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Wish you had a proper keyboard for your smartphone or tablet? Want to also use the same keyboard for your computer too? Then you might just love the Kensington Multi Device Wireless Compact Keyboard (model K75504US). Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ hooked up the Kensington wireless keyboard to his Gateway Notebook and iPhone 12 Pro and found lots to like about the keyboard. It can even easily switch between Mac and PC layouts. But there's a big interface problem with switching paired devices that is explored in detail and you'll want to hear all about it before making a purchase decision!
Note: I erroneously state that it utilizes 256-bit AES encryption but in fact the keyboard utilizes 128-bit AES encryption to keep your keystrokes private. FYI.
Check it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2KiBlaH
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Up your typing game with this wireless keyboard
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Let's check it out. Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this
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This is the Kensington multi-device wireless compact keyboard, and it's pretty nice
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It's also really thin and light. So, first question, anytime you're looking at a keyboard, is what's the keyboard layout
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So here's a close-up and you can see it's all laid out pretty nicely and it offers Mac and Windows keys for functions and
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commands and all of that now there are some issues with this but let me just say that it does three connections
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simultaneously to Bluetooth and one via its included dongle. Where's the dongle? Well, it's funny actually on the Amazon review
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people actually say that they couldn't find the dongle. Well, here's the dongle
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You open the battery compartment on the back, and there's the dongle hiding in the corner
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So I'll just pop it out, assuming it will come out, there we go
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And this is just like you'll find these a lot on wireless mice and stuff too
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It's just this tiny little USB3, and while this is open, let me point out it uses two AAA batteries
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and they're not, you know, they're not, you know, they're not, not rechargeable. They're just AAA batteries. Now, it comes with a pair, and my guess is that's
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going to last three to six months. But some people might prefer having a rechargeable option
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but if I actually didn't like the keyboard on, say, this gateway notebook, I could open it up
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And there's no pairing, there's no device driver. All I have to do is slip this little dongle
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into the USB on the side, and I'm good to go. So I can then use this keyboard with this computer
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But what if I want to do more than that? So via Bluetooth, I've paired it with my iPhone 12 Pro
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And once I have that all established, all I have to do is switch this to the Bluetooth channel
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And it'll be talking to my phone and then switch it back to the 2.4 gigahertz channel, which is what it uses with the dongle
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And then it'll be talking to the gateway. So I'm close to see a little better. And I just want to point out that when it's using the dongle, it's using 256 bit AES encryption
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So I guess someone could monitor your wireless keyboard but if they did it encrypted so they not going to get your passwords or anything I don know when that scenario would be relevant but I guess in a super high security environment Bluetooth it supports Bluetooth 3 and Bluetooth 5
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Given the option, pick the higher number if you can. And it does, like I said, three simultaneous connections
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And it has a really nice key feel. These are what are known as scissors keys
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So they have a real bounce to them. And obviously for something like my phone, and I'm going to go ahead and let's get it
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get this onto my phone. I just go into notes. That's the easiest way to test out typing
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But, you know, it is actually a really nice feel and obviously it's a whole lot faster and more
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efficient than tapping on your phone or your tablet too, right? So if you have an iPad or an
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Android tablet, it'll work with that. In fact, this works with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chromebooks
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Any device that can handle a Bluetooth keyboard is going to be fine
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And of course, if you have that USB, it's even easier to stick the dongle in and boom, you're ready to go
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Nice and convenient. Now, here's the real challenge with this. The documentation's kind of awful
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It's not only awful, but it's incorrect. So, for example, it shows the F10 key is the important one for things like pairing and switching
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And that's why it's great, right? You're wondering, why do they have that one key, a different
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color to all the others. Well, that's why it's really important, but it does nothing unless you
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also hold down the function key. And that is not at all clear in the documentation. So I spent
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a lot of time figuring out and just experimenting and honestly getting fairly frustrated with its
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inability to do what I wanted until I finally realized that you had to hold down both keys
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and to switch devices, you have to do a fairly quick but hard push
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So like that, right? So that is not documented. But if you do that, I would say about 75% of the time, it will step to the next device
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So a little annoying in terms of its interface experience, but once you get onto the correct device, it's a really nice keyboard
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Now, to start, there is an on-off switch on the top, which is good
