A Bluetooth keyboard with a cover that folds into a stand can hold a phone and a tablet, and one writer says it makes working from a coffee shop easier.
A Bluetooth keyboard with a cover that folds into a stand may be the simplest way to get laptop-style work done on a phone. How-To Geek writer Bertel King recommends the Satechi OnTheGo Bluetooth keyboard, which cost him $80. You set your phone on the cover, turn on the keyboard and start typing.
The keyboard connects over Bluetooth, a wireless link most phones and tablets already have. Its cover does two jobs. It protects the keys while the keyboard sits in a bag, and it folds open into a stand. The stand is wide enough to hold an iPad Mini and an iPhone side by side. It can also hold a single 12-inch tablet, much like a folio case.
King says many of his past Bluetooth keyboards were built to stay on a desk. With no case, they bounced around in his bag, pressed by other items. That can leave keys wiggly or even knock one off.
Separate phone stands have their own problems. Some decorative wooden ones do not tilt a phone to a comfortable angle. Some tiny stands that ship with keyboards barely hold a phone, and he doubts they suit tablets. A folio-style stand with a secure hinge keeps the phone steady while typing and makes a fall less likely.
This suits people who write or answer messages on a phone or tablet while out and about. Carrying a keyboard and a mouse plus a stand means reaching into a bag three times and spreading four items across a table. A keyboard with a built-in stand cuts that to one item. King adds that these cases are common enough now that a propped-up tablet draws no odd looks.
King also likes the Satechi OnTheGo Bluetooth mouse, calling it his favorite of the mice he has reviewed, for both home and travel. A colleague at How-To Geek also praised the keyboard in a separate review.
The material does not say when the keyboard came out. It also gives no details on battery life, weight or which devices work with it. King calls it his pick rather than the best option, and says quality and style vary across keyboards like this.
If typing on a phone is part of your day, a keyboard with a folding cover that doubles as a stand can replace several loose accessories.
Bose's new 23-inch TV Speaker costs $299 and, in one reviewer's tests, made dialogue clearer than the pricier Sonos Beam 2.
Read more: Bose's small $299 soundbar makes dialogue clearer than pricier rivalsIn a hand-counted 4,500-step walk, the $180 Fitbit Edge was off by 8 steps and the $800 Apple Watch Ultra 4 by 51. Both did the job well.
Read more: A $180 Fitbit counted steps more closely than an $800 Apple WatchA growing set of companies sell phones for kids that limit who can call and what they can see, with prices starting around $99.
Read more: Phones built for kids are booming, from $99 phones to landlines
