REVIEW: Inatek Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard

Touchscreens are great, but sometimes you really need the feel of a proper keyboard. There’s just something that isn’t quite as quick and intuitive when typing on a screen – which can make typing long emails or making notes a bit of a chore. As luck would have it though, there is a solution – it is possible to connect a keyboard to your tablet – or even your phone.

One such keyboard is the Inateck Mini Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, which at £18.99 is pretty much a must-have purchase if you like to write on the go.

Connecting up to your device is really easy – in my case, I connected to an iPhone 6. It is simply a case of slotting in two AAA batteries, sliding the power switch towards ‘on’ and then on your phone going to manage your bluetooth devices in settings and choosing the keyboard. To complete the pairing – and you only ever have to do this once – you simply have to enter the displayed four digit code on the keyboard. Easy.

Then something initially quite bizarre happens. Head into the notes section on your phone – or anywhere there is a textbox – and start typing on the keyboard… and the characters will start appearing on the screen. Whilst this shouldn’t be too revelatory, seeing your words appear with such speed on your phone without the on-screen keyboard moving is inexplicably a bit of a surprise. But within moments you’ll have realised – now you can write anywhere. No more lugging around a heavy laptop.

The Inatek keyboard is well built too – it feels nice and solid, yet is super thin and fairly light, making it easy to stash in a bag for whenever you’re on a train and feel the need to work on your novel. In effect, it turns your tablet or phone into a mini laptop – perhaps not one for doing heavy duty work on, but if you want to make notes in a meeting, then you’re sorted. Inatek claims that the battery will last 60 days, so you won’t have to worry about constantly finding new batteries either.

It’s aesthetically pleasing too – it looks like it could be designed by Apple, and indeed the keyboard feels very similar to the keyboard on the Macbook Pro (the keys are spaced similarly).

All in all, if you want to do any writing on your phone or tablet then getting a keyboard is a no-brainer, and picking up the Inatek would be a very good choice indeed.