as the thread title states, i need advice on picking out a bluetooth keyboard for the blackstone.
these are my requirements:
- it must contain a rechargeable battery, i don't want to fumble around with AAA batteries
- it should have a mini-usb connector for charging, so that i can use the same cable for charging the blackstone and the keyboard (micro usb would be ok too, same as my bluetooth handsfree)
- it must be capable of standard bluetooth HID profile, i don't want to be required to install drivers on every device i have
- it should have US-english key layout (i am used to it from my pc and wwe roms) and still be available in germany
- it must either have dedicated arrow keys and/or be capable of accepting two keys at a time (think of game emulators, mario should be able to run and jump at the same time, so jumping in a direction and not straight up)
actually, the last point is my main reason of buying a bluetooth keyboard, to compensate the blackstone's lack of hardware keys and multi-touch through a keyboard, that should provide "multi-touch" (multiple keys pressed).
since the blackstone's microsoft bluetooth stack seems to be unable to connect to wiimotes/ps3 sixaxis controllers with cobaltcontroller and those controllers are even more expensive than bluetooth keyboards, i thought i'd hit double jeopardy by going this way.
long story short: can anyone tell me, whether these keyboards are any good:
http://www.amazon.de/Hebron-Bluetoo...U5MK/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1300287867&sr=8-9
http://www.pearl.de/a-PX2563-1002.shtml?query=bluetooth+keyboard
i know there are also a lot of chinese knock-offs around with very poor quality, but i also don't want to spend 90eur on a logitech dinovo mini. if any of you can name a good quality keyboard for less than 50eur, please feel free to suggest.
ok, resolved.
i bought that hebron keyboard and here is my report to help others decide:
the keyboard has a US-english layout and comes with an internal rechargeble (not replaceable) battery with 950mAh, which, according to the retailers is enough for 30 days of casual from-time-to-time typing. it has a micro-usb connector for charging, comes with a usb charging cable. it came pre-charged and after another 30 min. of charging it was full. pairing was relatively easy, just turn it on in visible mode, on the device look for bluetooth devices, pair it using the code 0000 on the device and the keyboard and they are paired up. all further connections are automatic, when your device has bluetooth switched on, just switch on the keyboard and it immediately works.
since the rubber keys need to be pressed rather deeply, while typing sms, emails or word documents it might be slightly slower than the onscreen keyboard, but buttons are bigger and it is way more convenient for longer texts.
and here is the great thing: the keyboard is able to have several key presses at the same time, so even emulators like fpsece or morphgear work fine with 3 keys at a time.
i realize many people on this board are moping about the blackstone's poor gaming compatibility due to the lack of hardware buttons and/or multitouch, but with a keyboard you can finally play a lot of games rather well.
thanks for the info...
can u use the keybord with your PC aswell????
if u can , what is the range ( how far can u be from your pc to use it)??
thanks, kris
i haven't tried it yet. but the keyboard uses standard bluetooth hid drivers and therefor works on any device to support that standard, i.e. any windows mobile device, android, iphone, ipad, ipod touch, pc and ps3. it comes with a driver cd for pc (which wouldn't be needed on windows 7). as far as the range aspect goes, since i only used it with my blackstone so far, so it would be impractical to use it at a greater distance than 2 or 3' (because you wouldn't be able to see the display ). but usually, the range also depends on the bluetooth receiver of the pc, but i guess any sensible distance of up to 20 or 25' could be covered.
if you are seriously interested in the device, you can order it from your local amazon site and make use of their great return policy, if you are unsatisfied. just stay away from the really cheap chinese knock-offs, they have poor production quality and tend to break really fast, especially the usb charging port, which then renders the device useless.
Sounds like it 'should' work but various reports on the internet, including the official apple site, shows that maybe it doesn't.
Anyone has one?
cigaro78 said:
Sounds like it 'should' work but various reports on the internet, including the official apple site, shows that maybe it doesn't.
Anyone has one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thought I'd help with my own thread.
I bought one. Yes it's expensive, but not more expensive than 'foldable' bt keyboards that I tried and unfortunately don't work (as in stuck keys, shoddy fragile designs, etc).
It's VERY SMALL - which is great. The box it comes in is VERY SLIM - doubles up as a carrying case which makes it even more convenient.
The quality is excellent - as you would expect from Apple. It's using AA batteries (comes shipped with them in fact) which a major plus as anyone who travelled to remote places without mains sockets will tell you.
