Video: Apple's iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard get together, have a good ole time
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 22nd 2009 7:50PM
posted Feb 22nd 2009 7:50PM
[Thanks, Ralf]
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Awesome?
If carrying a Bluetooth keyboard around with you is awesome, then yes.
Funny thing is...
I don't want to carry a keyboard around.
:D
No, but the potential is awesome.
The more hackery we get done with bluetooth, the closer we get to car compatibility, A2DP, Bluetooth speakers, etc etc etc.
Sure, this isn't practical, but it marks a step in giving the iPhone functionality it should have had from day one! Keep hacking!
A mate of mine used to carry a foldable bluetooth keyboard. It was a bit bigger than a pda but a lot of nicer for typing.
It would be daft to carry a regular keyboard but there are several quite small keyboards.
Heres a video of Nokia one
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=SU-8W&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ei=gfyhSbG5JoLJ-AaJ_IG4Dg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=7&ct=title#
iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard is another candidate for carrying around
For text messaging a phones keyboard is enough but for long emails a keyboard is a must if you care about your thumbs
actually, QUITE AWESOME!!!
call me crazy but I do carry my bluetooth keyboard with me in my backpack. I can use it with my windows mobile phone and it's pretty dang nice. My teachers will let me take notes with it, makes my life easier, and saves paper. :D Plus I can get more work done without the weight of a laptop.
I'd love an iPhone if I can get this and word (or better note syncing) on there!
@Darren
If there's any full-sized keyboard you're going to carry around with you, the aluminum Apple wireless is the one. It'll fit in your back pocket.
@phoomp
so will a sony p series!
Small keyboard and a smartphone is great for school..
Yeah wow, bunch of attention crazy kids with sony ericssons and nokias pulling their iphone wielding mommy's t-shirt, screaming on top of their lungs what their mommy couldn't do.
Seriously, why would you want to "unportable" the portable with a huge keyboard?
You want to do some work? USE A LAPTOP.
You want to do some work on the go, but does not have a laptop? GO TO A CYBER CAFE.
the iphone is not designed for work, you knew it, i knew it? STOP HARPING OUT THE THINGS ITS NOT MEND TO DO.
geez, how low have people got to.
Who cares about having to drag it around. Can you imagine how nice it would be to take notes in class with it. It would be awesome if there was a little foldable bluetooth keyboard with a dock and a iPhone friendly MSWord!
I think that's pretty cool.
Which, of course, begs the question: how come Apple fans can do what Apple's engineers can't?
Hmm?
"Which, of course, begs the question: how come Apple fans can do what Apple's engineers can't?"
My guess is this is crippled intentionally because of the AT&T deal. Apple stopped the program that made iPhone a connection point for computer for the AT&T deal. If they allowed BT keyboard connection somebody could make a driver for PC that typed webpage addresses to iPhone, saved them to phone and read them through BT connection. Easy cheap hack to use unlimited dataconnection plan.
Now ill wait for apple fanboys to flame me claiming its a good thing that it's crippled. :)
This is cool because I've got REALLY FUCKING BIG POCKETS
/ugh
@ LEO
Are you a raver?
Rockin Jincos?
You mean it doesn't do this out of the box? The iPhone really does fail, even my Sony Ericsson can do that.
That's the only thing your old Sony Ericsson can do.
wtf?
My microwave can microwave stuff, you phone can't do that? fails.
If apple made a microwave, it would suck so hard it wouldn't even have a MIDI in port as in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYth8AVP1tw
but yeah, so someone made a bluetooth keyboard driver thing for the iphone, so what?
its a new breakthrough in smartphone tech an inovation that will change the way you and use smartapples for ever
fail
The only time Apple doesn't make something that doesn't suck is when they make a vacuum cleaner.
wouldn't the vacuum cleaner actually, you know, suck?
@Eric
Read the sentence again, carefully. Translation:
Made by Apple = suck
unless it's a vacuum cleaner
=> Apple vacuun cleaner doesn't suck
=> Apple sucks anyway.
An Apple Vacuum Cleaner would Blow surely?
