Comments on: Review: SnapNType T111 for m500 Series

TT Tech Limited recently released the SnapNType mini-keyboard for the Palm m500 and m505. The keyboard clips onto the bottom of the Palm, covering the hardware buttons, and allowing the user to type with their thumbs. News Editor Ed Hardy has this review.

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Does it fit on the m125?

montyburns @ 1/17/2002 3:33:00 PM #

"I say "should" because while the i705 uses the Universal Connector, I don't know exactly how thick it is. If it's too thick, the SnapNType won't fit around it. "

Did you try to fit it onto the m125?

thx

I like my Palm!

RE: Does it fit on the m125?

Ed @ 1/17/2002 3:35:18 PM #

Sorry, it will not work with the m125.

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News Editor

palm makes it

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/17/2002 3:48:45 PM #

palm is making one for the i705. the keys work great on it too. in fact there will be a nice bundle to get it for a good price.

palminsider@yahoo.com

RE: palm makes it

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/17/2002 4:53:07 PM #

do you know if palm will be making a snap-on keyboard for the m500 series as well? i've been thinking about getting one, but the seiko thumpad looks a little iffy, and this one isn't quite perfect (i realize i should maybe lower my expectations a bit, but, oh well), and i have a feeling anything made by palm might better integrate with the handheld and maintain the form factor as much as possible. thickening up my m505 isn't exactly on the top of my todo list.

RE: palm makes it

mikecane @ 1/17/2002 5:13:52 PM #

Targus makes a keyboard that fits on the *bottom* of the m505. Adds height, not thickness.

How much faster than Graffiti?

Scott @ 1/17/2002 4:44:32 PM #

Ed, did you find this to be much faster than Graffiti, or just a little bit faster?

RE: How much faster than Graffiti?

Ed @ 1/17/2002 4:59:59 PM #

In some not terribly scientific tests, about 15% faster. With Graffiti I average about 25 words per minute; with the SnapNType somewhere around 30. With the Stowaway, its over 50. Like I said, really unscientific.tests, though.

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News Editor

How does the Orange button work?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/17/2002 4:58:21 PM #

Thanks for the great review, it looks promising. My only concern would be entering telephone numbers which could become tedious after a while. How does the Orange button work, is it a sticky toggle like a caps lock, or it is a single modification like a shift key? Thanks.

P.S. Ed- I have been unable to post while logged in for quite some time. I get a page not found error. Any ideas? Thanks.

RE: How does the Orange button work?

Ed @ 1/17/2002 5:23:31 PM #

The Orange button isn't sticky. You can't push it and have it stay down. The closest you can get is you can hold it down so you don't have to push it down once for each number you want to enter. I wonder if TT Tech could edit the driver in such a way that two pushes of the Orange button kept it selected, like the Caps Lock does.

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News Editor

How does it compare to the Targas?

Cheetah @ 1/17/2002 5:41:24 PM #

Is the SnapNType better then the Targas Thumboard?

RE: How does it compare to the Targas?

Ed @ 1/17/2002 9:53:12 PM #

Sorry, I haven't tried them both so I can't really compare them. But I can suggest you read this review Pepper did of the ThumBoard:
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2779

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News Editor

DOnt you ever consider Targus

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/18/2002 9:21:05 PM #

I just returned my targus for m505..its just out of balance and too thing to type on. I feel a constant weight on the palm making me grip the thin thumboard so that it wont flip and drop my palm.

consider the snapntype or Seiko thumboards.. and also exclude fellowes thumbaord since its bsically the same as of the targus.

graph

RE: How does it compare to the Targas?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/22/2002 4:09:26 AM #

Hey, guys, if you want to have a zero-weight Palm keyboard, maybe you should consider using Silkyboard or something like this? I use it - the speed is about 35 wpm. And no problem with any cases.

Will it fit over the Slipper case?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/17/2002 6:18:33 PM #

Any idea if it's too snug a fit to go over the slipper case? It looks nice, but if my Palm has to undress to play with it, it weighs more in favour of grafitti or stowaway for small or large amounts of text entry respectively. If this won't work with the Palm-supplied case, presumably it's blocking the left silo, and no case will work with it, which seems a bit of a design flaw.

Ian Davenport

Seiko ThumBoard comparison

Jeffrey @ 1/17/2002 7:35:49 PM #

I have a Seiko-Austin ThumBoard for my 505 and in general like it; as Ed says of the SnapNType its faster and more accurate than Graffiti for short notes (especially in crowded meetings when you don't have a desk space for the fold-away keyboard).

But I have several complaints with the ThumBoard; the driver is lame - it seems to conflict with a lot of stuff and doesn't turn itself off, so I keep it manualy off unless I attach the ThumBoard.

