Remember when it was such a status symbol to own a Blackberry not all too long ago? Well Once Apple debuted the iPhone most of that went pretty much out the window. However a lasting legacy of the Blackberry was the physical keyboard; you know, you actually could press a real button. In the smartphone age the display keyboards are all the rage with no signs of slowing down. Yet still, many pine for the days when you could actually get physical feedback when you pressed a button and the Typo keyboard for iPhone 5, 5s aims to provide this for the iPhone.
Based on bluetooth and with a form fitting and slim design for the iPhone 5 and 5s, the tactile keyboard is intended precisely to siphon away those who prefer Blackberry-style input. This is primarily intended for those who like the intuitiveness of the iPhone but still need to write an email or even edit a document in a more comfortable manner. While it’s a sturdy piece of hardware, it does add a little girth to the phone, is wireless as mentioned and contains a tiny lithium-ion battery to power the device.
Retailing for $99 on typokeyboards.com, the keyboard covers the home button but has another button in it’s place as well as another button to light the keyboard. It has a qwerty layout with shift keys for number, capitalization and symbols. All of the iPhone ports can still be accessed and the buttons are fairly easy to press, which should satisfy most who are used to using a Blackberry.
Unfortunately you are still dependent on the touchscreen and neither autocorrect or send is available at the push of a button. This makes using it a bit limiting because once you start using it you tend to want to do everything one way or the other; that is, either use the touchscreen or the keyboard but instead you have to switch back and forth. Ultimately texting doesn’t work any faster for veteran iPhone users, but for those who have switched over from a physical keyboard it will likely present a pleasant dimension to input.
That said, you do get to use the entire touchscreen as the touch keyboard take up any space. As far as power is concerned, the Typo Keyboard claims a week’s worth on a single charge and the cable if a bit clunky is not much of a hassle. There is a USB connector for the charger and the computer, Lightning connector for the iPhone, and MicroUSB for the Typo charger. Most users may prefer to keep an extra MicroUSB around just in case.
All in all, the Typo Keyboard has some wiggle room to make improvements. They are selling out pretty fast but there are some niggling drawbacks such as the cable and having to switch back and forth between the keyboard and touchscreen. As far as that is concerned you would hope that the next edition will be a little more intuitive in regards to iPhone function aside from pure text input. At $99 it’s a bit pricey, but for users who want the Blackberry experience regarding text-input or for those who just want a physical keyboard it should fit the bill.
