A week or so ago, I needed to write a somewhat lengthy email while on the road. I have a BlackBerry 7100T and as many of you know, the 7100 series BlackBerry devices don’t have a full QWERTY keyboard so typing long emails is a bit more difficult than on a traditional BlackBerry. Instead of using my BlackBerry to compose this email, I whipped out my laptop, then used my 7100T as a GPRS modem so that I could send the message.
This got me to thinking… “Maybe a Bluetooth keyboard would be the way to go.” Needless to say, I bought a Bluetooth keyboard for my BlackBerry 7100T. Now that I have this Bluetooth keyboard, I really have to ask myself if it’s really worth it. It is virtually impossible to use unless I am sitting at a table and quite honestly, it is just as easy for me to pull my laptop out when I am sitting at a table. I am a CrackBerry Addict, but if you gave me the choice between a BlackBerry and and a laptop for composing email the laptop wins hands down, when I am sitting at a table. (Can you say spell-check?)
When I bought the Bluetooth keyboard I decided to write a blog post about how great this neat little gizmo is and how it increased my productivity dramatically but honestly, am seriously contemplating returning it and getting my money back. Don’t get me wrong. It works, and does exactly what it is supposed to do. I just don’t know how useful it is to me.
To be fair and make sure that I was just not seeing the bigger picture when it comes to Bluetooth keyboards, I created threads on BlackBerry Forums and Howard Forums just to see if my opinion that Bluetooth keyboards are cool gadgets but not at all worth the money was shared by other BlackBerry users. Out of all the responses, only one person said that they use a Bluetooth keyboard when taking notes in meetings. Most other commenters felt that the devices where just not practical.