Android, KeyPro and Bluetooth keyboards

by Brent on January 5, 2010 · 105 comments

by Brent on January 5, 2010 · 105 comments

Last week I wrote about my exposure to the KeyPro drivers for Bluetooth keyboards and Android. Since that time, I have continued to play with this concept, and KeyPro has released (at least) two driver upgrades, which you can download from the Android Market. The current version, which I loaded today, is 1.06.08. And it just keeps getting better. I have to be honest. I really struggled to get this working. But, when I did, I discovered that it is drop dead simple and it works wonderfully.

The process that worked for me

  1. Pair your Android phone with a supported SPP compliant Bluetooth keyboard like you would with any BT device. I used ’0000′ as the passkey. It will show as ‘Paired. Not Connected.’
  2. Open the KeyPro app you have installed on your phone from the Market. Make sure that your BT keyboard is still showing active. My Freedom Universal Keyboard II has a slowly blinking blue light. If you get distracted or wait too long, it will timeout and go to sleep. Just switch it off and back on for this next part.
  3. In the KeyPro app, chose Settings and choose your Keyboard model. Then press the Scan button next to the Keyboard Address field. It will give you a blank screen. Hit the menu key and choose Discovery. In just a bit, it will come back with your Keyboard name and its hardware address. Press that field and it will load it for you in the previous screen.
  4. Set KeyPress for repeating. I used 25 for Repeat Rate and 0.5 for Repeat Delay. You can play with this and adjust for what works for you.
  5. At first, I chose KeyPress Sound Emulation. Do you really want your Droid to make a horrible beep each and every time you press a key? I quickly disabled this one.
  6. I also choose to enable Connect/Disconnect Notify and Backlight Auto-On.
  7. Save. Please! I kept skipping this and couldn’t figure out why everything was always reset as at the beginning.

When you go back to the main KeyPro screen, you will see ‘Connecting’ in the lower left-hand corner. This is the point where I could go no further. I could not get it to connect. After fussing around with this for quite a long time, I switched the Keyboard off. Then I thought “Maybe just one more try”.  I switched it back on and about 1 second later it changed to “Connected”!

Now, I just wait to switch the keyboard on until all else is ready and boom!  It connects straight-away every time.

Authorizing the Keyboard in Android

Now, there are a couple of additional steps you need to do to authorize the keyboard in Android settings, and then long-press any text entry field and choose ‘KeyPro’ as the entry method, but those are fully explained in the manual you should download from the KeyPro website. They show an alternate method for pairing the keyboard, but that never worked for me. Try it, maybe it will work for you.

So, you might ask, how is it to use a larger keyboard with the Android phone? Wonderful! Typing was very fast and natural and actually, the Freedom Universal keyboard feels better than the keyboard on my Lenovo S-10 netbook, so feel free to make hay! With each new release of the keyboard, there are changes to key assignments that emulate key presses on the Android. Each try is getting better and better. I encourage you to play with them. If you already have a Bluetooth keyboard that supports the SPP standard, I highly encourage you to give this driver a shot. It works great and it was very easy for me to spend the $9.95 to license after I got it working.

Keyboard Suggestion

If you don’t yet have a Bluetooth keyboard, I recommend that you take a look at the newly released Freedom Pro Keyboard. It is made specifically to use with Smartphones and has dedicated keys to enable you to do everything you can do with your phone on the keyboard:

  • 6 Dedicated keys to: Answer Call, End/Reject call, Open Messages/email, Open Address book, Open task and Open Calendar.
  • 12 user defined quick launch keys.
  • Control and function keys allowing complete control of your mobile device from the keyboard.

It currently supports HID for Symbian and Windows Mobile and SPP for Blackberry and Android. BTW, Freedom promises drivers for the Android platform later in 2010. But you can use it today with the KeyPro drivers now available. You can currently purchase the KeyPro Bluetooth keyboard on Amazon.com for less than $100, which is a bit better than the £90 on the Freedom website. If you give it a go, let us know how it works for you. Enjoy!

