Freedom Expression Bluetooth Keyboard Review

Provides: Sleek alternative keyboard for all iDevices and Android Devices
compatibility: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, Android 4.0 and Android 2.x with software
Developer: Freedom Input
Sold By: Mobile Fun 
Price: £39.99

So, even some Transofrmer owners don’t have the keyboard dock. It’s massive and bulky. I want a tablet for tablet tasks but it would be good to have a keyboard for entering text into, lets say car insurance forms.

What I’d need is something really small, with tons of battery, that I just switch on and off I go.  I don’t want a proprietary charger, or for the keyboard to take up any more room in my backpack than a magazine. I definitely don’t want horrid rubber keys, i wanna hear a click. Am I asking too much?

Those guys at Mobile Fun don’t think so, they sent me over the fantastic Freedom Expression keyboard.

Functionality

With Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich on my Tablet I knew that there shouldn’t be any issue pairing this keyboard, most probably intended for iDevices, due to its HID profile.

Pairing was super simple. Switch on, and hold power button for 5 seconds until it flashes vigorously.

Then on the tab, go to bluetooth, search, find the keyboard and pair. The tablet will produce a 4 digit key, you enter it on the keyboard and it’s paired. Seriously, that’s it. I’d make a video but it would be so damn short it wastes my time.

Now to pair / unpair it’s a case of switching the keybaord on from the power switch right next to the microUSB charging port. A full charge gives you 300 hours.

Construction

Now the keyboard itself is made from some kind of alloy. It is strong and feels quality in the hand. Always cold, you know, like a can of soda.

The back is a shiny silver with some raised areas to help grip. And is finished in a kind of matte anodised texture.

The front is all black, with a black plastic bezel surrounding the scissor action keys in a familiar QWERTY layout in a 6 row layout.

It is really tiny, measuring just 220 x 120 x 5mm, the Freedom has a very slim and compact design. Weighing 205g, the keyboard is light enough to take with you wherever you go.

Usage

Many familiar functions are included as dedicated keys like copy, paste and cut. With little desktop keys to take you to the Android desktop when pressed.

From the desktop you can move around icons and fields with ease using the cursors and search using the dedicated search key.

When in browser this thing really shines and makes things effortless. A press of the magnifying glass key fires you back at the address bar and you tap in the text using the nice board.

Having it not attached to the device gives you further flexibility and it is so small it could easily be tucked in the tablet case to ensure it’s always there for a quick type.

My Xperia S however is still stuck int he dark ages of 2.3 officially and requires a bit of messing around to get it working with the keyboard, using 3rd party software.

Wherever my tablet goes, so does this board now. It even comes with a funky neoprene case. This is why it gets a 4.5 out of 5.

Thanks to Mobile Fun for the product – check out the Kobo cover range and Asus Transformer Prime case range on their sister site GearZap.

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