Is there such a device as a wifi (not bluetooth) keyboard?

[Mark Touhig]

I have an old Motorola Xoom tablet. It has BT but it loses connection to a keyboard roughly 10% of the time. I think this is because the machine antenna is shared between BT and wifi (poor design I guess). It would be okay if there is a wifi keyboard should any exist as I am always near a wifi router. Does anyone know?

 

[Emerald]

there is no such thing as a Wifi keyboard that I am aware of; however, a wireless keyboard (not BT) uses a little USB receiver to connect to its keyboard

 

[ssddx]

no, i'm not aware of any such keyboard. the major connection types are:
-bluetooth (often limited on range, receiver dongles are small)
-rf wireless (can have ranges up to 40-60ft but hard to find, dongles are larger)
-infared (straight line of sight only)
-wired

keep in mind that all of them except bluetooth require a physical connection port on your device to use (usb normally) so if your device doesnt have one or is incapable of supporting a device over usb then it wont work.

you might be able to connect using a wifi usb hub like this http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/05/iogear-usb-sharing-station-connects-to-wifi-cuts-the-cord-on-fo/ but i cannot offer any details on how to do this and if its feasible. i only saw it mentioned so passed along the information.

 

[Mark Touhig]

there is no such thing as a Wifi keyboard that I am aware of; however, a wireless keyboard (not BT) uses a little USB receiver to connect to its keyboard

Thank you Emerald. You mean a nano USB I think, but unfortunately the Xoom has no USB port. It does have a port where I can insert a OTG on the go cable and I have tried standard wired USB keyboards and memory sticks \ flash drives but they don't work. It's an old tablet I know but other than that issue I'm still happy with it.

 

[ssddx]

also...

OTG cable & keyboard
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/15975-tip-usb-keyboard-working-with-otg-cable/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcSeOarOCCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COkLEJGo6vo

people have keyboards and mice working via OTG cable.. perhaps research how to do this? if you dont mind a wired connection its definitely looking like a possible fix.

 

[Mark Touhig]

also...

OTG cable & keyboard
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/15975-tip-usb-keyboard-working-with-otg-cable/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcSeOarOCCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COkLEJGo6vo

people have keyboards and mice working via OTG cable.. perhaps research how to do this? if you dont mind a wired connection its definitely looking like a possible fix.

 

[Mark Touhig]

Thank you, too, ssddx. My genuine motorola BT mouse is 100% okay, it's just the unknown name keyboard that is iffy. I can't figure why OTG cable doesn't work and I guess I could try another make of keyboard. - just a little reluctant to buy one if going to have same problem 🙂

 

[ssddx]

well if your mouse is okay... perhaps it is the BT keyboard dropping the connection for some reason.

 

[Mark Touhig]

Hmmm - may go for this :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-TEL-PDA-ACC-00623-Genuine-Wireless-Keyboard/dp/B004UJORTC