Bluetooth Keyboard with Blackberry Playbook

In the age of computing, I’ve found that things are a lot more complicated now, than say 15 to 20 years ago. When I was at high school and would need to use the computer I would jump on the PC we had in the family house and use it to write up my school and university assignments.

These days there are so many technological options to use as a tool to write with. I now understand why lots of writers still refuse to use technology and go back to use good old fashion pen and paper, but since I like my technology I was keen on using some of the digital toys that I had at home.

Bluetooth Keyboard

I’ve read a number of different articles and blog entries suggesting that for writing to use either digital pens, laptops, ultrabooks and netbooks as they quite mobile. However against all the advice I received, I was keen to get the most out of my tablet that I already have. I didn’t want to spend too much more money on another new device primarily for writing purposes. This is what led me towards the idea of buying a Bluetooth Keyboard to use with my BlackBerry Playbook, like all tablets I have played around with type up articles on the onscreen keyboards but found it to be tiring and probably not the most efficient means of way of writing. I’m sure plenty of people have been able to write books successfully using tablets, but for me personally I’d prefer a pen / stylus or keyboard.

BlackBerry recently released a mini keyboard (add link) as an official accessory to go with Playbook but with a price tag of $100 or greater at some places I was determined to fine a keyboard a little cheaper elsewhere. My biggest worry though was whether or not a generic bluetooth keyboard would be compatible with my Playbook. A quick google search showed lots of articles in forums of people struggling with Bluetooth keyboard compatibility problems when trying to pair them with devices, so I was taking a bit a of gamble, one that I was hoping would pay off.

After spending time at different computer stores and outlets, I eventually found one, that I believed would work and looked pretty good, luck enough it was also in the pricing range of what I was willing to spend.  I decided on a generic one named Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard funny enough. I purchased it from a store called DIY computers in Auburn where I have always found the service to be friendly and helpful.

Bluetooth Keyboard Packaging

Returning home with my new keyboard I unpacked it, found two AAA batteries, threw them in and went straight to work in pairing it up with my Blackberry Playbook.

I won’t go into detail here about how to pair up a Bluetooth Keyboard with the Playbook, but most importantly it worked pretty well. From time to time I did find that when I was typing there was a bit of lag before what I was typing eventually came up on the screen, but overall for $AU39 I was happy with my purchase.

Now when I want to write something quickly, all I need to do is take my Blackberry Playbook out of standby, open DocToGo, turn on my keyboard and start typing away.