Downside: it's never been intended to work with an Android phone. I have it paired alongside a logitech bt mouse, and yes - IT WORKS - but it also randomly FCs the settings screens. It has NO MAPPING FOR ANDROID - so all function keys are rendered useless. There is an F1 that maps to 'menu' and escape seems random. That's it.
As far as I can tell - no one has come up with a mapping file for it. You cannot map shortcuts to actions on the phone. So no, you WONT be playing nova2 with a WASD setup. You won't even have a working shift key, which is very annoying.
Conclusion:
It's expensive, and it doesn't work so great. Yet, I still can recommend this purchase because 1) other keyboards wouldn't fare better. 2) Chat becomes possible. Word document become possible. When typing mails, forums posts and what not it still trounces the onscreen keyboard.
My Cheapo EBay keyboard also suffers from the lack of a shift key. In my book this makes it all but unusable
unles u r nto txt spk an dont uze punkuashun r commaz r antin like dat, then it's not for you
cigaro78 said:
Well, thought I'd help with my own thread.
I bought one. Yes it's expensive, but not more expensive than 'foldable' bt keyboards that I tried and unfortunately don't work (as in stuck keys, shoddy fragile designs, etc).
It's VERY SMALL - which is great. The box it comes in is VERY SLIM - doubles up as a carrying case which makes it even more convenient.
The quality is excellent - as you would expect from Apple. It's using AA batteries (comes shipped with them in fact) which a major plus as anyone who travelled to remote places without mains sockets will tell you.
Downside: it's never been intended to work with an Android phone. I have it paired alongside a logitech bt mouse, and yes - IT WORKS - but it also randomly FCs the settings screens. It has NO MAPPING FOR ANDROID - so all function keys are rendered useless. There is an F1 that maps to 'menu' and escape seems random. That's it.
As far as I can tell - no one has come up with a mapping file for it. You cannot map shortcuts to actions on the phone. So no, you WONT be playing nova2 with a WASD setup. You won't even have a working shift key, which is very annoying.
Conclusion:
It's expensive, and it doesn't work so great. Yet, I still can recommend this purchase because 1) other keyboards wouldn't fare better. 2) Chat becomes possible. Word document become possible. When typing mails, forums posts and what not it still trounces the onscreen keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
I assumed its the A1314 you're talking about?
Would having the gamevice connected to the phone mean you couldn't also connect the detachable fan? It looks like the 2 things can be used at once as far as I can tell.
I assume you can use it as the gamevice will plug into the bottom port (as in when held as a normal phone) while the gamevice stretched material on the back seems to be thin enough that you will also be able to use the fan connected to the side port just fine.
On a side note, do let us know if this theory/assumption is correct and if the gamevice is a good accessory, with controls for native and self key mapped games and dead zone etc. since I've heard bad stories of older models from them.
I took the plung and bought a ROG gamevice. Firstly, no you can't use the fan at the same time as the controller, while it does fit together as I guessed before, but the side port gets priority over the bottom port when connected together so it then turns off the controls.
Also anyone thinking at this current moment to buy the ROG gamevice, I say DON'T!!! as the controls is horrible for almost everything other then native supported controller games even though there is abit of a dead zone problem on those games it is no where near as bad as in keymapped games as making fine movement to aim for example is almost impossible since the beta keymapper software that ASUS currently has is horrible, from making the left analog stick get stuck in their software that it will hold it in place on screen virtually, you can't map the dpad and will have to try to resort to using the touchscreen for some buttons but doing so will lock the gamevice controls from responding for a little while which will leave you dead in most games. The triggers L2/R2 are placed on a diagonal and makes it harder to press as the outer edge of the button does not press and to be pressed on the less sloped part which is stupid but I guess it might just be a thing to get used to. This needs a major update to be honest.
To end this, I have to say if anyone wants a controller for their phone to go with a gamesir, I been using a G4s before I got the ROG gamevice and it's way better in every way possible, from dpad to good dead zones, support for native controller supported games and has it's own keymapper software for touch based games to make your own buttons as you like.
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
Hi i want use my LG G5 h850 but i have miss the date to unlock it.
so i cant use it while the bootloader ist lockt and the LG System is over and i lost my unlock key
I'm still using my LG G5 H830. I have LineageOS on it which does not support VoLTE, now required for use on T-Mobile;s network.
