More years ago than I care to remember, I went to secretarial school. I was the only guy in my glass and I was, shall we say, victimized somewhat. However, whilst I wasn’t at the head of my glass for typing I was in the top three (editor: you were third?!). And I’ve used a portable wireless keyboard right from my Palm III days to my current plethora of devices. In the last couple of years I’ve settled on a less portable, but more robust, solution in the shape of an Apple Bluetooth wireless desktop keyboard, as every other keyboard I’ve used has lasted a few weeks longer than the twelve month warranty before dying. However, my Apple wireless keyboard isn’t the most portable of devices. It’s longer than my Chromebook so requires a certain sized bag to bring it with me. This is where a product such as the WayTool’s three-piece TextBlade keyboard can drop right into place, or rather, into my pocket because it’s tiny!
The TextBlade is a smarter kind of keyboard and consists of four keys per side. Each key features multitouch functionality so that it better understands what you’re supposed to be typing. The touch functionality includes using the edges of the space bar to activate symbols, numbers and you can use particular keyboard combinations to access certain functions such as copy, paste, undo and redo. So far, so good but what does the keyboard feel like in use? According to WayTools, these keys are full travel and as any typist will tell you, this is important. Also, instead of squeezing your fingers onto small keys, with the TextBlade there’s more space for your fingers so it’s a more spacious typing experience compared with most traditional keyboards. One of the videos shows somebody typing at over a hundred words per minute, which I’d love to try myself – the whole package folds down into an object way smaller than most modern Android flagship smartphones and goes for a month to a charge! On the Android side of things, it’s compatible with Android 4.4 Kit Kat and above.
The TextBlade is $99 and there are a couple of optional extras available, one being a device stand and another being a second charger adapter (that fits into the device, which makes it much less likely that it’ll be lost). You can also extend the standard twelve month warranty by another two years for just $9 and if you buy one this month (January), WayTools will provide an elementary school with another free of charge. Unfortunately, the keyboard is on backorder until March, but this is easily the smartest keyboard that I’ve seen for a long, long time. Meanwhile, check out the YouTube clip and gallery below.
