Recently, I have had feedback from a number of readers on their experience with setting up the KeyPro Android bluetooth drivers. Interestingly enough, their experience has almost exactly mirrored my own. If you can fuss through it and get it setup (finally!), it works well for it’s intended purpose. However, if you never make it through that wall, it can become a nightmare. This has lead me to spent time on a regular basis in the MyMobileGear.com forums for KeyPro drivers. In the forums, there are active discussions around the drivers for the Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and the Android platforms.
During a recent browse, I came across another attempt to help clarify the process and I found some interesting additions that I had never seen before, and this is perhaps directly from the developer. This walk-through is so simple and complete that I think it bears repeating in whole here. The high-lights are mine:
KeyPro Not Connecting to Freedom Pro Keyboard on Droid
I found this that helped another user.
Installation:
- Download KeyPro from the Android Marketplace
Configuration:
- Open Android’s [settings\Locale & text]
- KeyPro should be an option in the list of [Text settings]
- Check the KeyPro option.
Pairing Keyboard:
- Open the Android Bluetooth manager: [settings\Wireless controls\Bluetooth settings]
- Place your Freedom Pro into HID mode (toggle to the right)
- Select the [Scan for devices].
- Select your keyboard and enter passkey.
- Passkey is usually [0000].
Configuring KeyPro driver:
- Open KeyPro [Settings] screen
- Select your [keyboard model]
- Select [Scan]
- Press [Menu] and select [Discover]
- {If you can’t see your keyboard, flip from HID to SPP and back to HID. Additionally, try turning the keyboard off and back on to get it to rediscover. Once it finds your MAC address, try to connect and it will fail (because it is in HID mode). Now switch to SPP and connect again- voila! It should be working now.}
- Select your keyboard from the list
- Exit and save.
Registering KeyPro:
- Open the KeyPro [Register] screen.
- Add a post to this forum thread and include your keyboard’s Bluetooth address.
- I need this address so I can generate your registration key.
- Enter the key provided to you.
Keyboard Connection:
- Provided you followed the steps above your keyboard should now connect to our KeyPro driver.
- Note: The above procedure will only have to be done once (1) time.
Using your keyboard:
To start using your keyboard you will need to bypass one more security item. (Brent: This is not really a security item. It is how Android allows you to select the default text entry option, as you can have several and switch between them.)
- Open the application you want to type into.
- Press and hold your finger on one of the input box if there are more than one select any one of them.
- An [Edit text] popup screen should appear.
- Select [Input Method] and select [KeyPro].
Now you are ready to use your keyboard. This last step only needs to done once. (Brent: Unless you want to switch back to another keyboard entry method; if so just repeat)
Let me know if this worked for you. For some reason it appears the Freedom Pro only does a true discovery mode in HID which is obviously not supported. However, once you get it to pair and discover once, you will be able to use the keyboard in SPP mode only which is the only supported method.
For those of you who have attempted to get the KeyPro drivers to work with the Freedom Pro keyboard, give this another try and let me know if the switching between SPP to HID to SPP trick works for you. In retrospect, this might have been what I accidently did to get mine to work.
Also, I have had a couple of requests for information on how to use the KeyPro drivers with the ChainPus (ChainPas) Smart Keyboard. Unfortunately, this is an older keyboard what I am not even sure is still in production, but it IS listed as supported by the KeyPro drivers on all three Mobile platforms. You might want to ask questions in the My Mobile Gear forums as well and see if anyone there is in a position to help.
I also discovered a nice tutorial on how to get the i.Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard working on the Android platform with the KeyPro drivers, if you want to attempt that. Let us know how all this works. Enjoy!