Rapoo E6500 Bluetooth Keyboard (for Android)

These past two years I had the opportunities to travel to a few countries and each trip I will bring back loads of photographs and memories. I often will tell myself I will write or more accurately TYPE about it when I get home. I type faster than I write, however I normally do not carry my notebook with me when I travel. I do have a tablet but it does not feel the same typing on a screen instead of a keyboard; no feedback and the feeling of the keys springing back up as you strike the character keys.

Why can’t I type after I reach home?

• Perhaps it’s because I have to get back to work immediately
• My partner just says that I’m making excuses and being lazy.
• Perhaps it does not feel the same looking at hundreds of photographs and trying to recall a few days’ experience all in one go. 

Samsung Tab S - keyboard accessory

So to overcome this, I started looking for my latest gadget; a Bluetooth keyboard. We have a Samsung Tab S 8.4” and a Samsung Note 10.1 (2014 edition), and we were thinking which tablet should we get the keyboard for. To my shock, the keyboard accessories for Samsung (brand) cost between RM100 to RM450






I decided to look for an alternative and here are some of the criteria;

• it should be able to work with most if not all of my android devices. We also have Smartphones running on android.
• it should be light weight and easy to bring along during travel.
• it should be able to operate for a fair amount of time per charge. Personally I’m hoping for at least a day per charge.
• hopefully it will not cost more than RM100.

As usual I started looking online and this time at www.lelong.com.my first then followed by www.lazada.com.my. There were a number of options available when I searched for "Bluetooth Android Keyboard";

Results of Bluetooth Android Keyboard on Lelong

Results of Bluetooth Android Keyboard on Lazada

The model that caught my eye was this; Rapoo E6500 Bluetooth 3.0 Ultra-Slim Android Keyboard (http://www.rapoo.com/) at an IT shop before. It is not a new or latest model as I have seen at AllITMart at section 14 Digital Mall (www.digitalmall.com.my/) months ago. Finally got a reason to get it.

Rapoo E6500 Bluetooth 3.0 Ultra-Slim Android Keyboard
Here is my video of its un-boxing, describing its features and also a demonstration of connecting to a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition).

Other demonstrations;
Connecting to a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4

Connecting to a Samsung Galaxy S4

Connecting to a Samsung Galaxy S3

There is another model which is mean for iPhone & iPad, the Rapoo E6300 Bluetooth 3.0 Ultra-Slim Android Keyboard.

Final Thoughts:
I am pleased with this purchase that cost me RM95 (including GST).
After years of tapping on the screens of my smart android devices, I now have the means to type naturally as I would with a normal physical keyboard. There will be a period of adjustment due the fact that the keyboard is more compact than the conventional computer keyboards, but in my opinion it is still better and faster than typing on the respective devices' screen. As demonstrated on the videos above, I only need one Rapoo E6500 keyboard and it will work with my different android devices.

Android Media / TV Box - HiMedia Q5

When I first moved into my home, I decided that I did not want to install ASTRO because my partner & I will not be able to enjoy it when we are at work most of the day. The monthly fee of above RM40 (depending on your selected package) was also another deterrent. So to watch the most basic channels available, we installed a television (UHS/VHS) antenna on the roof. It worked for a few months but the elements of rain and shine has affected the quality and clarity.

All is not lost because we have UniFI and it comes with HyppTV (https://www.tm.com.my/hypptv). The only drawback is we can only watch HyppTV in our master bedroom, where we placed the decoder. My television in my living room is mainly for watching DVDs, shared videos files and YouTube.

After many months, I thought of the inconvenience to watch free TV channels such as TV3 and NTV7 for the news and other still interesting shows (e.g. cooking / traveling). However, I still was not willing to pay a monthly fee for it – so the alternative I thought of was ASTRO NJOI (https://www.astro.com.my/njoi), free satellite TV from ASTRO. It was promoted to be a one-time payment of RM348 for the necessary equipment plus RM100 for standard installation (satellite dish).

I was going to contact the nearest ASTRO NJOI dealer when a friend introduce me to his android TV/media box and got a chance to play around with it. There are many models and brands out there but the one I was introduced to was the “Himedia Q5 Quad Core 4K H265 Ultra HD Android 4.4 Smart TV BOX” (http://www.himediatech.com/q5iv.html)

Key Features:

• ARM Cortex A9 1.6G Quad-core CPU + Octo-Core Mali 450 GPU
• Android 4.4
• Google Browser and HTML5 Support
• Google play support
• DLNA, NFS, Samba Support
• HiControl , HisHARE , Airplay , Miracast, wechat control Support
• 2D/3D Games Support
• 4k Output, H265 Support
• 3D BDISO Support
• Built-in 802.11N WIFI
• New designed remote control makes operation simple and confortable
• DTS-HDMA and TRUEHD 7.1 PassThrough Support
• External SATA, USB3.0, 1000mbs LAN Interface
• Live TV , XBMC , Netflix , Flash Support

Connection & Control:

Connected to my LG Smart TV via HDMI cable, and to my home network via WiFi.
It has a remote control, and I also used a wireless mouse (USB signal receiver plugged into one of the three USB ports).

Content:

Since it is using Internet, it is not affected by the weather. It does not interfere with the HyppTV too.
I am now able to the free channels via an pre-installed Application (App) called CloudTV (http://cloudtv.bz/).

This Himedia Q5 was pre-installed with a number of applications (Apps)

The free content are categorized & you will need to search for what's available

You can add the channels you wish to see to a 'Favourites' list

Here's NTV7 from Media Prima

I was advised that I should have at least a 5MB Internet line to avoid slow buffering issue. However even though I have a UniFI5 internet access, I noticed I still encountered buffering issue. Initially I thought it was because I was using WiFi instead of Ethernet-wired connection, tried that but it still had the same issue - so my assumption now is shifted to the content providers – perhaps the location of the servers or there is high demand for the shows/movies that I wish to watch.

Movies:

An App called 'Cartoon HD' which allows to watch movies

There are loads of new and old cartoons too.

Price:

I ordered this unit via an online site for RM422.94 + RM9 for shipping.

Final Thoughts:

I am still exploring the different features and the pre-installed Apps, however I am personally convinced that this was a good purchase because;

• one-time investment fee.
• got to watch the channels that I initially wanted plus more.
• setup was easy (i.e. connect to the TV via HDMI and connect to wireless network).
• there was no need to for messy installation such as mounting a satellite dish, pulling wires and drilling holes in the walls.
• the android box is portable and can be moved any location (where there is access to reliable internet)

I will share the unboxing, connection and usage video when I’m done processing them. Stay Tune.