Related Posts

Tagged as: Android Market Place, Bluetooth Keyboard, Feedom Universal Keyboard, KeyPro Drivers

Newer Comments →
  • Thomas Martin

    Just ordered my keyboard. Will let you know how it goes. Hope to see more posts on BT keyboards. Liquid Gold

  • mwd

    Thanks for the thorough overview. Just to confirm: once you’ve set up the connection and have saved (in Android/KeyPro) the desired settings, is it henceforth pretty automatic to connect the keyboard and G1 — or do you have to run through a bunch of steps each time.

  • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @mwd Yes, that is correct. Once you do all this stuff, all that you have to do is start the driver, turn on the keyboard, and if you changed it to something else, just long-press on a text entry field and choose KeyPro again. Takes just a few seconds, but then type away and enjoy!

  • mwd

    @Brent Thanks very much for the confirmation. That’s excellent news.

  • Miles

    I’m surprised to admit that it works flawlessly with my Droid running Android 2.0.1. Good job!

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Miles Good to hear. What keyboard are you using?

  • Miles

    I’m using a Freedom Pro (exactly the one pictures in this article). Maybe flawless wasn’t exactly accurate–it PAIRED flawlessly and it works alright, but some of the keys are a bit strange. CTRL doesn’t work, ESCAPE doesn’t produce an escape character, etc.).. but it paired with no problems, it works and it seems to be a very comfortable keyboard. Certainly better for Google Docs work than the Droid slide-out or obscuring the screen with the on-screen keyboard.

    I only wish that TAB, ESCAPE and CTRL worked. :) (Especially since I use SSH a lot to remotely script things or to manage servers and I REEEALLY need CTLR+C and ESCAPE for vi). heh

    In any case, it works very well for many uses!

    • Bill

      Quite right Miles. Without the CTRL keys, this is not worthwhile for me. In my opinion, it’s a glaring oversight. It’s like buying a car that doesn’t turn left. You can go many places, but the route might be weird, and some place are just inaccessible. I won’t really be able to use it until this flaw is fixed.

    • Hans Fiedler

      I discovered that on my sprint hero, using keypro with the freedom pro keyboard, I can get the control keys by press the trackball then pressing the letter. It’s kinda weird, but does get me going.

      • Bill

        True. It works the same way on the G1 and the Nexus One. It’s a little clumsy, but it provides access to a critical function in certain environements. Of course, it wouldn’t be clumsy with a Bluetooth full keyboard. But the driver developer doesn’t see control-key usage as important.

  • Miles

    Oh yes.. FYI, it works very well with my Nokia N800 in HID mode. I’m sure that means it’ll also work well with the entire Nokia line of Internet Tablets (770, N800, N810) as well as the Nokia N900 phone. :)

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Miles Interesting! I actually use mine in HID mode with my 10 year old HP TC1100 slate tablet, for those times when I really need a keyboard and not the pen. I had been using the ThinkOutside Stowaway, but that stopped working for some reason. BTW, feel free to drop by the driver forums and give them your feedback. They can probably help you figure out the keys you need. Here is the link: http://www.mymobilegear.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97

  • Thomas Martin

    I was wondering if anything has changed around this. Do you have any images of this setup? My buddy is looking to get this working and I am tech support

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Thomas I do not have any screenshots right now. I actually have a post up tomorrow explaining my difficulties around screenshots on the Android. However, if I can’t have that issue resolved in the next day or two, I will take external shots and walk through the process. Look for it to post at the first of the week.

  • THomas Martin

    Thanks for the quick reply @Brent. The Keyboard is a great series you guys have going. Maybe you can talk Talk Chris or Rod into doing a youtube video. Either way good stuff I can hold my buddy off until next week

  • Jeff Edwards

    I have an original T-Mobile G1 Android phone and bought the Freedom Pro keyboard; I had a couple of problems getting things to work but eventually succeeded. I thought I’d pass along a couple of “lessons learned”. #1: The last paragraph of Brent’s original article implies that for Android phones the keyboard needs to have the SPP/HID switch set to SPP (it ships from the factory in HID mode) — when I did finally get my phone & keyboard connected and working, I did indeed have the switch set in SPP mode; there is no mention of this switch setting in the KeyPro s/w instructions that I can see and it’s not clear how important this switch setting is. #2: After struggling to get a phone/keyboard pairing (I kept getting the message “Pairing refused by Freedom Pro”) I finally found some mention in the hardcopy instructions for OTHER phones that the “pairing button” should be pressed — this “button” is not identified in the keyboard’s hardcopy instructions but it is a RECESSED button just above the SSP/HID switch; at first glance it LOOKS like a light (like the bluetooth and battery light below the switches) and I didn’t recognize it as a switch. Through some unrecorded/random pushings of this “Pairing” button during the pairing process my phone did eventually succeed in pairing — I’m not totally clear what/when I did differently. In any case, I can attest that ONCE PAIRED and the other steps followed per the instructions, I was able to type on the keyboard and get the input to appear in a text field. Whew!

