QQ-Tech Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard – Product Review

One of the main obstacles to the wider adoption of “smart” TVs and entertainment center PCs is the lack of convenient and accessible user interface. The traditional remote controls are very limited in their capacity, the touch-screen input is obviously out of question, smartphone apps tend to be buggy and slow, and we are still some time away from a truly effective voice input. There are several good wireless keyboards on the market right now, but most of them tend to be too big and bulky for the intimate space of one’s living room. This mini Bluetooth keyboard seems to be as close to the ideal solution as they come. Indeed, it has a lot going for it, but it’s not entirely without its problems.

I’ve tested this keyboard with a couple of devices: Mac Mini and iPad. Pairing with both of those devices was smooth and quick. However, my Mac did not recognize the keyboard in its own right – I guess this is still a pretty obscure company and Apple doesn’t have them listed in their system. Nonetheless, even though it was not “officially” recognized, my keyboard worked well with my Mac. Pairing it with the iPad, on the other hand, was even smoother and it didn’t cause any issues.

The keyboard’s layout follows more or less the standard QWERTY configuration. However, the keyboard includes both Mac OS as well as Windows specific keys. This causes the keyboard to feel a bit cluttered, but it still more or less works as advertised.

The trackpad on the right side of the keyboard is big and effective enough to use with just your thumb. Obviously, this keyboard is not very lefty-friendly, but even so it’s not hard to get used to this mode of navigation with either thumb. The only slight problem I noticed with the trackpad was the occasional random highlighting of text as I hovered with my mouse over it.

The biggest issue with this keyboard is the relative location of the trackpad compared to the rest of the keyboard. I found that it’s almost impossible to “thumb type” with my right hand. I would definitely not want to use this keyboard to type in any extended amount of text, but for quick textual entry it works more or less fine.

The keyboard feels well built. It looks elegant enough and it’s also very lightweight. It will definitely feel at place in any living or entertainment room. It might fit all too well though – you may have to worry about yet another “remote” getting lost or misplaced all the time now.

Cool little accessory/gadget that, despite its shortcomings, has an important role to play in the modern hyper-connected home.

 

Bojan Tunguz

Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts

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