This is just so sad. My discontinued Nokia E61 does this with a free driver download from Nokia's site. But hey, at least the iPhone is shiny!
That's exactly why they discontinued the N61. Because it was such a wonderful handset in the world of ancient handsets in 2006. They must have sold at least 10,000 of those clunkers before relegating them to the Nokia landfill site.
The lighting is so bad that you can't tell if he's really typing with the keyboard on the iPhone.
Exactly what I was thinking. For all we know, he has a laptop next to him connected via VNC to the iPhone and is typing on that. Or he simply doctored the video. Both as easily accomplished.
Believe me, I would love some bluetooth hacks for my iPhone, but I'm pretty convinced this is fake.
how is this useful when the keyboard cant be carried around?
Possible: Yes
Useful: No
I wouldn't put a laptop in my checked bag. But I'd put a keyboard in there. This is a step toward leaving the laptop at home.
Agreed. I used to carry one of those Palm Keyboards with the dock to hold a PalmV when I was in college. SOOOOO much nicer than carrying around a late 90's laptop, and I could get thru a 10 hour day without charging.
I can see the same potential with the iPhone. Leave the Macbook at home, and carry a little bluetooth keyboard (apple or otherwise...) with a Google Doc in the browser. Would make a day of meetings go much lighter, IMO.
Of course, once I get Leopard on a Dell Mini9, I'll use that instead of waiting for Apple to allow software freedom, control of third party release dates, opening its Bluetooth and WiFi doors to others (WiFi sync on your home network, anyone?) Of course, WinMo is open to all those standards and has a hoorible track record, so maybe Apple is doing the right thing...
Murphy,
Just what is the point of this and why on God's green earth would you leave your laptop at home.
For this? THIS?!
Really?
Talk about being sensational....or obtuse.
You still can't copy/paste using this.
You still can't edit documents using this.
You still can't VNC using this.
So what's the point?
This thing still does not compensate for the iPhone's lack of a physical keyboard.
I mean, what's next...lugging around an LCD monitor with you to compensate for the iPhone low-res, sub-VGA, 3.2" screen?
lol this is apples secret way to make the iphone a supreme gaming machine, you just use an apple keyboard and mouse!! brilliant!! hackers just beat them to it
that's a good point... It would make sense for this to be a built in feature.
How is this anything special? He is just using the keyboard over a vnc connection, because of vnc icon in the corner and no bt icon.
Good catch. Then again, a while back, "bluesn0w" used the VNC server (and, of course, libvncclient) to send keyboard events, so that they didn't have to re-implement it.
As the Bluetooth icon is just a status bar image, UIApplication's removeStatusBarImage takes care of that.
am I the only one who has seen the VNC icon there?
Obviously this keyboard is paired with a computer (out of picture), and that one VNCs (can I use that as a verb?) back to the iPhone and handles the input. End of story, nothing to see here, move along...
VNC isn't a word so technically no. But you could use it as computes or computing in which case, make virtual and adverb and it would be fine.
Ondra, yes, you can use VNC as a verb. Names of protocols _are_ words, even if they're also acronyms.
Too bad Jailbraking an iPhone is "illegal"
Stick it to the man!!
FAIL! The on-screen keyboard is still visible. Hide it before we think about this being legit!
I'm not sure why that makes it fake. iPhoneOS triggers the display of the keyboard when you're in text editing mode. There isn't really too much that you can do about that without breaking it for normal non-bluetooth-keyboard typing as well.
I didn't say it was or wasn't real, I said it wasn't legit, as in not really worth it. Given that a BT thumbpad has already been done, I know this is REAL, I just feel that with the on-screen keyboard still present, it needs work. You don't need said on-screen action when you have the physical one of course ;)
I hate to rag on apple products in fear of being labeled a "hater" or other such names but honeslty, fake or not... who thought this would be a good idea?
you could use any other BT keyboard. I've heard Logitech has some kind of chatpad. Or there's plenty of folding keyboards...
And why ? Just to make those people, who rant "iPhone doesn't do that, that, that and that", shut up and take one thing off their iPhone-hating list.
