Final Thoughts
As someone who is rarely parted from their iPhone 4, I do a lot of typing on the screen of the iPhone. Depending on what I am typing, and in what application, this can sometimes get a little frustrating taping the wrong keys. So when I heard about the NUU MiniKey I was eager to test it.
The first thing I noticed was that it was quite thick – it really does add quite a bit of size to the iPhone when it is paired. However, it is extremely light weight so it doesn’t feel like a burden to carry around. Having said that though, it isn’t easy to just slip it into your trousers pocket. And to be fair, it does have a slide-out keyboard!
Using the keyboard was easy, and it only took me a few minutes to get used to using it. The keyboard itself is backlit which made using it in low light conditions very easy.
When typing though, the keyboard feels a little plasticy and makes a clicking noise every time you press a key. When you are on your own this isn’t a real problem, but if you are sitting in a meeting or somewhere quiet then it can sound remarkably loud and gets you some unwanted attention! It also felt a little heavy at times because all the weight is the iPhone itself and so when using the keyboard it doesn’t feel very balanced – although you do get used to it and I soon found myself compensating for the weight in the way I was using it.
I liked that the fact that it enters a sleep mode if you haven’t use it for 10 minutes to conserve the battery.
I also really liked that there are a number of shortcut keys you can use – for example copy and paste. You can also toggle the iPhones onscreen keyboard on and off if you want – although I really can’t see why you want to keep it on when you are using the MiniKey.
Overall though I liked the MiniKey and will be using it a lot. Once I was used to using it I could type emails, texts, tweets, etc much quicker than I could with the onscreen keyboard. I just hope the next version comes out with silent keys – then I will be completely happy.
The NUU MiniKey is available through Showcase in Canada, Sanborns in Mexico, and select premium Verizon retailers as well as Amazon.com in the U.S. It is currently available in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Price wise, in the UK the price is around the £59.99 mark, so not massively expensive, especially when you think it also includes a case for the iPhone 4 (not forgetting the slide out keyboard).
