Hi Courtney and Scott,
I'll answer both your questions here.
If you take your iPod Touch out of the case (or slip off the bottom of
the case) to dock it on the iPad keyboard dock, then you don't need a
dock extender to use it with the keyboard. The only trade-off for you
is that you won't be able to plug in a headset into the headset jack,
since the bottom of the iPod Touch sits against the dock support.
That means that you won't be able to use the controls on the headset
with mic that came with your iPod Touch to control volume, track
navigation, and do voice control if you want to use a headset instead
of using the iPod Touch speaker. If you do plug in a headset (or good
audio speakers), you have to do it through the mini-jack in the base
of the iPad keyboard dock. Although this supplies quite good audio,
there's no volume control, and I find it a bit loud. That's why I
attach a control cable from Radio Shack in between. This is just a
short cable that plugs in between the mini-jack and my headset with
mic, so I can dial down the maximum volume that passes to the headset
on a geared wheel. You can only control playback, volume, etc. from a
headset if it's plugged directly into the headset jack of your iDevice.
Someone who wanted to use the iPad keyboard dock with an iPhone 4
might need or prefer to use a dock extender, however.
Scott asked:
"do you know how much of an impact there is on the battery of your
iPod Touch or maybe even an iPhone if leaving bluetooth on with all
the other stuff? I also think it would be nice if bluetooth could be
set to non-discoverable once you have a device paired, but that may
not have any affect on security or battery savings."
I haven't had a lot of experience with Bluetooth devices and the iPod
Touch. I have found that if the device is paired, I can go to the
Setting menu to check the device status, press the right side switch
on the Apple Wireless Keyboard (the round circle on the side opposite
the circle with a notch that allows you to open the device and load/
unload batteries), and turn pairing off (as well as turn the Wireless
Keyboard off). Then, when I turn my Wireless Keyboard on and turn
Bluetooth on for the iPod Touch, the device pretty much automatically
pairs (although I do double tap the keyboard among the discovered
devices just to be sure).
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
On Jul 1, 2010, Courtney Curran wrote:
Hi,
The thing is I plan to take mine out of the case, do I still need
the dock extender?
Thanks so much for the helpful info.
Courtney
On Jul 1, 2010, at 4:14 PM, Esther wrote:
Hi Courtney,
Congrats on your plans to get a keyboard dock to use with your iPod
Touch. I'll cc this post to the viphone list, since there are some
posters who have been interested in using the iPad keyboard dock
for the iPhone 3GS. I'm not sure whether the Apple Store will carry
dock extension cables, since that's the kind of item that may
depend on whether they have enough space to stock it while carrying
all the new iPads, iPhones, and their accessories. If you want
something like the Cable Jive "dockXtender" (weird spelling) that
Geoff posted about on the viphone list for use with the Otterbox
Defender cases, then my guess is that you'll have to go through the
manufacturer's order page:
http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockXtender.html
That recently released dock extender cable should work for every
case -- as opposed to a lot of cables that worked for nearly every
case -- just not the Otterbox Defender. Using the cable won't let
you take advantage of the iPad keyboard dock's ability to support
the iPod Touch on the base when docked. There are a number of iPod
Touch cases that allow you to slide a bottom portion of the case
off to dock, though. They include cases like the Griffin Wave and
the Incase Slider. On the other hand, using a dock extender cable
will allow you to use the headset and mic cables that come with the
iPod Touch to control your playback and use voice control, since
you can still access the headset jack at the bottom right of the
iPod Touch. This iPod Touch headset jack is covered up when the
iPod Touch sits in the dock, unlike the case for the iPhone 3GS and
iPad where the headset jack along the top right side of the device,
and so remains available even when the device is docked. If I'm
listening to audio from the iPod Touch through a headset, instead
of through the iPod Touch speakers, I'll connect my headset to the
mini-jack port in the support base of the iPad keyboard dock. That
won't allow me to control the volume and playback through the
headset controls, but I can use the keyboard controls to rewind,
play/pause, and fast forward, and I attach a volume control cable
that you can get from Radio Shack to dial down the volume. (I'm
not sure the link will work, but the product is "Gold-Plated Volume
Control Cable for Stereo Headphones", Model: 42-2559, Catalog #:
42-2559, with current price of $8.99, which seems more than I
paid.) Web URL is:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102975
When I use my iPad, I simply use the headset controls directly, or
the keyboard media controls for playback (F7, F8, and F9 positions
for rewind, play/pause, advance) and volume control (F10, F11, and
F12 positions for mute, decrease volume, increase volume), just as
on the Macbook keyboard. Since I'm more likely to use my iPad for
extensive note taking an typing, this isn't an issue. I don't
really need to have all the media controls through the headset mic
cable if I'm actively typing, and if I'm not typing large amounts
of text I'll pull the iPod Touch off of the dock. If you want more
portability you might want to get the Apple Wireless Keyboard. The
action of the keyboards is the same: these are both the relatively
flat, chiclet type keyboards used with the current generation
Macbook (Pro) laptops. Each key is separated, the "f" and "j" keys
have horizontal bars to distinguish them by touch, and the key
action has the relatively short travel distance of current laptop
keyboards. The keyboard dock does give you a few more keys, such
as the one to return to the home page, and the one to take you to
the search page (first two keys in the top row, starting at the
left).
