Microsoft Foldable Keyboard Pairing
Francisca Noggles
This morning, the company has announced that their Universal Foldable Keyboard is now available at retail and online for $99.95. The device as originally announced at Mobile World Congress back in March. As someone who uses their ergonomic desktop solution and Surface devices, the Universal Foldable Keyboard certainly piqued my interest. This is my review.
These days, Bluetooth keyboards are found all over the internet. However, Microsoft brings their keyboard expertise to the table with their ultra-portable Universal Foldable Keyboard. As the name implies, this device is thin, light and, in theory, it should deliver and excellent typing experience. Here is what you get for a hundred bucks:
Pairing the Universal Foldable Keyboard was a breeze. Simply hold down the button for device 1 or device 2 for a few seconds and it starts blinking. Now choose the operating system through the OS toggle button (upper right) and select the keyboard through your device settings. Finally, you are instructed to type in a six-digit pairing code on the keyboard and tap the enter button.
Clearly Microsoft has taken what it has learned from the Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 Type Covers and applied it to the Universal Foldable Keyboard. True, a Surface's keyboard and keys are larger, but between the button's design, aesthetics, even the fabric all make the Foldable keyboard feel like a close cousin to the Surface. That is an excellent thing as the Surface keyboard does a lot considering how thin it is and that carries over to this device as well.
Say what you want about a keyboard's design and it all take second place to how well it works as a keyboard. Luckily, the Universal Foldable Keyboard comes out on top from my usage over the last few days.
Although the Universal Foldable Keyboard is extraordinary thin (and light) the key travel is significant, giving you the feeling of typing on a laptop keyboard. Indeed, the key travel is better on the Universal Foldable Keyboard than some full laptops. It is not quite better than say a classic Lenovo ThinkPad, but then again, this keyboard folds up and fits into a jacket pocket or purse with ease.
Ultimately, typing is personal preference. Some people like loud clicking reminiscent of mechanical designs while others prefer the quiet, soft touch of modern computers. The Universal Foldable Keyboard is somewhere in between: it is not quite loud, but it is not silent either. There is a satisfying response that is quite impressive considering its sizes.
The keys seem smaller than the Surface keyboard, but they are slightly larger than my Microsoft Ergo keyboard. Granted the keys on my desktop ergo keyboard are spaced apart, whereas the Universal Foldable Keyboard are adjacent.
For being pocket-sized, I have to say I rather enjoyed using the Universal Foldable Keyboard. It does take a little training, and you tend to type with just the tips of your fingers, but surely the convenience is a compromise.
If there are any downsides to the Universal Foldable Keyboard, it would be the floppy center and no backlit keys. The latter is forgivable as throwing mini LEDs around the keys would not only up the costs, but it would knock down that stellar battery life of "three months". Still, this keyboard would be an amazing sight it if could light up too.
The floppy center is, of course, the tradeoff from it being foldable. That much is obvious and when using it on a solid surface hardly an issues. So, it is lappable? Kind of. You can make it work, but it will not be the most enjoyable experience as you'll have to lean on the edges to keep it from folding in on itself.
The Universal Foldable Keyboard works very well with Windows Phone, so long as you are rocking Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 Build 15127 or later. You can check if you have Update 2 under Settings > About. That OS refresh delivers Bluetooth HID support something Windows Phone lacked up until spring 2015. Of course, if you are on a US carrier, you may be hard-pressed to find that update on your aging Lumia e.g. the Lumia 1520. Only newer phones like the Lumia 640, Lumia 640 XL, Lumia 735, BLU Win HD, HTC One (M8), and the LG Lancet come with HID support out of the box.
Still, there are some limits. For example, many of the function keys, including volume controls, pause, play and search seemingly do nothing on Windows Phone. All of those keys, even the 'screen lock' function work perfectly on Windows 8.1, but for the phone you will be sticking to just the QWERTY part of the keyboard.
On Windows 10 Mobile, these limits are there as well. Although the Bluetooth stack is not yet complete, so I cannot tell if it will support those features later on (the Home key though does at least bring you back to the Start menu). The QWERTY part of the keyboard works well in Windows 10 just like Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2.
Still, Microsoft has offered a unique solution not only for Windows and Windows Phone users but those rocking an Android or Apple product as well. The Universal Foldable Keyboard is a well-engineered product that is pretty darn cool. It just comes with a hefty price tag.
Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Daniel RubinoSocial Links NavigationEditor-in-chiefDaniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.
