PinePhone Keyboard update [April 24/04]

[bluekeys]

I've ordered one and it's on its way. Very excited!

[bcnaz]

It works pretty well, but it is beta... already some posts about the function keys not properly displaying..

But I am sure a firmware update will be on its way soon.

The Keyboard is fun, it does have positive and negative aspects, I see one is already for sale on the forum.

A big plus is the fact that the keyboard has a battery twice the size of the Pinephone battery, adding them together will triple your current runtime !

I do like mine,
..... but it is a whole bunch bigger with the keyboard attached. The size will "turn-off" a lot of people

[bcnaz]

Add :
seems to not charge while turned on and plugged in ? ----> it just holds at about the same level as when I plugged in.

When I had it turned off, it charged completely in about 2 hours.

When I turned it on the following morning, - after being un-plugged all night, it still showed 100% charged.

--> Running Mobian/Bookworm with all updates

[sandspur]

I am now the proud owner of a Pinephone and new keyboard. My first impressions are generally favorable but I have a couple of observations about possible improvements.

The convergence kit/docking bar does not seem to work for accessing USB devices like mice or printers --- through the port on the Pinephone. If you connect the docking bar to a red power cable and plug into the keyboard it will take a charge.

When using apps on the computer which need keyboard input a virtual/on-screen keyboard is present even though the physical keyboard is in place. With Mobian there is a mini keyboard icon you can touch and the on-screen keyboard disappears. Getting rid of it over and over again (like when browsing the Internet) can be very tiresome and distracting. With the keyboard attached it would be helpful to have NO on-screen keyboard.

I do not know how difficult it would be to remedy this situation.

Great praise to all involved in bringing the keyboard into existence.

sandspur
running Mobian Bookworm with current updates

[ragreenburg]

I am now the proud owner of a Pinephone and new keyboard. My first impressions are generally favorable but I have a couple of observations about possible improvements.

The convergence kit/docking bar does not seem to work for accessing USB devices like mice or printers --- through the port on the Pinephone. If you connect the docking bar to a red power cable and plug into the keyboard it will take a charge.

When using apps on the computer which need keyboard input a virtual/on-screen keyboard is present even though the physical keyboard is in place. With Mobian there is a mini keyboard icon you can touch and the on-screen keyboard disappears. Getting rid of it over and over again (like when browsing the Internet) can be very tiresome and distracting. With the keyboard attached it would be helpful to have NO on-screen keyboard.

I do not know how difficult it would be to remedy this situation.

Great praise to all involved in bringing the keyboard into existence.

sandspur
running Mobian Bookworm with current updates

Go into your accessibility settings in Phosh to turn off on screen keyboard. There's a thread on here about it. Maybe make an issue on the Phosh Gitlab because I would bet they don't come to the Pine64 forums looking for bugs.

[sandspur]

I am now the proud owner of a Pinephone and new keyboard. My first impressions are generally favorable but I have a couple of observations about possible improvements.

The convergence kit/docking bar does not seem to work for accessing USB devices like mice or printers --- through the port on the Pinephone. If you connect the docking bar to a red power cable and plug into the keyboard it will take a charge.

When using apps on the computer which need keyboard input a virtual/on-screen keyboard is present even though the physical keyboard is in place. With Mobian there is a mini keyboard icon you can touch and the on-screen keyboard disappears. Getting rid of it over and over again (like when browsing the Internet) can be very tiresome and distracting. With the keyboard attached it would be helpful to have NO on-screen keyboard.

I do not know how difficult it would be to remedy this situation.

Great praise to all involved in bringing the keyboard into existence.

sandspur
running Mobian Bookworm with current updates

Go into your accessibility settings in Phosh to turn off on screen keyboard. There's a thread on here about it. Maybe make an issue on the Phosh Gitlab because I would bet they don't come to the Pine64 forums looking for bugs.

Thanks for the keyboard tip, regreenburg.

---

Ooops. Make that ragreenburg.

[ragreenburg]

I am now the proud owner of a Pinephone and new keyboard. My first impressions are generally favorable but I have a couple of observations about possible improvements.

The convergence kit/docking bar does not seem to work for accessing USB devices like mice or printers --- through the port on the Pinephone. If you connect the docking bar to a red power cable and plug into the keyboard it will take a charge.

When using apps on the computer which need keyboard input a virtual/on-screen keyboard is present even though the physical keyboard is in place. With Mobian there is a mini keyboard icon you can touch and the on-screen keyboard disappears. Getting rid of it over and over again (like when browsing the Internet) can be very tiresome and distracting. With the keyboard attached it would be helpful to have NO on-screen keyboard.

I do not know how difficult it would be to remedy this situation.

Great praise to all involved in bringing the keyboard into existence.

sandspur
running Mobian Bookworm with current updates

Go into your accessibility settings in Phosh to turn off on screen keyboard. There's a thread on here about it. Maybe make an issue on the Phosh Gitlab because I would bet they don't come to the Pine64 forums looking for bugs.

Thanks for the keyboard tip, regreenburg.

---

Ooops. Make that ragreenburg.

For sure. For other info on the keyboard check the Pine phone Accessories thread that you might want to check out.

[bcnaz]

The settings thru --> Accessibility > Typing > screen keyboard work good per session, * but this reverts to 'ON' during a reboot.

But this can be handy, if you need a keyboard and you have removed the hardware keyboard.

[sandspur]

"but this reverts to 'ON' during a reboot." I noticed that after a reboot. I was thinking about complaining but I think it is a well chosen feature now.

[Merc]

I received my keyboard a few days ago and have not done much of any testing on it, it works for typing in characters at least. I had the issue with the pogo pins not connecting when putting on the back cover but once it popped in I've not had any problems. One strange thing I noticed which may have just been a coincidence is that when the keyboard battery was turned on the USB-C would not work on the phone until I turned the keyboard battery off. For example I plug in a USB-C dongle into the phone and connect a mouse, the mouse will not work when the keyboard battery is on. I thought it was strange and as I said it may have been a fluke. At this point I have the keyboard either way so whatever problems may come up I'm just gonna have to deal with them so I'm not overly inclined to do much testing. Whatever happens happens LOL.