I bought a new H830 (v7.0.0) off eBay and my plan this week is to root it, install recovery, upgrade to stock v8.0 Android then migrate everything to this phone.
@davestuarts , I recommend you buy a new H850 off eBay and migrate everything like I'm doing.
davestuarts said:
How many others still using their G5 as a daily driver?
I am since 2016 (h850) and using the latest available Lineage 18.1 (Android 11)
Using Proshot & open camera apps, although the camera quality is far behind whats available now but it still works and get decent images.
My GPS hasn't worled for a long time.
My vibration motor doesn't work, but thats ok.
The touch sensor doesnt work, I think thats because of LOS.
I'm using a modded samsung battery
I'm on my second display (replacement is an original LG part)
LOS is laggy sometimes, especially when turning on Wifi after a while then all apps seem to want to download their data, the phone becomes unresponsive.
Takes a minute to be stable. Other than that, cba and can't afford a new phone so still using as a daily driver.
Any better camera apps or further recommended tweaks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
tremalnaik said:
Hi,
I gave up some months ago using the G5 as the chin started to randomly fail and not let me charge the phone. While I was using it I replaced two batteries, repaired multiple times the fingerprint sensor connectors on the motherboard and replaced the camera glass. Vibration motor started to fail too (squeaking instead of vibrating, I think I killed it playing Hooked On: COTD on the EKA2L1 emulator), and of course GPS was, and always had been, just barely working.
Despite all this, it was a great phone, especially shooting photos in RAW format: if you want to spend a minute or two to improve the photos you take, Adobe Lightroom for Android is the best software to make any decent picture taken with the G5 look as good as if it was shot on an iPhone.
In my opinion, by the way, the stock LG camera app is better than the other third party cameras, with only Google Camera being better in some occasions, albeit a bit buggy on the G5: on Celso Azevedo's website you can find all the modded Google Camera versions, with precompiled settings for the G5 too.
The last month I used it I switched from the stock Oreo ROM to a LineageOS-based one (DotOS, if I recall correctly), and it became surprisingly faster, even tough that meant sacrificing the FM radio and the IR remote.
Now I'm considering to buy an HDMI adapter and use the G5 as an Android tv box, if the chin proves to be reliable enough to keep the phone charged while it is sitting behind the TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your input, very thorough, appreciate it. I'm pretty much in the same camp as you, although mine does charge though it's chin is a bit loose. I've got a back case on, which is tight and helps keep the phone together, kind of a cheat method.
I'm only using as I cannot currently afford to buy something new, and want something with a decent camera but with LOS support too or rootable. I have been looking at some used Pixel phones, but its about price.
Anyway, I was happy with proshot app, as I like photograpy and it gives great manual control and decent pics but seeing how newer phones are so much better, I have recently gone back to trying gcam (previously it would crash often), which you mentioned.
Playing around with v8.6 and it works suprisingly well and produces some really great photos better than proshot, although slow at times, especially the processing time.
v.8.7 worked but even slower with some features kept crashing it.
I'll have a go at lightroom, never thought about it before. Thanks.
Incidentally, what phone you got next? Also, great idea to repurpose G5 as android TV.
Have you got that running and if so, what rom is usable, especially to have HDMI out and does charging work at the same time?
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
tremalnaik said:
After the G5 I got an Asus Zenfone 8: small, powerful processor, OLED screen, 3.5mm audio port and easily rootable. It's not a cheap phone, but I was lucky enough to find one used for 390€ (spending more than 400€ for a phone is unreasonable for what I use it for).
To repurpose the G5 as a media center, I will go back to the stock Oreo ROM, as DotOs (and I suppose all the LineageOs-based ROMs) doesn't support the HDMI out.
I've bought a Choetech xch-m180 4K Usb-C HDMI adapter, that "should" (I'll believe when I see it, but I've seen videos of it working as expected) be capable of 4K output and battery charging. I already have a USB-C to HDMI adapter, but without battery charging, and the phone lasts less than one hour, so permanent installation is impossible with that one.
Then I'll install a media center like Kodi (if it can be controlled using another phone via Bluetooth or WiFi) and Tasker to shut down the phone's screen without locking it.
The hardest part of the setup will probably be dealing with the restrictions that each app imposes on phones with root or HDMI output.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update. That Zenfone seems great value for what it has, especially with an OLED and 3.5mm, which I need, you've got it at a great price. In the Uk it's much more £600/€680 and very hard to find it used/refurbished, I can get a Sony Xperia IV for less, refurbushed and 12 months warranty but still too much for me.
