Using FiOS Mobile with a Bluetooth Keyboard

[MarilynAndSteve]

My husband, who is blind, just tried using the new FiOS Mobile iPad app with a Bluetooth keyboard, and for the most part, it works well enough. However, several small but annoying problems exist for which neither of us have found a solution.  They are:

1. No keys on the Apple Bluetooth keyboard do anything except the arrows. But sometimes it is impossible to navigate away from some of the buttons on the top end of the virtual remote down to the lower ones, especially the numbers buttons and the DVR control buttons.

2. Since no other keys on the keyboard perform any function that we can figure out, it makes it difficult to use the Bluetooth keyboard for entering channel numbers without reaching over to the iPad first, causing the app to focus on the bottom half of the virtual remote, then using the Bluetooth keyboard's arrows to find, then press, each digit. This must be done fairly quickly. Why not just fix it so that the keys on the Bluetooth keyboard's numbers row do this job, and other keys, or combinations thereof, move focus to other virtual remote buttons? What's the point of having the Bluetooth keyboard and not being able to control the app remotely? My husband uses the app to control the set-top box, right? Either we're doing something very wrong, or it's a little on the half-baked side.

3. And last but not least, we've tried selecting shows stored on the DVR via the app with the Bluetooth keyboard, and once again, either we're doing something wrong (probably), or ... you fill in the blank.

The app does most things very well. A little more thought might have gone into labeling some of the buttons, and an explanation that some of them, like the Keyboard button, are toggles, but that's minor compared with the three aforementioned points. Hopefully these can be addressed, and FiOS, if you're really listening, my husband is ready, double-plus-willing and able to help you beta-test anything with which you can come up to make this app better.

Thanks in advance.

[PJL]

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@MarilynAndSteve wrote:

My husband, who is blind, just tried using the new FiOS Mobile iPad app with a Bluetooth keyboard, and for the most part, it works well enough. However, several small but annoying problems exist for which neither of us have found a solution.  They are:

1. No keys on the Apple Bluetooth keyboard do anything except the arrows. But sometimes it is impossible to navigate away from some of the buttons on the top end of the virtual remote down to the lower ones, especially the numbers buttons and the DVR control buttons.

2. Since no other keys on the keyboard perform any function that we can figure out, it makes it difficult to use the Bluetooth keyboard for entering channel numbers without reaching over to the iPad first, causing the app to focus on the bottom half of the virtual remote, then using the Bluetooth keyboard's arrows to find, then press, each digit. This must be done fairly quickly. Why not just fix it so that the keys on the Bluetooth keyboard's numbers row do this job, and other keys, or combinations thereof, move focus to other virtual remote buttons? What's the point of having the Bluetooth keyboard and not being able to control the app remotely? My husband uses the app to control the set-top box, right? Either we're doing something very wrong, or it's a little on the half-baked side.

3. And last but not least, we've tried selecting shows stored on the DVR via the app with the Bluetooth keyboard, and once again, either we're doing something wrong (probably), or ... you fill in the blank.

The app does most things very well. A little more thought might have gone into labeling some of the buttons, and an explanation that some of them, like the Keyboard button, are toggles, but that's minor compared with the three aforementioned points. Hopefully these can be addressed, and FiOS, if you're really listening, my husband is ready, double-plus-willing and able to help you beta-test anything with which you can come up to make this app better.

Thanks in advance.

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The number keys work fine on my Android BT keyboard, after I tap the keyboard item on the virtual remote.  I am also able to enter numbers when selecting a channel in the guide area.

[MarilynAndSteve]

We'll try that, but I did say iPad after all, so your mileage, as they say, may vary. But the whole point is, it should not take two devices--the Bluetooth keyboard *and* tapping the iPad screen--to accomplish this.

[PJL]

The reality is that tablets (Android, iPads, or others)  have always been fully "tap centric" using screen taps and on-screen keyboards.  That's why they don't come with keyboards.  In my experience the keyboards that work with tablets are supplements to, not replacements for, the on-screen tapping, and work best when there is a combination of using both tapping and a keyboard to do something on the tablet.   Things bet better with a Bluetooth mouse of some sort (I don't know it they're available for iPads, but my PC Bluetooth and USB mice work fine with my Android tablet).  Then the tap function can be done with the mouse in concert with the keyboard and every function can be performed without tapping.

Good luck in looking for a solution to your need.