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Jeff Wow! It sounds like your initial experience was very similar to mine. There are so many things that can go wrong or are not clearly explained. Like you, however, I found it very easy to use once I passed the initial hurdle of setting it up. I think Rod is going to capture his initial setup on video when his keyboard arrives, so stay tuned!

  • Pingback: Android Bluetooth Keyboard Setup with KeyPro drivers – Avoid Problems! | Simple Mobile Review

  • Matt

    has anyone managed to get the freedom pro to workwith keypro on a droid eris? every time I get to step 3 above, I get a message that says \discover error / failed to discovery devices: 9\. this is despite the fact that the keyboard is on, set to ‘spp’, the blue light is blinking, and it happens regardless of whether I have pressed the recessed \pairing\ button, or not. Oddly enough, the bluetooth manager in the ‘settings’ menu of the phone seems to recognize the keyboard just fine – it is only from within the keypro app itself , that the keyboard seems to become invisible. In other words, it seems that I can \pair\ it, but not \scan\ it. And I tried scanning it first before \pairing\ it, and that didn’t work, either.
    any suggestions? help appreciated.

  • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Matt Do you get the \paired/not connected\ message? If you have gotten that far, then you are very close. When you go to the scan step, there is a hidden gotcha. You ask for the scan and sit and wait and nothing happens! That is because you have not started the scan yet. You have to press the menu key and there will be an option like \start scan\ of something like that. This caught me up for a LONG time. If you do that, then after a short time (15-20 seconds?) you should get the data back with the scan code. From there it is drop dead easy. Let me know if this helps!

  • Matt

    hi Brent! wow, thanks for the swift response, I really appreciate it. Yes, I did indeed get as far as ‘paired not connected’. Then, I also successfully found the ‘hidden menu’ that lies beyond the ‘scan button’ (and the pits of despair and the terrible man-eating rabbit). That is indeed precisely where the error message came up. After I click the hidden ‘discover’ button that is past the blank screen, it says ‘discovery error: failed to discovery [sic] devices:9′. also of note, there is no 15-20 second lag, it happens right away. And yes, everything is switched on, keyboard little blue light is blinking, set on ‘SPP’, it should be discoverable but it is not. I downloaded the manual from keypro and tried everything from their troubleshooting page (turning off and on, restarting bluetooth, etcetera). the only thing I have not yet tried is simply manually entering the keyboard’s hardware address, because I don’t know how to find it. perhaps I can interrogate the keyboard from my laptop to find out what the address is? I’ll let you know if it works. If it doesn’t, I may just have to sit tight until the makers of the ‘freedom pro’ develop their own driver for android, which their website says they are doing soon. thanks again for getting back to me so soon – I really appreciate it. – Matt

  • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Matt Speed is what the digital age is all about! Look at the bottom of your keyboard to see if the MAC address is there. It was on mine. You are absolutely on the right track. I don’t know what the secret is, but just keep fussing with it. Once you find the secret, it just works. No more fussing! Good luck and let me know what happens.

  • Matt

    @Brent: (followup to above message)

    so close, and yet so far!!! I found the hardware address of the keyboard, by scanning for bluetooth devices from my laptop and then clicking on ‘properties’. this required that I flip the switch over to ‘HID’ momentarily, but then I flipped back to ‘SPP’. I manually typed that address into the keypro settings menu, thus bypassing the ‘scan’ menu altogether, and clicked ‘save’ with all the new information in it. Now, the whole process gets as far as you wrote about above – where the message ‘connecting’ flickers continually in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Alas, it never finished connecting. I tried turning it off and on as you did, but to no avail. anyway – thanks for your help! maybe will have better luck when freedom pro releases their own driver …

  • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Matt You are exactly where I was when this all broke-through for me. Turn off the keyboard and the KeyPro software. Turn off BT on your Eris. Wait… Turn on your BT on the Eris. Wait… Open the KeyPro driver. Turn on the keyboard BT. For me it was boom! Connect and from then on everything worked. Play with it. You are almost there!

