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If you own palmOne's new Tungsten T5 handheld (or any other infrared-enabled Palm or PDA or smartphone, for that matter), you may want to put the company's new Universal Wireless Keyboard to work. Interestingly, the new keyboard is also palmOne's first product to support Pocket PCs.

When folded, the keyboard is so small; it is, for example, only slightly larger than the T5 itself. When unfolded, it shows off five rows of keys that are, impressively, nearly the same size as a standard keyboard.


Keyboard Folded

By contrast, the recently released Dell Bluetooth keyboard for use with Bluetooth Axim Pocket PCs only (look for our review in a couple weeks) and palmOne's previous wireless keyboard only have four rows of keys—with the row of numbers sharing keys with the top row of letters. The new palmOne keyboard doesn't make that concession, which makes it much easier to use, especially if you need to type numbers a lot.


Keyboard Unfolded

The number keys aren't as large as the other keys, however. In addition, most of the keys do double-duty, so pressing the Function key along with each one calls up applications or special characters. This is not uncommon for portable keyboards.

The new palmOne keyboard doesn't feel as sturdy as the Dell keyboard, and the key travel—the distance the key moves down when pushed—isn't much. So if you are someone who prefers to feel a lot of travel in your keys, then you may have trouble adjusting to the palmOne keyboard.

As far as portable keyboards go, however, the new keyboard from palmOne is more than adequate for most people's note taking and e-mail needs.

At only $70, the price is right too.