When people say your phone can't do that and that and that, they mean out of the box. A Nokia or a HTC could do that out of the box. If there is that small desire in me to get an iphone, its because of the hacker community doing what they are so damn well. I would never get an iphone for its out of the box features. They should put more security on the media and free the H/W. Crippling the bluetooth stack in 2009 ? seriously ?
I see two things wrong with this. If you actually had a keyboard available, one would think you wouldn't be traveling, and thus would be using a real computer. And if it actually had a physical keypad, you wouldn't even need to worry about connecting one.
People who say "why do you need this?" don't know how great this is for a laptop replacement. If you already carry around your phone, then having to carry an ultra slim bluetooth keyboard is going to be the most portable computing solution, if you only need to type emails or Word documents. I think the iPhone is not too ideal for this sort of thing though.
If all you need is to type emails, light web browsing, or write Word docs, then this is the best solution. It's better than a netbook or a full fledged laptop when minimalism is all that's needed.
Disagreed. There's no way the iPhone is any sort of a laptop replacement. Yes, there are a lot of things it can do with the App Store, but it still isn't a laptop replacement. When are you ever in a situation where you want to type out a full page or more of text on the go? And why would you want to do it on an iPhone in the first place? Would you really leave your laptop at home if you have MS Word and a BT keyboard for your iPhone? I certainly wouldn't use it to write papers or anything.
I bought a virtual keybord from Think Geek: it's as big as a cigarette lighter, and it projects a (virtual) perfectly working qwerty k-bord on any surface (tabletops,plane folding tables, books,pillows, sheets, girls, floors, anything), in the proximity of any BT equipped device. Just out of the box it connected without problems wirelessly via BT to my HTC touch HD and my Samsung Omnia , I did'nt need any drivers or software installation.
One of my collegues bought BT textile k-board in Hong Kong that can be rolled up or folded into its its box which is smaller than a pack of cigarettes or you can just use an empty pack of cigs if you prefer. However because the fabric around the batteries quickly wore out he went back to buy one more, but it had been replaced by a flexible rubber one that takes up much more space so he resolved to saw a patch on his textile k-board where the material (apparently some blend of cotton and syntetic silk) wore out and apparently it still works; my virtual k-board however , if a bit more expensive , is way , way cooler.
Obviously none of this would have been possible with an Apple phone, and that's just another one of the many reasons why Apple will never manage to sell anything to me or to anyone who pretends practicality, functionality and flexibility from his/her devices.
Longer emails will require this. Although I personally hate on screen keyboards, so I want a Nokia N97 instead. But the keyboard is still way more portable than a laptop. As I said, it's good for light computing, which is all I need for during the day (also I need Word and Excel editing capabilities.)
Re: Various iterations of "if you have a keyboard with you, obviously you have access to a computer so..." and/or "...this defeats the purpose of having an iPhone..."
The Apple Bluetooth Keyboard (I'm typing on one now) is considerably smaller and lighter than a laptop. It would save considerable space and weight in terms of what I haul around every day.
It does not defeat the purpose of having an iPhone - it extends that purpose to another level. With an application like this being available, the iPhone becomes something I can sit down in a coffee shop with and write out entire documents instead of just short emails. I could, in fact, leave my laptop at home most days. As someone who works out of the office 4-5 days a week this would be a major bonus.
I tried to do this very thing with a couple of different generations of Palm PDA's and foldable keyboards, except that the word processing products for Palm (e.g. Dataviz) always ended up having formatting issues. Given what we already see happening through the App store I doubt that will be an issue here. Oh - and what's more, back then I still had to carry around an iPod and a cell phone in addition to the PDA and, typically, a laptop because the PDA wasn't enough.
I just don't understand. I mean. I guess I understand the cool factor, but its application is lost on me. If you are in a position to have a keyboard BlueToothes to your iPhone, you probably have access to a computer. If not, you are defeating the purpose of having the iPhone. It's all about doing the things you do on a computer in a portable manner. This is in no way portable.
It would be cool if someone created a form factor for a BT keypad that clips on very nicely to the iPhone and slid out from the bottom. That would ease the gripes people have with the virtual qwerty. Personally, I've used HW keyboards and virtual, and I must say that although I am more accurate with HW, I am faster with a virtual when it is on a capacitive.
