Bluetooth Keyboard

A Bluetooth keyboard is a keyboard that connects and communicates to its parent device via the bluetooth protocol. These devices are widely used with other portable devices such as tablets and smart phones though they are also used with laptops and ultrabooks. Bluetooth keyboards have become popular only since 2011 with the popularity of portable devices.^[1] Most bluetooth keyboards have standard qwerty layouts though some mini bluetooth keyboards may have a different layout.

Compatibility

Bluetooth keyboards are compatible with all the leading operating systems such asAndroid, iOS, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Since they are used primarily for portable devices bluetooth keyboards have special function keys for Android and iOS operating systems. Most bluetooth keyboards except a few, are not compatible across operating systems and therefore compatibility of the keyboard needs to be checked before purchasing one. This is because of the special function keys which differ between Android and iOS.

Form Factor

Bluetooth keyboards are available in a variety of form factors. Some of them are:

• Standard - full size qwerty keyboard for regular typing

• Portable with Stand - comes with tablet/smartphone stand 

• Mini - small size with thumb typing 

• Foldable - hinges allow for folding of keyboard

• With touch pad - combined keyboard and touchpad