Testing the iPhone iClever BK05 combo

Published → 5 years ago
3 min read

go straight to the short review

picture of my view

What to do when you have a few minutes to spare before an appointment? Actually there are a lot of things I normally do but today I find myself sitting, alone, in the sun, in a very very busy cafeteria. I just had to share this sudden found bliss – and what better way to do that while testing my fairly new BK05 keyboard. Well a better way would be to enjoy the delicious food they serve here but.. its not time to eat yet.

Anyway.

I have lots of keyboards at home. Lots of wired ones, some wireless, the default Apple Bluetooth ones, a mechanical one, a .. well you get the picture: I have a lot of keyboards. I type a lot. An with my illness typing can be a challenge. When I bought the first iPad, I bought an Apple BT keyboard to go with it. But that was clumsy. I took this combo with me the first time I went to London. Tried to use it on the train, but it failed miserably. Didn’t pair, then it did but it suddenly lost connection. It proved to be a cumbersome thing to pack. Why more trouble than its worth. In to the drawer it went. I took my MacBook next time.

When the iPad Pro came round, I jumped on it: the pencil is just marvellous! Finally the quest for a digital paper-a-like was over! I bought the Smart Keyboard as well. God that was a mistake. It’s not only ugly, but it doesn’t work that well. It’s not nice to type on at all. It doesn’t have backlight. And to make it worse, the lettering isn’t white. I can type blind but still need help with special chars and my fingers just wandered to much. I took my MacBook with me, it could do more in the end and just typed better. I gave up on finding a mobile typing solution.

But I dunno – I guess it kept nagging; some kind of missed feeling: I wanted to be able to write on the go. Preferably without the added weight & bulk of the MacBook. I wanted a solution that could go with me everywhere – that worked with my iPhone. On a wimp I bought the iClever BK05 keyboard. The reviews where a bit mixed. But well something just felt right.

TL:DR;

Positive

  • Broadcom Bluetooth chip. These chips are the holy grail of BT
  • Backlight
  • QWERTY US
  • Foldable and lightweight but still a full keyboard

Negative

  • A small e-ink display would be nice to see battery level, connection strength etc
  • Blindly pushing FN+{key} for the special settings and connections

 

Experience

Connecting

This is actually the second time of me using it. First time with the WordPress app. I paired it once and it just connects/ disconnects automatically like it should when unfolding/folding. There are some issues with the language setting, but that’s software. I use a Dutch virtual keyboard and an English one – that way I can get the right autocorrect. This always causes when switching to a hardware keyboard b/c you cannot see the language setting anymore. For some reason this keyboard didn’t trigger the language popup when using the fn+globe shortcut. Not sure why.

Typing

Very very comfortable. Not as good as my code mechanical keyboard – but it closely resembles the MacbookPro retina one. Has the same size, full keys and the correct finger guidance helping things.

Lightning

In full daylight and very sunny conditions the background light isn’t visible.

tbc.