Thanks for the other info too. I'll be interested to know how your G5 android project works out.
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
davestuarts said:
@tremalnaik Well, I bit took the plunge and found a good deal on a Xperia 5IV.
Brings back memories of my xperia Z3 compact, which I still have, used as a shared media/internet with lineage 18.1.
This new Xperia 5IV wioth its long slab design is so different but very usable.
Superb cameras, especially with their camera styled apps.
I can even use Gcam for better night shots.
Plus the needed 3.5mm jack AND Sdcard slot.
Hopefully, in a few years lineage will be available on, but unlikely to be a popular device due to cost though a great device for them to port one over with all it's extras.
Now, need to repurpose the G5, after I've transfered everyhig over and my phonbe cover arrives. I dont know why companies make such expensive/slipper styled backs, as so mnay people put on covers. Or just make the back more durable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
tremalnaik said:
I wish I found a good deal for an Xperia phone as well: it was my first choice, but any Sony device is really expensive here in Italy.
3.5mm jack is a must for me too, especially when it's the only way to listen music on a 14 years old car.
I wouldn't put much hope on Lineage for future upgrades though: while the developers take an honourable effort in keeping old phones up to date, most of the times any extra hardware feature of the phone will be hard to implement. If you take the G5 as an example, in 7 years nobody found a way to make the IR blaster or the FM radio to work, and neither VoLTE, HDMI, etc. due to the lack of documentation on how these functions are integrated in Android.
Going back to your previous post, I finally received the HDMI adapter and it works like a charm. Here's what I had to do to make it work:
-Connect the adapter to the tv, to the phone, and to a suitable USB plug (for some reason if I connected the USB power plug to the USB port on the tv, the adapter glitched, so I had to connect it to the router's USB port)
-Change the DPI settings to make the phone think it's running on a large screen
-Dowload a tv launcher: I found Simple TV Launcher to be simple and reliable
-Download TV version of the apps you need: Aurora Store has a convenient spoofing feature so I chose to make the phone appear like it's a Sony Bravia TV to download TV apps
-Download an app to control the phone usimg another phone as a remote. "Bluetooth keyboard & mouse" would be the best, if only Bluetooth wasn't a totally unreliable technology (out of three phones I tried to use as remotes, 2 had terrible lags, and another one wasn't able to connect at all). So my next choice was Zank Remote: not as good for non-tv apps, but as it works through wi-fi, it actually works. It can even be used like a rudimental wiimote to point at the screen.
-as I don't want to see ads on Youtube and I'm too lazy to try to compile ReVanced Youtube, I went for NewPipe: it's definitely not optimised to work on TVs, but it works.
So far I've only tested it with RaiPlay (national TV's online platform) and it works really well. My phone is rooted and I don't have any other movie platform subscription, so I don't know if this setup could work with Amazon Prime or Netflix. By the way I could test it with AceStream (the primary reason I wanted to make this setup, so I don't have to turn on the pc and stream from VLC to the Blu-Ray player connected to my not-so-smart TV), and it works flawlessly.
The hardest part of the whole setup is to shut down the backlight of the G5's screen while HDMI is connected: I had to use a shell script and automate it with Tasker. Still I haven't found a way to stop the HDMI out if the phone is locked, to save energy: if I lock the phone, the adapter will actively output a black screen to the TV, so it's likely wasting energy for nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, thought I had replied to your last message. Yeah, got lucky with the Sony, they're expensive in UK too. Last few years with the corrupt goverment and brexit has caused all prices to jump, only rich or corrupt exist easily.
You're right about Lineage or other custom rom being available for the Sony, as you said, they never figured out the IR blaster for the G5, theres always hope tho ha.
I've been trying to use the G5 as a android box but my issue is the battery drain. Its the old battery and the HDMI dongle with the charging port cannot sustain the battery with screen on, so it dies and also it gets quite hot.
I've been looking at apps or scripts to turn off screen while using, but cannot find anything yet. Theres an app on my Sony phone thats for gaming, it allows the charger to be plugged in, but not charge the battery instead it simply powers the phone, so it dont get hot and you can game for longer. I need an app like that.
My other option now is to take appart the phone, connect a third party battery which is big, like 5000mah and just leave phone open. I could also attach a heatsink or something to the phone internals to help with heat. I'm not bothered with leaving phone open.