Review: Too small and awful key layout
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2014
Bluetooth keyboards are very useful when paired with tablets and the right one can enhance the mobile experience, especially for those that need to write a lot on their devices. Keyboard cases can often make a tablet seem like miniature laptops, but in my opinion, not having one is better than having one that's too small.PROS:- Case material looks and feels nice- Magnetic closure easy to use- Easy Bluetooth setupCONS:- Keys are way too small- Wacky key layout is unusable- Not super stable when open- Keyboard not removable from case- ExpensivePairing my Kindle HDX to the Belkin keyboard was simple and quick. I immediately went into Evernote and began testing it out. And almost as quickly, I realized that the keys were way too small. I had to squish my fingers together quite a bit in order to type accurately. The feedback on the keys themselves weren't too bad, actually, but typing on it for more than a few minutes at a time was uncomfortable.The biggest issue I had with the Belkin keyboard, however, was the crazy key layout. Just look at the pictures and you'll see what I'm talking about. For example, in order to type an apostrophe, you have to hit the function key (Fn) and "O" at the same time. Huh? I can see messing around with the colon, semicolon, parenthesis, brackets and slashes, but the apostrophe? No. The apostrophe requires its own key and being forced to use the Fn key is bad form. If you look at Logitech's keyboard for the iPad Mini, you can see that even though they shrunk the apostrophe/double quote key, it's still an independent key.I'm sure that if you use the Belkin keyboard long enough, you'll get used to it, but I don't know why you'd want to. It's uncomfortable and the key layout makes no sense. I don't blame Belkin for trying, but I don't think a keyboard case for a 7-inch tablet works. If you make the keyboard too big, it ruins the size benefit of a small tablet. To make it slim, like Belkin did, you have to make too many sacrifices. Personally, I'd rather stick to typing on the screen or picking up a larger Bluetooth keyboard that's not built into a case.