|
Marshall's Review |
The Wizard OZ-770 keyboard is perfect for a PDA. It is small enough
to be portable. It is large enough to be functional. The feel of the keys
is good, and it is quite easy to become rather fast and accurate at
"two-finger" typing. Most PDAs fail to match the ease of data entry
that we have become used to with our Wizards. However, the Seiko
ThumBoard slips easily over the bottom of the M500, and goes a long
way toward making data entry as easy as it is on the Wizard. Here
is a large photo of the Seiko ThumBoard.
There are a number of other add-on mini keyboards for the M500, but the Seiko is probably the best of the lot. It is the largest, and the keys are larger and spaced further apart. A row of dedicated number keys (1,2,3 etc) are provided. There are keys for all the Palm PDA functions. The keys have a good feel, not too easy nor too hard to push. They are easy to see. You can type on this keyboard in three ways, and they all work: 1) You can hold it in both hands, and type with your thumbs; 2) You can hold it in one hand, and type with a finger of your other hand; 3) You can set it on a table, and type with two fingers (as I usually did with my OZ770). The Seiko ThumBoard is easy to find on EBay for about $10. Here is a photo of the Palm and Seiko together in my hand:
IMPORTANT NOTE: I had a problem with the Seiko ThumBoard driver (prc file) that came with the unit. The ThumBoard would not work, and the M500 would go into an endless loop of trying to sync with my PC. I discovered an updated driver for the ThumBoard on the Seiko website. Here it is, in case you need it.