  • Matt

    @Brent: alas, it really is like the holy grail. (many are called, but few actually stand in its presence.) so basically, I tried what you said many times, also tried every conceivable combination of ‘pair first / connect first / turn off first’ that I could think of, followed all the troubleshoot tips I could find, but it just won’t connect. It stays flickering at the ‘connecting’ message but gets no further. I wonder if, given the inconsistent response, this could actually be a hardware problem rather than a software issue? Maybe I need to return the keyboard… thank you for your helpful suggestions though – I appreciate your attempt to help

    • http://will.crosscutcommunications.com Will Reichard

      Same issue here, Matt. Ever find any joy on this?

      • Matt

        Hey Will!

        No, I never managed to fix it, but at least I might have an explanation – I think it’s because the Droid OS 1.5 on the Eris has an outdated version of bluetooth. I’ve read other people’s complaints of OS 1.5 phones failing to talk to bluetooth devices so I think this is the problem. If this is indeed the case, then it might work with Droid Eris when Verizon finally gets around to pushing the over-the-air update to OS 2.1 in the next few months.

        In the event that it doesn’t, though, I found that the program Swype is almost as good as having a keyboard. It’s still in beta testing but leaked version can be found out there on the web, for example last time I checked you could get it by aiming the program “bar code scanner” at this page: (you will also need “app installer” – both of which are available for free in android market)

        http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/40128-swype-avail-eris-8.html#post385902

        If OS 2.1 doesn’t get officially released in the next few weeks I’ll probably just go ahead and install one of the leaked versions, and if that solves the bluetooth keyboard problem, I’ll post back to this forum.

        -Matt

        • Ryan

          Hey Matt thanks for posting– I’m following the same issues with my Eris. There’s a new 2.1 posted yesterday (link below) that I think I’ll take a shot at sometime this weekend. If it pans out I’ll drop a note here.

          http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/69688-htc-droid-eris-os-2-1v3-download.html

        • http://will.crosscutcommunications.com Will Reichard

          Thanks, Matt. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m running the leaked 2.1. It’s the first one that was out, so maybe:

          1) The legitimate 2.1 will fix it or
          2) The newest release of the leaked 2.1 (just out) will fix it.

          I’ll have to try Swype! Thanks again,

          Will

          • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

            Thanks guys! Let us know if/how this works and we will post the results. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you!

  • Pingback: Follow-up on KeyPro Bluetooth Drivers for Android

  • Ryan

    I downloaded the leaked Android 2.1 v3: The Freedom Pro still doesn’t connect to Eris. I tried Blue Input, Keypro, and the manufacturer’s drivers with no success. Lame. Seeking other options, but I think this one is a return.

  • Pingback: Functional bluetooth keyboards for Eris? Failed experiment: Freedom Pro Keyboard - Android Forums

  • http://www.freedominput.com Paul Bowles – Freedom Input

    Hi all,

    Nice write up. I’m the technical manager for Freedom input and just come across this page so thought I would put a little bit of info in here to help clarify a few things.

    First the Droid platform has been a nightmare to develop on. The keypro drivers are very good, the fact that I have personally sent people over to mobile gear attests to that. I have never done that before with any other third party developer. The main problem is that on the pre 2.0 devices there is no standard API’s you can use to develop drivers. This means having to use other methods of getting the keyboard to connect. I’m not sure how Tony made the Keypro drivers but we have found in our Droid development that developing them this way works fine for most devices but others just don’t want to play (Eris and Hero being the most noticeable).

    Our original plan was to have one set of drivers that worked on all devices from 1.5 upwards. Unfortunately this just isn’t possible to do reliably. We currently have 1.5/1.6 beta drivers available but because of the difficulties with these OS versions and lack of development support they will probably never be taken out of beta (because they wont work with most HTC hero or Eris devices).

