IBM Keyboard adventure

The IBM Keyboard was rumored for a few months before it hit the streets. We saw it pop up a few times here and there, one of which was on Kevin's doorstep. While we never really had any hands-on time with it, we pretty much knew what to expect. We've been itching for a BlackBerry Bluetooth keyboard and now we have one. The case itself is a reimagined BlackBerry PlayBook Convertible Case. It has the same basic design and is a bit fatter. Open it up, and you will see that the top holds your BlackBerry PlayBook and the bottom sports a mini Bluetooth keyboard. On the back cover you'll find a "kickstand" that holds the case and PlayBook up in "viewing mode".



This I found a mixed bag as there is really only one position - you can't adjust the angle at all really which is kind of a drag. I suppose you can get used to having it as is, but if you want to move IBM Keyboard at all, you'll have to MacGuyver it somehow. It does sit at an angle you'd expect for most things you'll need to do, but say if you're in the sun or just need to move it up or down, you can't easily manage that.



The IBM Keyboard is obviously not the biggest, so those of us with fat fingers may have some difficulty typing on it. I'll admit it was really difficult at first to type on the small keys. I found myself crouching my hands and using more of a "hunt and peck" method of typing. I kept at it for a while (I wrote most of this review with it) and was able to adjust after some time. It takes your hands a bit of time to get used to the smaller surface area of each key, and I also found myself moving my hands up to hit the space bar (rather than just my thumbs) which I found annoying. After about an hour or so I warmed up to the layout and was able to type much quicker than at the start. Once you get the hang of it you'll be speeding right along.