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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Easy to use, makes a palm a laptop
This product made my palm top as easy to use as a mini laptop. Paired with software that synced with my desktop word processor, I was able to easily take notes at meetings (having an almost full sized keyboard) and able to modify calendar entries etc with ease. Prior to having the keyboard, I would usually take paper notes with the hope I would remember to put them on my desktop when I was home and later sync with the palm. It makes the palm much more useful. Well worth the price
Rating: 
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Very Disappointed
This product's description was not clear as to exactly which phones would work with the software. After purchasing it and loading the software onto my Cingular 8125 Pocket PC phone, the keyboard would not work.
I called the company and they said it is not compatible with my phone. But this is not the end on this dilemma. When I properly tried to remove the software from my phone, it would NOT uninstall. And now, every time I turn on my phone, the software is activated and I have to turn it off. This is a major nuisance!
Even though I wasted my money, I actually would not have been upset if the program would have properly uninstalled from my phone.
- Robert S. Nahas, WriterServices.net / BestSellingAuthor.com
Rating: -
Perfect addition to my PDA
I absolutely love the wireless keyboard. It is the best investment I've made in awhile. I take it with me everywhere and it comes in handy. I don't have to play around with the little stylus anymore and I love it.
I can type a letter, update my contact list, and send email with ease. The only problem I had was the size of the keys on the keyboard. The numbers are not exactly where a normal size keyboard dwould be. With a little patience I worked it out.
Rating: -
Won't work with Dell Axim X30 -- and customer service was hopeless
I so wanted this to work.
However, despite it being listed as compatible with the Dell Axim X30 Pocket PC, apparently it is not. The problem is that as soon as you start to type it turns off the backlight on the Dell so you cannot see the screen.
So I contacted technical support. Who were quick to get back to me during each of our many email rounds. But the first techie to write me back told me, Thank you for writing. Sorry, the keyboard is not compatible with Dell Axim X30.
What? I asked. It says that it IS on your compatibility chart.
Oh sorry, the tech person wrote back next. It is only compatible with Dell Axim X30 when running the Palm Operating System, not Windows Mobile, as you are.
What? I asked. Dell Axims CAN'T run the Palm Operating system. They run Windows Mobile. And besides, your chart shows that it IS compatible with my version of Windows Mobile.
Oh, sorry, the tech person wrote to me next. The backlight problem is with your Dell. You need to contact Dell's tech support.
No, it's not, I said. It's with your driver. The driver for the Think Outside Stowaway keyboard doesn't cause this problem. In fact, it turns on the backlight any time you click a key (if the power management settings have already turned it off).
At that point I asked if there was someone on the tech support staff who actually knew what a Dell Axim Pocket PC is and might be able to help me. And I got transferred to someone quite a bit more knowlegeable. But he, too, was unable to get this keyboard and software working with my Dell Axim X30.
Too bad. It's the only full-laptop-size keyboard I've found in this price range with five rows of keys (including a top row for numbers/punctuation -- which my Stowaway keyboard does not have and which drives me crazy while trying to take notes at 160 words per minute) and, bonus, the Targus has a built in mouse-pointer device.
The mouse-pointer device DOES move the cursor around. A bit awkwardly. And moving the cursor does NOT turn off the backlight. Just tapping on a key does.
Three drawbacks I discovered right away with the Targus that were going to trouble me if I had gotten it working, but that I hoped I could adjust to pretty quickly:
1. The space bar is especially small, narrow and has a wide split in the middle (where the keyboard folds) which seems to be where my thumb seems to naturally land most of the time. So you think you've put a space between words and have not. Odd. The Stowaway keyboard's spacebar also has a split at the fold, but the spacebar is larger and wider and the split in the spacebar is narrower and so I never seem to miss the bar when hitting it.
2. The little pointer device on the Targus is placed to the bottom right side of the keyboard, instead of bottom center like on laptops, so you have to take your right hand off the keys to work it. And its ability to move the cursor is pretty limited -- not at all as precise as we're used to. But still, not having to pick up the stylus and tap the screen is a vast improvement in Pocket PC/PDA keyboard technology.
3. The on-off switch for the button-battery-powered keyboard is like the one that turns your car's domelight on and off when you open and close the door. The only way to shut off the battery power for the Targus keyboard is to fold it up and lock it. I like to leave my keyboard open, set up, with my Dell sitting on it in landscape mode, like a mini laptop, ready to use at any second. The Dell turns on instantly, unlike my laptop which takes two minutes to load XP and all my programs. So the Dell Axim is perfect for instant, quick note-taking all day long -- besides fitting nicely in a jacket pocket or tiny bag when on the run. The Targus can't be left set up or you'll drain the batteries. If I hadn't had the backlight problem, I was going to solve that by finding a tiny nickel-diameter-size lead weight to set atop the on-off button for when I wanted to turn it off.
Well. I guess I'm shipping the Targus back. I've spent seven days back and forth with Tech Support and several hours trying to get it to work.
I came to Amazon, hoping there would be dozens of reviews and someone would have solved the Dell Axim backlight problem but.... looks like I'm the first person to report anything about this almost-cool little keyboard.
I think that if it had worked for me, I would have given it three or four stars.
Guess I'm going to have to spring for the newer model of my Think Outside Stowaway keyboard. I got mine in '05. Since then (undoubtedly due to feedback) they've added the numbers/punctuation row. And, I'll buy the bluetooth or infra-red mouse, too.
But by the time I've done that, I will have spent three times what this Targus retails for. And, fact is, you can find the Targus if you search, for about $20. What you get for that price, is a fully warranteed open-box return that Best Buy unloaded on the surplus market. I suspect a LOT of people couldn't get these to work with their Pocket PCs.
Incidentally, the driver software DOES have a menu that should let you turn on the backlight. But it was grayed out and inaccessible on my Dell.
Hope you have better luck than I did.
Rating: -
Targus PA870u
I have had this item for about a year. I got it for my Dell Axim 5. I really like the full size keyboard. It took no time at all getting used to it. Very easy to set up. Like the fact that you have a mouse option. Only negative is that you get some play where the keyboard is hinged when on an uneven surface. This flaw is hardly worth dwelling over this is a good buy. Researched alot of keyboards happy with purchase.
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Suunto has just added to its range of GPS watches with the new X10, but this gizmo doesn't just do navigation and time-telling. It's also got an altimeter function, barometer, digital compass and thermometer: Exactly the sort of equipment any self-respecting real tomb raider would find darn useful. Even better, the X10 has improved GPS reception for tracking in difficult locations, like under heavy foliage in the rainforest, a track-back function so you can retrace your steps if you're lost, and 33% more battery life than the previous X9i generation. It also records waypoints, so you can pinpoint where that ancient undiscovered ruined temple really was, and charges/connects over USB. Available in two colours in September, though there's no info on price. [Navigadget]