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You don't want it to accidentally turn on. And then it actually will light up and it will show you
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I know this is too far, but there's a tiny flashing light that shows me which input I'm using
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So right now it's working with the dongle. But if I push function and F10 at the same time, no, nothing happened
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Let's try again. There we go So now it on Bluetooth 1 Now it on Bluetooth 2 And what you didn see is on my phone I hope you can see that I am typing in text Right So that working great And if I want to switch to my gateway or to a Windows computer then again I do function F10 That didn work Function F10
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basically it's sort of trial and error and maybe 75% working was optimistic
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There we go. So now it switched back to here. And on my phone suddenly the on screen keyboard shows up because iOS says
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oh, I don't have a Bluetooth keyboard attached. So you can pair things
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You can switch between devices live. It is not at all obvious how to do that
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My biggest criticism of this keyboard, and I really like the keyboard
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My biggest criticism is they have that on-off switch. For goodness sakes, charge me an extra dollar and have a little switch that lets me have which of the inputs I want
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And then I just switch that back and forth. This whole crazy function F10 is kind of for the birds
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It's really annoying. It's not consistent. And that's a really poor user experience, right
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So if you look at their reviews, people will say it doesn't actually live switch
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because they haven't figured this out yet. So it's just complicated. Now, I want to point out that on the bottom, as you saw in that close-up
7:00
there is the control and function and start slash alt-opt, and then alt and command
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So these do different things if you're on a Mac versus if you're on a Windows machine
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So how do you switch? You do function O, gets you to the Macintosh layout of the keys
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and function P get you to the Windows layout for the keys
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So if you're using this and you go to do something like Command C to copy and paste or something
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then it doesn't work. Just switch to make sure you're in the Macintosh mode and then it will work fine
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That was very smooth and 100% reliable. Every time I did it, it switched
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There's no visual indicator that's happened. It just does. So again, for something as simple as a keyboard
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it turns out that you do need some level of user interface. And the feedback mechanism and everything is probably in need of a little help
8:00
So it does have a light that shows you battery status. And when you turn it on, it will be green if you're good or red if you're running out of battery
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at which point you say hmm I better grab another pair of double or triple A right There another light that shows if you have caps lock set which is nice And then there the three lights that show which of the three inputs or three devices you
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connected to at that moment. So all of that's great. A switch, even right along the top here
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or something where it was like some way to be 100% sure that I've switched to that device
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And if I switch to a Bluetooth device where nothing's paired, then it would automatically go into pairing mode, right
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user interface 101 stuff, Kensington. You guys totally nailed the design of the keyboard
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It's a very attractive keyboard. It's obviously beautifully thin. It's easy to travel and portable
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The AAA batteries mean that you never have to worry about finding a charging outlet
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But, you know, if it's this much complexity switching from device to vice, that's going to
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frustrate people. So all doable, something to know about, something where you might say, oh, well
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Dave, I'm not going to get this one. On the other hand, I'll tell you it's really well priced and it's a
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really nice keyboard. Once you get it all configured properly, it's way more fun than typing on
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this little on-screen keyboard. So let's talk about the price. But before I get to the price
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let me ask if you can subscribe to my channel. It's that little red button on the lower right
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a tap or a click and you're subscribed. Thank you. Really appreciate when you do that
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So, all right, with all of that said and all of those caveats and everything
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let me tell you this is the Kensington multi-device wireless compact keyboard
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It comes in this silver color or in black. The black's pretty spiffy too
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And it's a very modest $299.99 at Amazon.com. That's a pretty solid price for a nice external keyboard
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that runs wirelessly, that supports its own wireless protocol if you don't want to use Bluetooth or you have a device
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that doesn't support Bluetooth and has a nice range to it, has a really great feel as a keyboard
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If they could just figure out that switching interface, that would just make this a thousand times better
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So now you got the full scoop. You can tell, I'm super honest with this stuff
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So take that and give me some feedback, give me some comments if you think that maybe I over-emphasize
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this issue or under emphasized it so let me know what you think and with that
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I'll hope to catch you in my next video
#Computer Hardware
#Computer Peripherals
#Laptops & Notebooks
#Consumer Electronics