    The good news is that the devices that aren’t working with the 1.5/1.6 drivers are all due to have 2.0/2.1 upgrades in the near future. We have 2.0/2.1 drivers in beta stage now (will be going on the website later today) and because 2.0/2.1 introduced some new development tools they should work with all devices running 2.0/2.1

    If it turns out that there are any devices that wont have a 2.0 upgrade and don’t work with our 1.5/1.6 drivers we will look at these individually to see if we can get drivers to work on them.

    The other issue with the Droid platform is that the setup process is slightly more complicated then other platforms. On most phones with our drivers you pair the keyboard, run the drivers and hit connect. On the Droid platform you have to pair the keyboard, install the drivers, check it as an allowed input, connect the keyboard and then select it as the input method. Thankfully you only have to do it the once but there are steps that are easy to miss. We are trying to document the setup process as much as possible and I will be making up some connection videos later today to show the process (so much easier to follow a video then try to read it from a manual).

    Check http://www.freedominput.com for the latest news on the Android Drivers (news section is at the bottom).

    • R

      Thanks Paul, I appreciate the development support being given for this device.

    • Matt

      thanks for the update Paul!

  • Pingback: A Message from Freedom Input :Update Regarding Android KeyPro Drivers

  • Tullen

    Hi.
    First of all I want to apologize for my bad spelling.

    After reading through this page with its comments I still dont really know if this works with only the Freedom Pro Keyboard.or also with the Freedom Universal Bluetooth Keyboard 2. You mention the Freedom Universal Keybord 2 in the article, but the link is to a Freedom Pro Keyboard. Also when you look at the official driver beeing developed it seems like it only works with the Freedom Pro Keyboard.

    The reason Im asking is that I live in Sweden and we have some special letters. I can get the Freedom Universal Keyboard with swe layout but cant find Freedom Pro Keyboard with it.
    Another way to work around it is as you do on a laptop for exampel. You can change the layout to swe in the software and then just use ctrl and the keys to the right of L and P to get the letters in swe, but would this work on a android phone with the Freedom Pro Keyboard?

    The phone I want to use this with is the Samsung Beam http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8520_beam-3150.php with TouchWiz 3.0 UI.
    Any thughts?

    Kind Regards / Tullen

  • http://www.freedominput.com Paul Bowles – Freedom Input

    @tullen From our point of view (Freedom Input) we are only developing drivers for the Freedom Pro Keyboard. I believe the Keypro drivers do work with our previous keyboards though.

    We have not added Scandinavian layout support to our drivers yet (currently English, German and Korean) but it is planned. I’m not sure if the keypro drivers do have Scandinavian support or not (I think Tony from mymobilegear was looking at the Scandinavian version of our universal Keyboard at one point but don’t know where he got to with developing a layout for it).

    So short answer is the keypro drivers many have support for Swedish letters (check http://www.mymobilegear.com) but our drivers currently don’t (though these will probably be added in the next few months).

    @all
    The 2.0/2.1 drivers are available from http://www.otadrivers.com (go to the website directly from your Droids web browser). I have not had chance to update the installation instructions yet so there is no official announcement on our website about these drivers. If you install the drivers the instructions are the same as in the updated user manual (available from http://freedom.helpserve.com) except that when you connect the keyboard you may have to click on the notification in the notification tab to finish the connection.

    Updated instructions will be put up on Monday and hopefully will get the installation video up Monday as well.

  • Tullen

    @Paul Bowles

    Wow, thanks for fast response. This is what I call using social media, or whats its called in English. Although I will probably whait until I have my phone and you support scandinavic languages, this is that sort of service that make you buy from one company instead of another.
    Locking forward for that working android driver with swe support :) .

