Portable Keyboard for Archos 101 Gen9 Tablet

[curiouscraig]

Hi everyone,
I am the proud new owner of an Archos 101 Gen9 Tablet, which is running on Android Honeycomb 3.2.

I have been doing a fair amount of typing on my tablet, and have noticed that this quickly leaves marks on the screen. I did originally purchase a screen protector along with the tablet, but this affected the responsitivity so badly that I gave up on using it.

Currently I am using a combination of an Archos stylus (which is fine for general usage but slow and inefficient for typing I find), and also typing with my fingers and then wiping the screen every so often with a screen cloth. This isn't exactly ideal, and I am considering whether a portable keyboard would be the solution.

My knowledge of the inner workings of my tablet is limited, and I am wary of buying a keyboard that is incompatible with it. Having done some research there seems to be a lot of different types of portable keyboard - usb, wireless, bluetooth, silicone, folding, etc etc - and it is not entirely clear to me whether they work with Android or not.

Has anyone here encountered a similar problem, or have any words of wisdom?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Craig

 

[mandopicker101]

Hi

I have the G9 80 and bought a Bluetooth keyboard to use with my tablet. It works well although I purchased a no name cheapo that vaguely resembles the Apple wireless keyboard. Having had a silicone USB keyboard in the past, its ok but not ace for long spells of typing. Equally I had a folding keyboard for a Palm TX and it was OK but not too great.

A 'real' keyboard is better all round. Wireless is my preference (less to help knock/pull over your tablet).

Sent from my SK17i using Android Central Forums

 

[curiouscraig]

Hi mandopicker 101,
Thanks for the quick reply!

So is your keyboard connected to your tablet via Bluetooth? Does that have any major draining effect on the tablet's battery?

Hi

I have the G9 80 and bought a Bluetooth keyboard to use with my tablet. It works well although I purchased a no name cheapo that vaguely resembles the Apple wireless keyboard. Having had a silicone USB keyboard in the past, its ok but not ace for long spells of typing. Equally I had a folding keyboard for a Palm TX and it was OK but not too great.

A 'real' keyboard is better all round. Wireless is my preference (less to help knock/pull over your tablet).

Sent from my SK17i using Android Central Forums

 

[mandopicker101]

Hi there

I haven't noticed it being a massive drain, although 3G plus Bluetooth does put the boot into the battery, especially if accessing stuff from Google Drive or DropBox. Usually I use this set up when commuting to/from work and often I can plug in my tablet on the train.

I'd be interested to see how BT compared to a wired keyboard in terms of impact on battery. If buying a wireless keyboard, invest in something decent as mine doesn't have stellar battery power.

Sent from my ARCHOS 80G9 using Android Central Forums

 

[curiouscraig]

Ok, thanks!