Seriously, though, does anybody actually do anything with their iPhone where this would be useful?? The virtual KB is good enough even for decent sized e-mails.
some people hate on screen keyboards with a passion. And just because you don't think it has any applications, doesn't mean others won't find it useful. I've been planning for years to use a PDA with a keyboard as a laptop replacement but I haven't gotten around to doing it lol.
Anyone else questioning the validity of the video? The VNC client logo was a red flag. This could easily be replicated by remoting into the phone and using the keyboard hooked up to mac to send the keystrokes via VNC.
It is VNC you can see it in the corner, I have done this to you just need is
1. A computer with a VNC viewer
2. Veency on your Jailbroken iPhone
3. A keyboard
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/18/veency-vnc-server-for-iphone/
While waiting on someone to shrink that down so it's "PORTABLE", one could entertain themselves with the Bubble Level "app" available at the ubiquitous "app"le"store". I've heard the Level cr"app" is a great deal of fun at parties... all the dolts I know who have the iphone pull it out every chance they get like it's their intellect. Oh the agony. Or, maybe just multi-touch oneself until ingenuity strikes.
People... why can't this amazing, god given u"phone"d work with any of the small, portable, handy keyboards intended for this exact purpose? You mean the god's didn't think any one would want to use a portable bluetooth keyboard with their touchy device?
Look... can't this work? But it's white and silver. http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/02/06/lgs-lba-c300-bluetooth-qwerty-card-is-the-best-calculator-loo/
If I get a touch only phone, like one of the slate types, then I'd probably want that paired with it.
This is a great idea! I loved using a BT keyboard on my N95, and I continue loving to use said keyboard on my Omnia.
The terrible typing experience (among other things) is why I continue to loathe using an iPhone.
I'm glad apple thinks progress like this is illegal.
I would actually have quite a bit of use for this. I'd keep one at work to write e-mails with. My office blocks gmail (oddly, not because they care about people sending personal email from work... you can do that with your work account... but because they don't want people sending sensitive files to themselves for use at home.
It would be nice to be able to quickly write emails at work or home using my iphone... afterall, if Palm thought they could sell the folio, then somebody must want this sort of thing.
Oddly enough, I can type faster on my iphone than the guy in the movie is typing on the keyboard.
Who the fuck cares? Why is this a story on Engadget? For a second I had to check my url, I thought I must've logged in to isuckappledick.com
Cmon, Engadget. Less is more.
Hahahaha... that was hilarious. isuckappledick.com ...
I'm crying over here. Thank you.
Yes, he probably does suck appledick. And yes, this keyboard is a lame idea. What dolt is going to carry around a humungous keyboard when they have the perfect virtual keyboard already built into the iPhone. It's a damn cellphone, not a word processing terminal. And if most of you can only peck out about 30 wpm with errors on a full size keyboard, what's the point.
i still dun understand the concept of a keyboard and a iphone, wld prefer to use the touchscreen on the iphone.
i wldn't want to carry a keyboard around =\
Cheers!
oOgA
http://www.thebanzaieffect.com
Not to hate on the iPhone (I have an iPod Touch) but I kinda fall in the camp of those
who are saying what is the point? I recently bought an Acer Aspire One (from the looks
of the BT keyboard, the width is similar to the AAOne) and I love the form factor and
that I can run multiple os'es on it (it came with XP Home, and I put iATKOS for Aspire
One on it so it's running Mac OS as well).
I dunno, maybe this is stretching the iPhone into the realm that other devices may be
better suited for the functionality that the linking of the BT keyboard does for it.
It's not a bad thing tho, a pretty neat feat that I do most certainly appreciate.
Kudos...
And still typing with one finger...
Can anyone verify that the guy is using the keyboard to type? Any 5-year-old could pull off video "magic" to spoof something like this. All you need is the ability to press the stop and record button while you type with the on-screen keyboard. You just need to keep the camera still to do it, and that's easy enough to do with any number of different mounts. With it quite easy to show both the keyboard and phone in the same screen by mounting the camera "above" the phone angling down, there is no excuse to film the video where you can't watch the typing in real time. If you don't want to have the video upside down, you have two options:mount the camera upside down or fixing it in editing by rotating the film. No one should take this video seriously with the likelihood and ease that it's a hoax; there really is no excuse for filming in the way the guy did if he wanted to be taken seriously.