  • Pingback: » Getting a Motorola Droid to use a Freedom Universal 2 Bluetooth Keyboard Ben Chapman's Blog

  • Pingback: Another Update from Freedom Input: More Info on Bluetooth Keyboard Drivers – Beta Drivers Tested

  • ryan

    After got my FreedomPro BT keyboard set up, which wasn’t entirely easy, it works really great with my Storm2 blackberry. Very happy with this purchase, I am looking forward to leaving my laptop at home on my next business trip!

    by the way, Sometimes while typing is suddenly switches languanges (to Korean), which results in only question mark characters being input, so then you have to go back to the menu and change it back to English, I am not sure if this is happening because I am hitting something on the keyboard, or some issue with my settings, but once I figure this problem out I will be

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @ryan I’m not sure what’s causing the switch to Korean, but the question marks are the best guess for the double-byte characters. Which drivers are you using with the Freedom Pro keyboard? The Freedom or the KeyPro. Let me know and I will try and figure out what is happening.

  • Ryan

    My phone says, that I have installed Freedom Pro Keyboard Drivers V 1.0.73 for RIM OS 5.0 & above…

    So I think that is corrrect.

    Changing language to Korean, while typing out a message is a very big problem actually, so I hope I can figure out the fix… Not sure if it is a phone setting or a driver issue, or maybe a key on the keyboard I am bumping into accidently…

    By the way, thanks for your quick response, I wasn’t really exepcting help, but I appreciate it!

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @ Ryan No problem. I am not always in a position to help much, but I like to if I can. I will take a look at the drivers and see if I can figure out what the cause might be. BTW, what version of BB OS are you running. That might make a difference too.

  • ryan

    When I go… options -> about ->
    it says:

    Blackberry 9550
    smartphone (3G, CDMA, Wi-Fi)
    v5.0.0.607 (Bundle 1020, Platform 4.2.0.275)
    3G bands 1

    etc..

    I used the FreedomPro keyboard once today so far, for a short message, and it did not switch to Korean, but I am still worried about this since it was happending so much on DAY1

    Ryan

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Ryan I am actually wondering if it is the 9550 that is doing this. With OS 5, I believe there is the ability to have multiple languages available and with a SHIFT-x or CTRL-x keystroke, switch between them. I am sure it is a LOT easier to do it with an actual keyboard. I will research this and see if I can reproduce.

  • Ryan

    Blackberry 9550 (Storm2)

    Yes please let me know anything you find.. It just switched to Korean again. dang it…. I started a message in English, and midway through it switched to Korean, Same as yesterday. :(

    I wish I could removed Korean from even being an option. Its got to be something on the keyboard. I am used to using a right side shift key (there is only left side shift key on the Freedom Pro), so I am thinking it is some combination of keys I am hitting on the right side where the right side ‘shfit’ would normally be, that is making the storm2 switch to Korean. I really need to figure this out.

  • ryan

    I figured out a temp. or workaround quick fix, I programmed F1 to take me to the options on Freedom Pro, so now when it swtiches, I just hit Function F1, change it back to English, and resume typing my message. Not idea, but much better/faster than losing the message I was working on, or tyring to save it to drafts…

    If you do figure out whats causing, please let me know, but at least I have confidence to take this on my next business trip now later this week.

    For the record, I love this keyboard.

    Ryan

  • http://www.freedominput.com Paul Bowles – Freedom Input

    @Ryan,

    Shift+Spacebar switches between English and Korean (just press Shift+space or Ctrl+FN+1 to switch back to English). The square boxes are coming up when you are typing because you dont have Korean fonts installed. The Space+Shift had been a safe toggle during user testing (nobody had accidentally switched) and needed to be included for the Korean marketplace.

    However I’m going to add an option into all of the drivers to disable it as if one person has hit the toggle accidentally then its likely someone else will too :) Check http://www.freedominput.com (news section at the bottom) as new driver releases will be announced here.

  • http://simplemobilereview.com Brent

    @Paul Thanks for the quick response. I am sure that is exactly the info that Ryan needed to make this work. We really appreciate your monitoring this conversation. I was very disappointed to see that your new driver blocks usage by the Universal 2 keyboard. Oh well. Maybe I will have to upgrade. :-)

  • Ryan

    Shift+Space ! Thank you! That is it! That is what I was doing, I just tested it. I looked everywhere yesterday online to try to figure out this shortcut, blackberry sites, crackberrys sites, message boards, and forums, nobody knew it. Thank you!

