Geyes Folding Bluetooth Keyboard Review
I’m a fairly fast typer on my iphone, so debated for a while as to whether I wanted to get a bluetooth keyboard to carry around. However, there are certain times when I don’t want to have to lug my laptop around, but don’t want to try typing a huge long email on the onscreen keyboard… but might still have my rucksack into which I can just leave a small folding bluetooth keyboard sitting handily. Such as now, writing a keyboard review on the train.
For this purpose, I bought the Geyes Folding Bluetooth Keyboard for £50 on eBay. It sits as a small, light block in my rucksack front pocket, and will fit into my jacket pocket if I want to keep it with me.
The keyboard folds up neatly, with sliding clips to keep it closed, and sits happily without its carrying pouch or any attachments in my bag. To open, you slide the clips, unfold, and then push a large slider on either side that locks the four parts into two parts. With sliders locked, the keyboard still folds at the central hinge, so isn’t completely ridge.
The keyboard is actually full-size once unfolded; which is a bit of overkill for me, as I prefer something more compact; I was ideally looking for one like the Psion Series 5mx, which was fantastic, but sadly those don’t exist in this form.
The build quality is… average for Chinese no-name electronics. The keys are light and springy, and the ‘r’ key is already playing up slightly, after my second use. The behaviour is dodgy as well – every third or fourth word has either a missing, or repeated, character, I tried typing 01234567890 several times, as I suspected a problem in the bluetooth connection, but that works OK. I suspect that pressing keys too close together can confuse it – maybe it’s not properly buffered.
Pairing with the iphone was OK: you turn on Bluetooth and the keyboard, press a recessed ‘search’ button on the keyboard, and tap the ‘Geyes’ entry on the iPhone Bluetooth list. It asks you to type a pincode on the keyboard, hit return, and it’s paired. Once connected, aside from the repeating character issue, it seems stable. HOWEVER – I seem to have to re-pair each time. If I turn the keyboard back on, and tap it on the iPhone, then the iPhone is unable to connect to it without re-pairing.
Battery life is untested as yet – I’ve been using it for about an hour. The USB charger is a mini type-B, I think(?) – similar to a miniUSB, but untapered – so your blackberry charger cable won’t work. It also does NOT act as a USB keyboard – power only – which I suspected, but was hopeful it might.
So, would I recommend it? Well – No. Absolutely not. The build quality is poor, the bluetooth connection dodgy, and at £50 is way overpriced. I do sometimes buy dubious-quality no-name electronics such as this, but wouldn’t expect to pay more than £20 to put up with its foibles.
This thing’s a knock-off of the old Think Outside Sierra keyboard, which despite being not a no-name Chinese brand was also kind of unreliable with the keys. Thought that might be worth mentioning.
hi ive just brought one of these keyboards, yet i dont have a pin to link it to my phone, where did you get yours from, are they all the same if so can you give me yours
Your phone will tell you a PIN to type. If it doesn’t, then it may be 0000. But usually it will offer one.
HI! I bought the keyboard recently to use with HTC Evo (android) and the Product User Manual was pretty worthless. It won’t pair and the phone does not give me a pin. It does suggest trying either 0000 or 1234 but neither works. I don’t read Chinese but the manual shows one screen with 123456 and trying those also does not work. Anyone have any ideas?
When you tell your phone to pair with a keyboard/device, it should tell you the PIN to use
As in, your phone will choose a random PIN and tell you it at the time of pairing. You initiate this from the phone.
I’m using this with Nokia 5230. First I set the keyboard to “search” mode (the button -> blinking blue led) Then I set up pair on my phone. First my phone asks for a code. I can type any code. Then I type the same code on the keyboard number keys and press “Enter”.
So I use my phone to set a code and the keyboard to confirm the code.