I have been using my iPad to write long articles for over three years now. But not everyone is as comfortable using a touchscreen to type. This is where an affordable keypad for tablets becomes important. There are quite a few of them in the market now, but the Astrum Elete Tpad BT caught my attention because of its unique slim design and the addition of a numeric pad.
The Elete Tpad has a very sleek spill-resistant design. The review unit with me was white and had already started accumulating dust and grime. So Indian users are advised to stick to the black one. The keys are responsive and have the right amount to travel. The numeric pad on the right is, however, a single flat surface without separated keys. This surface also doubles up as a touchpad to replace the mouse.
The Bluetooth keyboard is quite easy to set up on any platform, though there were a couple of Android devices which could not discover keyboard. To start pairing with a tablet or laptop, users have to keep Esc and K pressed down at the same time. This could have been avoided by adding a dedicated Bluetooth key. That would have been simpler. Also an LED indicator to show that the keyboard is on and pairing would have made life even simpler for the users.
You can get used to typing on the Tpad without any hassle. This is a full keyboard with almost all keys you would see in a regular side, maybe more. The space bar could definitely have been larger, taking space from some extra keys in the bottom row. The alphabet and number keys are thankfully full size and make it easy to type at high accuracy levels.
The keyboard has been designed primarily with a Windows ecosystem in mind. So while you have a Start button, there is no Home button for Android and iOS. This means you will have to use the touchscreen for a lot of stuff. Because of the same reason I will also suggest this primarily for people who need an extra wireless keyboard for a windows desktop or laptop. The Tpad is a good effort, but Android and iOS users have better options out there.
