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Targus Universal IR keyboard
A modest review by a modest man
I LOVE THIS THING! wow! I wanted a keyboard but all seemed too expensive...then I found out I could get this for $60 from compusa. So this morning, I went and got it. Its great! It has a mouse emulator pad, it reminds me of the pad on the Axim, but it moves a mouse cursor. Very handy since with my Mugen 2k mAh battery, tapping the screen can lead to the thing falling off if I dont hold it in place (normal battery doesnt have this problem). Typing is fast and responsive. I tried playing a game and for some reason, Morphgear is laggy no matter WHAT controller I use, and only suppots it seems 2 simultanous buttons (on any input I try), so in that aspect, it performed as well as the hardware buttons. It feels solid, types nicely.
I only have two complaints. One, the driver software is crap. The app to enable it is SLOW. It's like they tried to display random visual effects with some weird API that doesn't show up right. Also you have to have the app open while you use the keyboard; if you have the keyboard enabled, then try to force close it, it causes problems for the OS (mainly, you use the X button on the top right). It's only 80k installed and probabily less running, but thats annoying. It also auto-starts up every time you turn on the PDA, unless you have the app running. Also the included driver DOES NOT work with an X3 or X30, so you have to download the new one; not a big deal, always a good idea anyway. My other complaint is that it uses button battery; replacing them is going to be an expensive, hard-to-find pain. I obviously don't know about battery life yet.
Overall I'd say, if you want a cheap but good IR keyboard, go for this one. The universal compatibility (pending on driver releases) is a decent amount of peace of mind, that your $60 investment won't turn into a paperweight if you change PDA.
Rating: 8/10 Axims
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