Secondly, attaching the ThumBoard gives the 505 an odd balance, it gets very top heavy. Since the letter keys are towards the middle/bottom of the ThumBoard, this makes it hard to balance the 505 in your hands and thumb-type without cramping your thumbs very quickly.

The SnapNType looks much better to me in this aspect, since it puts the letter keys in the upper part of the keyboard where it seems your thumbs would natually rest.

The ThumBoard doesn't have smiley faces and handles all punctuation (except the period) the same way as the SnapNType - a Fn function key is used to access all of the yellow secondary functionsfor every key (and there's a lot!). It looks like the ThumBoard may have more functions on the keyboard than the SnapNType, i.e. cancel, edit, done, new, plus it has 4 arrow keys in the + pattern that make it easy to navigate text documents w/o touching the screen.

I'm probably going to try out the SnapNtype, just because the layout of the keys looks like it will be much more comfortable to type on that the ThumBoard.

RE: Seiko ThumBoard comparison

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/17/2002 11:12:25 PM #

I have a thumboard as well. My only problem with it is that the caps button does not work on several of my favorite apps like documents to go. Very annoying and, had I known about it beforehand, I would not have bought it. I emailed the company and they never bothered to answer.

Wonder if this one is any better?

Seiko ThumBoard comparison

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/18/2002 12:33:10 AM #

We have gone sweating through the comparison in our lab.
The Thumboard driver is throughout buggy - we had a lot of trouble when we compared the thumboard with the snapntype.

The snapn type driver is clean and the product get our full recommendation – we have to warn our readers to use the ThumBoard. At least on the international machines not only does the stuff not work – it does send a lot of data to the great data Manitu.

After experiencing on all our machines dataloss we contacted the producer. He put the blame on us – claiming that the driver for the thumboard has to be installed only on a "clean” machine – e.g. absolutely NO other program s and NO hack running – but "not running” is not perfect enough for the Seiko keyboard – every other program must be deleted as well. It is not sufficient to deactivate hacks – they have to be removed from the machine for good in order the ThumBoard to work.

We only wonder how a decent company spending so much on advertisement and not having the few bucks or lack of interest for a programmer fixing that buggy driver.

Contrary - we give SnapNType the highest mark in our upcoming Palmtop-Pro edition 28 – due on the day of the CEBIT opening 12.03.2002.
The stuff is close perfect – the driver is a dream.

Boris von Luhovoy
Palmtop-pro Magazine
www.palmtop-pro.com

RE: Targas and Seiko comments

Cheetah @ 1/18/2002 1:05:15 AM #

I have both the Seiko and Targas units. Following are my brief observations of both:

Seiko Thumbboard - Covers graffitti area, and rides so high that I have to take it out of my case to use it (which is a problem for me, as my case fits tightly in the left rail). Keyboard has a light touch which makes it easy to type, but also easy to hit the wrong key.

Targas Thumbpad - Seems to think that I'm hotsyncing when I attach it, and sometimes can't get it to work. I guess the driver has a few problems, as my Palm is very clean (no hacks). Keyboard is more like a Blackberry- ie. firm, which I like.

My preference is the Targas unit, if not for the driver issue. Perhaps the SnapNType is better then both.

Where?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/22/2002 9:29:22 AM #

Ed,

Any idea where this is available for the m505? The palmgear site has the visor version and the others have the pocket pc Compaq version. Maybe I have become thumboard shopping challenged but I do not think so.

Thanks

RE: Where?

Ed @ 1/22/2002 1:07:50 PM #

I sent an message to my contact with the company asking this question. They are in Taiwan so it will be tomorrow at the earliest before I hear back from them.

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News Editor

RE: Where?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/23/2002 5:03:33 AM #

Please try the following link to purchase the SnapNType

http://www.mobilefanatic.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=TT111

RE: Where?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/25/2002 1:07:18 PM #

The Snap-N-Type T111 for the m500 series are shipping from stock. We recieved our shipment late yesterday.

http://www.mobilefanatic.com

Mike
MobileFanatic.com

What is the purpose of it flipping around the back?

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/22/2002 9:58:04 AM #

You even post a picture of this.

thanks

RE: What is the purpose of it flipping around the back?

Ed @ 1/22/2002 1:08:31 PM #

This makes it attach more securely to the handheld. It has been designed to allow you hold the keyboard in your hands and type with your thumbs. Without the back support, the handheld might come loose, damaging the HotSync port.

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News Editor

Will this fit on my Palm Vx?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/28/2002 10:46:29 AM #

I think the form factors are about the same -- do you think it'd work?

RE: Will this fit on my Palm Vx?

Ed @ 3/28/2002 10:50:18 AM #

Sorry, no. The HotSync ports on the m500 series and the V series are completely different shapes. This means you can't plug the keyboard into your handheld.

I'd suggest you take a look at the Fellowes PDA Pocket Keyboard. It isn't quite the same thing but there is a V series version.
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2244

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News Editor