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
On Jun 30, 2010, Courtney Curran wrote:
Hi,
I'm getting the Ipad keyboard dock this Friday to use with my Ipod
Touch this Friday. Before I go to the Apple store, do they have
the dock extention connector cable there, or will I have to wait
an agonizingly long time (smiles)?
Courtney
On Jun 30, 2010, Chris Moore wrote:
Thanks for that, but i really hope the Freedom i connex works as
it is foldable so it would be easier to caryy around with me if I
need to type a longer SMS or email. Shame the Apple keyboard was
not foldable. Actually I love the keyboard my imac uses, much
nicer then my laptop but that is way too big LOL
On 30 Jun 2010, at 18:30, Esther wrote:
Hi Chris,
I'm using the iPad keyboard dock with my iPod Touch, but here's
a link to an article reporting use of the iPad keyboard dock
with the iPhone 3GS at Slashgear:
http://www.slashgear.com/ios4-iphone-3gs-works-with-ipad-keyboard-dock-video-2290908/
There's an earlier post I wrote on "iPad keyboard options" that
has a link to the Gearlog diary entry about this, and also links
and excerpts to Dan Frakes' article evaluating both the iPad
keyboard dock and the Apple Wireless Keyboard:
http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg19393.html
There are some other considerations that I've discussed on the
viphone list. The keyboard dock is less portable than the
Wireless (BlueTooth) keyboard. In order to support the larger
iPad, it has a stabilizer base that extends out the back of the
keyboard, so it weighs nearly twice as much as the wireless
keyboard (21.4 ounces vs. 11.4 ounces, or 600 grams vs. 320
grams). It's about the size of the iPhone (very slightly
larger), and extends out from the middle of the keyboard so that
it supports the keyboard at a slight angle for easier typing.
The stabilizer base also supports the back of the iPod Touch or
iPad. It supports about the bottom third of my iPod Touch, as
it sits on the dock connector, and is very slightly wider than
the device.
Good points of the keyboard dock are: support in fixed position
makes it easy to alternate between typing and touching the
screen, dock has a connector that allows you to charge your
device while docked, and also has a standard 3.5 mm audio jack
connector that lets you connect up to audio system or speakers
(or, you could plug in your headset).
Possible issues: you can't use a case on the bottom of the
device that you dock (not a problem for me, since my iPod Touch
case can slide the bottom half off), less portable (because of
weight and shape), probably not optimal for docking the new
iPhone 4 (because of the different shape design and thickness).
Also, the iPhone speaker is at the bottom of the device, so I
don't know how this would work if receive a call while typing.
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
On Jun 30, 2010, Chris Moore wrote:
Does the iPad keyboard dock work with the iPhone?
On 30 Jun 2010, at 16:42, Esther wrote:
Hi Thuy, Donna, and Erik,
Can you really do page up and page down on the Braille
Display? I'd be interested to see a list of the navigation
capabilities of the Braille devices. I'm writing up a summary
of keyboard shortcuts for the Apple Wireless Keyboard and iPad
Keyboard Dock. These are mostly the movement and selection
commands you are familiar with, but none of the Fn key
combinations that work on the Macbook to page up or page down
(Fn+Up or Down Arrow), or to forward delete (Fn+Delete) work
with these keyboards. This may be a decision, since the iPad
Keyboard Dock doesn't have the Fn key. What's interesting is
that the shortcut combination of Command-Space bar to switch
input language keyboards works with these keyboards. (This
shortcut key combination is in the list by Jacob Rus of Cocoa
keybindings, and predates the existence of Spotlight, which
was also assigned this shortcut.)
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/system-bindings.html
The only thing is, if you want to switch to language with non-
Roman letters, such as Russian (cyrillic characters), Greek,
or Japanese, you'd better set your language rotor to "Default"
if you want to hear these options announced. (And I'm really
happy there is a language rotor in iOS4.)
Erik, you can't assign new keys under iOS4, so unless there's
a way to remap the key assignments on the Braille devices, I
don't think you can customize shortcut key combinations.
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
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