topic Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements in XPERIA archive

Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

Frustratedalrea — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 17:48:45 GMT

does this or is it likely to have a spell check and auto correct? Can get it on the screen keyboard but when I use the BKB50 nothing. Very frustrating as the keyboard is why I bought the Z4.

Apart from that I love it so far (arrived this morning)

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

drlmiles1 — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 18:11:14 GMT

In the bottom right of the screen when the BKB50 is attached there is a small keyboard icon on the taskbar. Click this, and on the Hardware option click "Show Input Method" ON. You will then have the onscreen keyboard showing, with options for words as you type. Hope this helps

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

Frustratedalrea — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 18:04:59 GMT

Hi and thanks. I know I can use the on screen keyboard to for the spell check and auto correct but I would like to use the attached keyboard or what's the point in having one?

@drlmiles wrote:
In the bottom right of the screen when the BKB50 is attached there is a small keyboard icon on the taskbar. Click this, and on the Hardware option click "Show Input Method" ON. You will then have the onscreen keyboard showing, with options for words as you type. Hope this helps

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

Stephan_M — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 13:34:38 GMT

Can anyone tell if the keyboard fits into the official Sony cover with the tablet?

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

Alveoli — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 22:05:36 GMT

I asked, apparently not.

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

drlmiles1 — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 16:33:10 GMT

Sorry I didn't reply, I had already guessed it would not, and meant to check it. The official Sony case expects only the tablet itself to be present. I think the best case option is a tablet "sleeve" which you can zip up to protect it with the keyboard attached, and these are available very cheaply.

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

Alveoli — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 20:55:05 GMT

Yes, such a shame Sony doesn't do one!

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

bengrendon — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 14:59:46 GMT

Afaik there is no option for autocorrect on the Z4 's physical keyboard as I wish there was too and I have looked. I believe this is true of all no virtual keyboards though.

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

drlmiles1 — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:06:02 GMT

@bengrendon wrote:
Afaik there is no option for autocorrect on the Z4 's physical keyboard as I wish there was too and I have looked. I believe this is true of all no virtual keyboards though.

If you follow my advice in my posting above, you CAN get autocorrection (the on screen keyboard takes up loads of space, sadly) as the BKB50 keyboard works simultaneously with the onscreen keyboard. I have tried both ways (using Swiftkey for autocorrection) but prefer having more screen space, and my typing is not too bad so I don't need to correct too often :smileysmileywink:

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

RenoYeh — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 23:20:16 GMT

Seriously dude, your method is not working.

I 've opened the virtual keyboard while BKB50 attatched,

but when I input with BKB50 the virtual keyboard shows no correction,

it only shows suggested words afterwards.

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50

drlmiles1 — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 09:32:09 GMT

@RenoYeh wrote:
Seriously dude, your method is not working.
I 've opened the virtual keyboard while BKB50 attatched,
but when I input with BKB50 the virtual keyboard shows no correction,
it only shows suggested words afterwards.

@RenoYeh Sorry, I didn't realise what you meant by autocorrect. If you use Swiftkey and enable it for your keyboard it will suggest words that you either click (touchscreen, I'm afraid) or select the most likely option when you press the SPACE key. I found it caused more problems than help with a Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard I had connected to my Tablet Z, and gave up on it. There is a spell checker in Word that comes as standard with the Z4, however.

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update

drlmiles1 — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 19:06:55 GMT

Just in - I received an OTA Update for the BKB50 keyboard today. It took quite a while to install, and the firmware version is now 1.08

I can't see any obvious change in any of the settings or how it functions, but am going to see if the timeout has been altered

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

drlmiles1 — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 19:29:20 GMT

I have just tested the timeout on the BKB50, and after over 10 minutes of keyboard and touchpad inactivity, the keyboard was still connected and active. This MAY mean the timeout has been altered. However, I kept touching the screen every so often during that 10+ minutes - previously the BKB50 timeout applied if you did not touch the keyboard for 5 minutes, regardless of how much you were using the touchscreen. I suspect that what is happening is that once the keyboard is woken up, it will remain active while the keyboard OR screen is being used. This is a massive improvement in functionality - thanks Sony.

Please can someone else test it out to see what you think. I haven't got time at the moment to sit in front of the screen for however long it takes (with a long display timeout) to see what the BKB timeout is when nothing is touched.

This will probably slightly reduce the incredibly long battery life of the BKB50 a little - something I am not the slightest bit worried about :smileysmileywink:

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

AnnoyedWithSonyUK — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 19:07:52 GMT

drlmiles

Can you confirm your region please as I am in the UK and am not yet seeing the keyboard firmware update.

Many thanks,

Ian

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

drlmiles1 — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 19:41:57 GMT

Hi @Ian 1234

I'm also in the UK - I have a Z4 LTE bought direct from Sony. The update came yesterday after I updated the Z4 to the 28.0.A.8.251 firmware. It popped up when I used the keyboard some time after, and at the time I thought it had been delivered direct, but now I'm wondering if it is part of the Z4 update

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

Alveoli — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 00:41:35 GMT

I just updated on seeing @drlmiles 's message.

I went to [Settings > About Tablet > Software Update] and found an option to download a Z4 update.

After doing that, and rebooting after the install, it offered to upgrade my keyboard too.

Great news - the new update adds a Portrait Lock mode! At last!

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

drlmiles1 — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 10:28:24 GMT

So it appears the BKB50 update comes as part of the .251 update. The great news is that this Z4 update allows Portrait lock (confirmed on my Z4 LTE)

Re: Xperia Z4 Tablet Keyboard BKB50 - Update improvements

drlmiles1 — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 10:52:06 GMT

I've tested the new BKB50 1.08 update further. With a 10 minute screen timeout, and not touching the screen or keyboard, the white light on the BKB50 remained on continuously for about 12 minutes, 2 minutes after the display turned off, meaning it was connected for all this time. Whether the BKB50 diconnected because of an internal timeout, or because of the Z4 shutting down, I canot tell, but this means the keyboard will stay connected as long as anyone would reasonably want it to. I like the idea that it can be updated to improve functionality, as well