I have a Bluetooth ThinkPad 2 Tablet keyboard that I want to pair with my Ubuntu Touch Aquaris E4.5. Due to GUI limitations, I want to try to do this in the terminal. I'm hoping that the process'll be similar to that on Ubuntu Desktop.
Entering the 6-digit PIN on the Bluetooth keyboard and pressing Enter completes the pairing of the keyboard and it works fine. When I try to pair the keyboard on Ubuntu Touch, no GUI dialog is presented displaying the code that is to be entered on the Bluetooth keyboard. So, I want to try to pair the keyboard in the terminal.
Followed the steps by 1nfiniti on Ubuntu 16.04 amd64 and it worked great with Logitech MX5000 keyboard and mouse combo. But when I rebooted the computer, the keyboard didn't type again. It showed as connected but not paired on Bluetooth Settings. However, the mouse worked fine.
I'm trying to pair my RasPi with the new Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard, which requires BT 4.0 LE HCI connectivity from the host. On my Pi it is provided by CSR based Bluetooth 4.0 dongle. Scanning works, but pairing and connecting don't. What goes wrong?
My understanding is the bluez-simple-agent doesn't know that it's supposed to use the HID-over-GATT (LE HID) profile. There might be other factors too, see Other experiments below for secondary indications.
And apparently something hangs, because now I have to cycle the interface to have anything work again. Same with hcitool lecc, the connection just times out without any extra information and the interface must be cycled to recover it.
This time bluetoothctl should show you the password that you needed to type in on the keyboard (+ return).After pairing your can connect and trust the device as usual and you should be able to type on the MS Foldable Keyboard.
The other answers didn't work for me, so after going on a wild goose chase and compiling bluez from source (which didn't work) I reverted back to bluez 5.23-2+rpi2, and I remembered reading that adding the --experimental parameter to bluez enables Bluetooth LE support.So I edited /etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.service and added --experimental to the end of the ExecStart line, rebooted the Pi, and found that I could then pair using bluetoothctl.
I am using microsoft universal foldable keyboard for quite some times but after recent upgrade to new iphone 7 and Ipad 9.7 2018 for IOS11 that it shows the error as follows:- "Pairing took too long. Make sure "universalfoldablekb" is turned on, in range and ready to pair". Please advice any solution on this. Thanks.
Maybe I want to buy the microsoft foldable keyboard. Is there someone who uses this keyboard and can give me a short review about the keyboard? What are the pro's and con's. The price is a little bit high... I know. :D
Hello,
I have the microsoft foldable keyboard and I find it very funny to use. I am using it both with iPhone and with a 5 inch mini-pc with windows10, bought via an indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
What to do with this keyboard, well, it depends on what you need.
Do you need a keyboard which must be just used to write notes on smartphone and tablet? The keyboard is perfect, you can connect it to 2 devices and switch from one to another with the press of a key.
The highest line of keys, has special keys: Escape, switch device1, switch device2, mute, volume down, volume up, prev track, play, next track, search/spotlight, lock screen, and then the last key I have never understood what it is needed for.
Then you have the last row which has space bar, divided in 2 parts, and at the left you have fn key, alt, windows/home, control. And at the right you have alt gr, control, and arrow keys.
If you need complex key combinations you need to press the fn key.
For example, in Windows, to press alt+f4, you must press alt+fn+number 4, I'd not suggest to use it with a mac; on Windows, you may get used on it, but I would not suggest it to all users, just consider which compatibility you need.
To perform the VO, i.e. control and option, keys, you must press control and alt; the alt is the third key from the left, the control is the first. They are all square and small, let's assume the alt and control keys are the same size of letter F, on the mac's keyboard.
G and H keys, are long rectangles, same for T, and N.
Then you have a normal qwerty layout; remember that if you are used to press the B with the right finger, writing with 10 fingers, you'd fit better to wtite the B with the left hand, and the Y with the right.
This is not a keyboard I'd suggest for people with difficulties writing, but if you feel comfortable on every keyboard, it's a really comfortable solution, its size, closed, is like a compact disk, it can stand inside a pocket or a lady's bag together with the smartphone and wallet, I have a pocket where I put both iPhone 6+ and keyboard, you know we ladies have a lot of inutilities in bags, so, one more or one less, doesn't change.
You have no on/off switch. Close the keyboard, it's off. Open it, and it's ready to use.
To pair, just press switch1 long, or switch2, and you are ready to associate it.
I love it for myself, but, consider all what I said about layout and key combinations, before you buy it; think of your needs, my satisfaction is related to my personal needs.