up better.

Do you ever need to type on less than perfect surfaces. I was told that the TO locks securly into place which will allow me to type on my lap when needed. Does the Palm one do the same?

Do you ever have problems with the IR misaligning itself ? rpankratz, can all 3 be used to type in landscape mode? I definitely want to be able to type in landscape mode. For me this would be one of the major advantages of a keyboard.

Thank you all for your insight.

Sorry if anyone was offended that I posted this in here. I have just been following this forum the most and wanted all of your opinions.

[mozambique]

Anyone who found themelves wondering some of these same questions, check out these pictures of the Palm Universal Keyboard (http://www.palmfocus.com/view.php?choice=palmukbpics). Also you should go read this post (http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72398). Lance does an excelent job teaching us all alittle more about keyboards.

[oz-nom]

Now that was seriously helpful. It sparks a few questions.

Can you tell me a few more things? How much larger is the Palmone keyboard than the Think Outside? I am a bit size conscious. A more packable keyboard might suit my style more. Could you describe the size difference? Is it at all significant?
I can't compare to ThinkOutside, but here's the dimensions (folded): 135mm (~ 5.3") x 98mm (~3.75") x 17mm (~0.6").

Do you ever have lags from the IR keeping up with your typing speed? I figured the BT might keep up better.
No lag.

Do you ever need to type on less than perfect surfaces. I was told that the TO locks securly into place which will allow me to type on my lap when needed. Does the Palm one do the same?
Occasionally type on my lap or other "odd" surface. It locks into position and, while not ideal, it works fine.

Do you ever have problems with the IR misaligning itself ? rpankratz, can all 3 be used to type in landscape mode? I definitely want to be able to type in landscape mode. For me this would be one of the major advantages of a keyboard.
Never had problems with misaligning IR. In fact, I don't even move the IR wand out of the "lock" position as it is almost perfectly aligned for landscape use. I assume that the IR port is in the same position on the TX, so same should apply.

Thank you all for your insight.

Sorry if anyone was offended that I posted this in here. I have just been following this forum the most and wanted all of your opinions.

No offence taken.
Cheers,
Tim
PS Apart from Lance's excellent review & posts, more info on keyboards can be found in this thread (http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70053&page=1&pp=20)