Why the hell wouldn't Apple want people to use Bluetooth keyboards with their phone?
That would be awesome if it connected fast like 1 or 2 seconds. Just pickup any blue tooth keyboard from a computer and just type if it had enough drivers or hell even got small kilobyte ones from the 3G network.
Or you can use a netbook.
OK, but if I don't have a laptop? :D and already have BT keyboard and this will help me write faster... then why in hell I wouldn't use it? I would never buy small netbook, I prefer 17" laptops... there is no need for small and light laptop coz no one today walks long distances anyway :D
Unless they changed the bluetooth keyboard at apple this week, that is not apples keyboard. the enter button is way to small. this is clearly a fake.
It's probably a British keyboard. They have that thin enter key. However the lighting off the lamp makes it impossible to see the screen change. I think it's a fake.
I hate to be "that Guy" but I have to say this.
For all the people saying "why not just use a computer"
When I am at work, I am not allowed to have my personal computer. I AM however, allowed to carry my phone. When I want to type a person email or document to friends and family, I do not want to use the company email system as everything that I type and write is logged and is viewable and reviewable by the company should any future litigation be levied against the company.
On the same note, I don't want to spend 30-45 minutes typing out one single key at a time on the undersized portrait keyboard of this phone. A product like this and a feature like this will make my work day easier and communication with friends and family easier. Not to mention I would not have to be censored by the company that I work for.
Well, it's interesting to see this because it anticipates the future: the handheld iPhone will eventually mutate into your main computing machine. Given a Bluetooth or USB keyboard, Displayport jack, and a Toshiba SCIB battery and you've got a mac mini in your pocket. The processors will be more than fast enough. Hell, someday such a device could pack an LED projector more than Good Enough to display a screen on a wall.
Like the eBook reader, it's Apple's market to own or lose, their choice. If they don't do it, others will.
You mean it anticipates the past? Since other smartphones and PDAs have been augmentable with external displays and keyboards for years now...
Big Woop. Another reason not to buy an iPhone.
I'm just gonna say this. Landscape keyboard is available through jailbreak for SMS, MMS, and E-Mail. All the applications you would need it for. As far as mobile keyboards I've typed on em all folks. Blackberrys, iPhones, HTC's WinMo stuff, the G1, on and on and on.
Don't think of it as a reason for ANOTHER really ridiculous Apple This Apple That flamewar. This blog is getting nigh unreadable because of it. Let's weigh the facts, team.
1 - No one is forcing you to get an iPhone
2 - No one is forcing you NOT to get an iPhone
3 - No one is forcing you to use or not use this hack
4 - No one is forcing you to get any other phone.
You guys have an EFFING CHOICE ON WHAT PHONE YOU GET. Half of us will never meet each other. No one gives a shit anymore about what phone you have or why. Use your phone. Love your phone. If you think an iPhone is for you, go for it. If you think another device fits your needs better, buy it instead. These fanboy shitfits are really getting old.
Haven't read all the comments but I don't understand all the negative feedback on the idea. I worked with an attorney back in 2001 who had a palm and a collapsible keyboard from Targus which he took to depositions to take notes. Years later I found the same setup in a thrift store and bought both the Visor and the keyboard for $25. I"ve been using it for months now, writing at McDonald's every morning and B&N in the evening and love it. And what I love most is how compact the whole package is. The keyboard goes in my coat pocket and the pda goes in my breast pocket. It's convenient. And even though it's about eight years old, every day someone stops by to comment on it. Add internet and some color and it would be perfect. I would use it to update my websites and my blogs, things I don't need a full screen for.
Just some personal thoughts.
We did an external keyboard using SDK 2.0 without jailbreaking:
http://www.perceptdev.com/labs/content/iphone-keyboard-no-jailbreaking-required-using-20-sdk