I recently posted about how I plan to travel even lighter on my next trip by leaving behind my iPad. After publishing that, I started to wonder about writing.

As I said before, I usually don’t have a lot of extra time on these trips for writing. But, I’ve recently gotten back into blogging and I would rather not let that fall away again. I want to keep posting, even if I don’t have time for long articles, and it’s just small posts or links to interesting things.

I have not changed my mind about not taking my iPad. As I noted, I don’t want to carry it around and worry about it just for the occasional writing session. Instead, I’ve decided that I’m going to try a travel keyboard. I’ve spent some time researching various options and reading reviews. There really isn’t a lot to choose from. That said, I’ve settled on the iClever BK03. It’s small and lightweight, folds up into a small package, and is fairly comfortable to type on. It’s a lot less to carry than the iPad. And, at $39, if it does get lost or stolen, it’s not nearly as big of a deal.

It’s not perfect, mind you. But after looking at several options, this seems to offer the best combination of features with the fewest trade-offs. Here’s what I see as the pros and cons thus far:

Pros

• Compact, foldable, lightweight.
• Includes an adjustable stand for the iPhone (would also work well for an iPad Mini). This will also be nice for watching movies on the plane or train.
• Has a “normal” Apple keyboard layout, including the CMD and Option keys in the right position.
• Charges via USB-C, so one less cable to worry about. Supposedly lasts 60 days on a charge (we’ll see about that).
• Seems fairly comfortable to type on, though it’s not great.

Cons

• It takes a bit of extra effort to press the keys while typing. This causes a few missed keypresses every now and again. If I slow down, this gets better. And, the more I type on it, the better this gets as my fingers get used to it.
• Some keys are slightly offset from their normal position, which takes some getting used to. I have found that the more I type on it, the more I get used to that as well.

Portable Blogging Station?

Will this work well for blogging and journaling while traveling? I’ll have to try it for longer to know for sure. My next trip isn’t for a while, so I have some time to use this and see what I think.

So far though, I’m impressed. I typed, edited, and published this entire post using only the iClever keyboard and my iPhone. Well, I took the photos using my iPad, but edited those on my iPhone as well. And you know what? It’s not bad. Not as good as using my Magic Keyboard and my iPad, but I think this might work well as a travel companion.

I’ve got plenty of time to use this more, get used to it, and see what I think before my next trip. If it ends up not working well or not being what I want, I can try something else or just rely on the on-screen keyboard.

Photos

Here are a couple of photos so you can get a sense of what this little keyboard is like.

It’s not a bad size to type on. A bit small, but usable.

When folded up, it’s a little larger than my phone, but not much.

It’s thicker than the phone, but will still easily fit into my bag. And it comes with a nice velvet bag to keep scratches and scuffs away.

The included stand is adjustable and works pretty well. I do wish it could raise the phone up higher, but I guess I can’t have everything.

More To Come

I’ll post my findings once I take my next trip. In the meantime, I plan to use this little keyboard occasionally while at home, to see how quickly I can get used to it, how fast I can type, and how well I think it will work. If you have any questions, please let me know, and I’ll try to answer them best I can.