Review: Nicely Designed and Effective
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 13, 2014
Belkin has been one of my favorite peripheral and accessory manufacturers for a while. They have really thoughtfully designed products that in many ways supplement and even enhance the usability of your mobile devices. This Galaxy Fire HDX keyboard/case combo is a perfect example of that high level style.The case is extremely well built and well designed. Kindle Fire HDX slips into it easily, and it fits very snugly. The case is very sturdy and it gives your tablet quite a bit of protection. The case has a built in kickstand that allows you to angle the tablet under a variety of angles. Unlike some other kickstands that I’ve seen, this one designed in such a way that it allows you to use your tablet on your lap for typing. Even though this is a very light case relatively speaking, it will still add quite a bit of bulk to your Kindle Fire HDX. If you intend to use your Fire as a laptop replacement though, that might not be a very noticeable issue.The keyboard synced via Bluetooth with Kindle Fire. The whole process was very smooth and quick. While it’s turned on the keyboard stays in touch with the tablet at all times, sometimes that is not always the case with the inferior wireless keyboards.The keyboard uses rechargeable batteries, and it can be charged through a USB cable. The keyboard will last you a several days to a few weeks, or even a month, on a single charge, depending on how much you use it. It takes about two to three hours to get it fully charged.One major shortcoming of this keyboard is its cramped size. This, of course, is not Belkin’s fault, as it’s impossible to have the full keyboard functionality that fits a 9” device. The smaller keyboard is suitable enough for most short writing tasks, such as composing emails and shorter documents, but I would not rely on it for, say, writing of a Ph.D. thesis. The key action, however, is really good and it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen on any keyboard. It makes typing on such a cramped space much more tolerable.Another annoying thing for me is that there doesn’t seem to be much standardization when it comes to tablet sizes (and the appropriate cases) out there right now. Each tablet manufacturer has its own design that is different just enough from all the other ones on the market that it requires a complete overhaul of any of the accessories. It’s even more annoying that manufacturers even have very different designs for their own line of tablets, with changes from one generation to the next that sacrifice compatibility and functionality in pursuit of some aesthetical agenda. I truly wish that at least the keyboard/case manufacturers would come up with designs that are more universal. I understand that it’s impossible for them to know the direction that the tablet manufacturers would take in advance, but the least they can do is make the cases/keyboards backward compatible with the previous generation of devices.