The product page for the iTiny Bluetooth keyboard asks the question “Who honestly likes using the Keyboard offered on their iPhone?”
Well, I do for one. That is to say that I prefer it over a physical QWERTY. To be perfectly honest, I use Dragon Dictation most of the time, so I’m not really doing much typing on my iPhone period.
That having been said, why would I use one of these mini Bluetooth keyboards to type on my iPhone? The answer is, I wouldn’t.
Sure, typing on the iPhone could be better if Apple added some sort of Swype technology or, better yet, integrated voice recognition directly into email and SMS, but at least I can type fairly fast in landscape mode—even with my giant hands. This is iTiny’s fundamental problem. The keys aren’t very responsive. They feel kind of like something you would find on a TV remote, so you really have to mash the button to generate a keystroke. That, and the close proximity of the buttons slowed my typing down to a crawl.
Of course, this sort of thing is a matter of preference. That’s why they still make phones with QWERTY keyboards after all. However, the iTiny doesn’t seem to be on par with even those keyboards in terms of typing performance. Besides, it’s just another thing to carry around.
On the plus side, the iTiny is a full-featured keyboard for it’s size and it pairs via Bluetooth quickly and easily. It’s also compatible with a wide range of devices.
The bottom line is that I can’t see much use for the iTiny paired with a phone—but a tablet or gaming console might be another story. Then again, for the price you could get a decent full-sized Bluetooth keyboard.
Product Page ($61)
