A StowAway / iGo driver (multiplatform) compliance test report
Upon my fellow blogger Tim Hillebrand’s report and because I’ll need to quickly enter a lot of info at MWC (and I don’t want to lug around my desktop replacement and, therefore, pretty heavy IBM Thinkpad a31p just for inputting text), I’ve installed the latest StowAway / iGo Bluetooth drivers on all my mobile devices (even non-Windows Mobile ones) to find out whether the drivers available HERE are (still) compatible with the latest operating system / firmware versions. I’ve found out the following:
Windows Mobile
Pocket PC’s (a.k.a. WM6 Classic / Professional):
HP iPAQ hx4700 (WM5 AKU 3.5.2; selecting & using the Widcomm driver, NOT the MS one); HTC Universal (WM6), Dell Axim x51v (WM5 official A12 (AKU 2.3) ROM with the MS BT stack), HTC Wizard (mfrazzz’ XDA Mobile 6 Release 5 FINAL) and the WM2003 HP iPAQ 2210: all work OK with the factory, default driver.
(Note that, as far as mfrazzz’ XDA Mobile 6 releases are concerned, version 3 was a no-go at all: it didn’t even try to connect. Pressing the Disable built-in HID support doesn’t help at all – unlike with all my other test devices or the same Wizard running Release 5.)
Smartphones (a.k.a. WM6 Standard)
HTC Vox / s710 (factory WM6 Smartphone ROM); no native driver; therefore, I tested it with the s620 / Excalibur / MteoR driver (they’re the same – actually, it seems ALL HTC Smartphones have the same drivers, unlike with WM5 and pre-WM5 Pocket PC’s): OK
HTC Oxygen / s310 with the above MS SP drivers (no native driver): the config app doesn’t even load (“Keyboard driver not functioning!”); then, after closing it, I started to get system errors about the keyboard driver DLL not responding.
Blackberry:
BB 8800 (4.2.1.101 / 2.3.0.80, T-Mobile): Works OK; program invocation hotkeys also work as expected.
Palm OS:
Palm T3: Works OK, albeit some of the program invocation shortcuts (apart from the most basic calendar/ contacts / inbox) take you to some other program, not the default one (unlike with the WM or the BB version). Otherwise, it’s OK.
Symbian:
Nokia N95 (firmware version v20): No native N95 (or any new – the latest ones are dated from 03/2007; the Palm / WinMo / BB drivers have been released a bit later; for example, the BB one in 07/2007) drivers from ThinkOutside; however, the N92 driver works just great on the N95. All the shortcuts work (as opposed to the built-in drivers). Note that the green Fn + Backspace terminates the connection (unlike on WinMo), which, then, must be re-enabled by just re-invoking the wireless keyboard applet. Also note that, unlike with Windows Mobile, Alt+keys directly enters accented characters, which are a bit more cumbersome to bring up under WinMo.
Note that the built-in Tools / Connectivity / Wlss Keyboard works without the need to install any third-party driver – apart from the complete lack of program / task switcher shortcuts and the lack of the English Pound, Japanese Yen and Euro entry.
Conclusion
All in all, the drivers are fully compatible with even the latest devices / firmware versions on all mobile platforms. On Windows Mobile, all the tested WM6 devices, Smartphones and Pocket PC’s alike, worked just great.
That is, you don’t need to be afraid of purchasing the keyboard – it WILL (almost surely) work. The only device not compatible was the HTC Oxygen / s310 low-end MS Smartphone. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other WinMo devices incompatible with the existing drivers, though - it's just that I haven't found one.
Cross-posted to (might be worth checking out for additional info / discussions!): PPCT, AximSite, XDA-Developers - 1, XDA-Developers - 2, BrightHand, HowardForums, SPT, MoDaCo.










Good news, cause I just grabbed one from Amazon over the weekend! On a related note, how well does PIE work with B2 and posting blogs from device? I usually use my PC...
This is encouraging, because I was pretty bummed--having purchased the keyboard, intending to use it with the new HP Ipaq(yet to be purchased). It works great with my BB Pearl. Has anyone got it to work on the HP 100 or 200 series?
i have an htc mogul, runs windows mobile 6.0. bought the igo keyboard, but the driver on the cd is for windows mobile 5.0, so i'm anxious about installing that driver, fearful that it will cause all sorts of problems. iGo tells me the keyboard is not compatible with my mogul. dare i install the 5.0 driver? thanks
max, it WILL work on your Mogul; see Bitslizer's comment HERE
And I forsee enthusiasts stepping into the breach and creating drivers. Never underestimate a passionate user community. Now we just have to keep an eye open for the 5.95 to 9.95 stock sell off.
I have intalled the iGo keyboard on my mogul and it worked. Thanks, Werner.
max
Once I finished fuming due to my UNSUCCESSFUL atemp to make the BT keyboard work on my new T-Mobile Shadow, I decided to unistall the non working driver and app and put the keyboard on amazon or ebay.
The the unexpected happened, once UNISTALLED, the keyboard works!!!! GO FIGURE!.
Of course the one issue still not resolved is how to get rid of the AMAZINGLY ANNOYING predictable text "XT9"...
...but after the last oddity, my hopes are up! Good luck guys.
Ish.