    Ryan

  • john

    Dear Mr. Bowles,
    HTC Desire
    I’ve been following your instructions of May 13th, http://www.simplemobilereview.com/android-keypro-and-bluetooth-keyboards/, on my new freedom pro keyboard but I’ve been unsuccessful so far.
    I get all the way to connect…. but it will not. I have the downlaoded drivers, the driver notification occurs (I click on it but it never goes away), I get to freedom pro settings, press connect… but it never changes to disconnect. Any other suggestions? I’ve installed the drivers a second time. but no luck. turned off the keyboard and phone. still will not connect.
    The Desire runs 2.1 update1
    Thanks!
    john

  • http://www.freedominput.com Paul Bowles – Freedom Input

    @John.

    Hi, I think I may have mentioned on here before but there are a couple of Android devices that are giving us problems. On the 1.5/1.6 drivers its the HTC Hero and Eris. On the 2.0/2.1 drivers sadly its the Desire/incredible. It is something we are investigating at the moment. If you could please give me the kernal version and build number it will help us to trouble shoot this.

    Sorry I do not have an immediate solution for you. It seems like there is inconsistencies in the way the bluetooth is implemented across Android devices. We are still investigating this and trying to work on a solution.

    • john

      Paul,
      Many thanks for your continued efforts. I’ve sent the info to the support area on your site.

  • Miles

    @Paul Bowles: Just FYI – I installed the beta drivers for the Freedom Pro on my Motorola Droid (Android 2.1) and it’s FANTASTIC, so far. It runs perfectly–no problems so far. The only thing it’s missing, however, is a key mapped to the camera button (which ConnectBot uses as an ESCAPE key for terminal). SK2 seems to work as the action button (CTRL) in ConnectBot and all my complaints about the space bar problems and other weird quirks all seem to be GONE. Thanks for the Android drivers!!

    Here’s s small list of requests/questions:
    Map a key to the camera somewhere (and/or map ESC to the escape character)
    A way to get a CTRL combination to provide a mapping to a CTRL+character? (ie: CTRL+C)
    In lieu of CTRL+C mapping, maybe provide a way to assign hardware buttons to keys (like CTRL)
    I noticed what might be a bug. The ‘ and ” keys (possibly others) aren’t providing raw keypresses to the ‘ and ” characters, but instead seem to put out a series of characters to represent them (unicode?) so in a terminal, they end up creating a mess instead of characters

    Feel free to let me know if there’s any way I can help out with testing.

    Thanks!

  • Brian

    I’ve ordered a Freedom Pro Keyboard and am eagerly awaiting it.

    I’m (hopefully) going to be using it on a new HTC Evo G Android (2.1 OS).

    Any word if your drivers work on it? How about Key Pro’s drivers?

    Have you heard about what word processing apps work best with your keyboard? I’m thinking of purchasing “Docs to Go”

    • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Rod

      I use Office HD with Google Docs. We would love to hear if it works with your Evo so please let us know. If it does not please post the following to help @Paul from freedom track down the issue

      “If you could please send me the firmware and kernel version numbers it will help to narrow down what is causing the problem.”

      Forgive my comment above I was thinking about my iPad when i was typing

  • http://www.freedominput.com Paul Bowles – Freedom Input

    @Brian I used Docs to Go a lot on my BlackBerry and it works great. Not tried it on the Android platform yet though and there might be better options available there.

    @Miles – Thanks a lot for your comments. Unfortunately we are kind of limited in how much we can do with shortcut keys and key mapping under the Android platform at the moment. Some things we just can’t emulate/recreate from the keyboard and others we have to do in a not so simple way (which is why you are getting the unicode characters in Terminal). These are things that we are looking at though and will continue to work on. Hopefully as future Android OS updates roll out we will get more development tools to work with which will make it easier :)

  • Miles

    @Paul Bowles:
    Understandable. Thank you and please pass on my thanks to your associates for me–I’m sure that for every ONE of us you hear from, there are many more who are thankful and haven’t communicated it.

  • http://will.crosscutcommunications.com Will Reichard

    Miles, you can add another thanks from me. Even though I’m now on my second Android phone that won’t work with this (Incredible), I am tremendously impressed by the developer’s engagement here.

    On a rhetorical side note: What the heck is up with phone makers not wanting people to use bluetooth keyboards? It seems like that would be a huge selling point. Ah, well.

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