I have an Apple Wireless Keyboard. It connects via Bluetooth. I’ve used it with my iPad and with Windows 7 tablets. I like this keyboard. While it’s relatively light and small (and therefore mobile), the keys are large and spaced enough for efficient typing.

I hadn’t used this keyboard for a while. Recently I decided to use it again, this time with a Windows 7 tablet. It wouldn’t pair! Indeed, the keyboard only would be discovered about 1/3 of the time. Even when it was discovered, pairing failed with the helpful message “unknown error.”

I consulted my good (and perhaps only) friend, Mr. Google. I tried a number of suggested solutions. None worked.

However, one suggestion gave me a clue. It was that if the keyboard already was paired with a MacBook, you need to unpair it first, pair it with a Windows 7 computer, then repair with the MacBook.

This keyboard wasn’t paired with my wife’s MacBook Air. But I checked and found it was paired with my iPad 2. Not only paired, connected.

I ended the connection between the keyboard and the iPad 2. The keyboard immediately paired with the Windows 7 tablet. Works fine.

So it turned out the unknown error was PBKAC.

A few days ago I mentioned my new phone. As some observant readers gleaned, it’s a Samsung Galaxy Note. This 5.3” monster Android phone also has a Wacom active digitizer for much more accurate inking. And Samsung has promised an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich the first quarter of 2012!

I bought this device unlocked from my friends at GSM Phone Source. This model (GTN-7000) works on AT&T bands, including HSPA+ (more on that in a minute). It does not support LTE but, hell, here in L.A. I’m still waiting on LTE for my HTC Jetstream. HSPA+ is good enough (again more on that soon).

The first challenge for all of us early adopters is not getting kicked off the AT&T voice network. You see, AT&T’s internal database of IMEIs erroneously identified the Note as a 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet, which supports voice (and does so in Europe) but AT&T permits on its network as data only. If you’re interested, you can read about both the saga and the solution. While AT&T has been panned for its customer service, when you read these threads (my posts are by genghiskhent, duh), you’ll see AT&T did step up to the plate and fix the problem.

While there no long was a danger of being kicked off the voice network, for data I was stuck in the 3G slow lane. HSPA+ isn’t really 4G (though carriers do advertise it as such). It’s more like 3.5G. And 3.5 is better than 3, right?

The key is to access an APN that supports HSPA+. In order for your phone can access that APN (which has the exotic name “phone”),  you first have to be on the right data plan. I’m on a metered 4G Smartphone plan. So far so good.

But not good enough … yet. Your phone has to be properly provisioned to access the HSPA+ APN. Bottom line is you need to talk to tech support (as opposed to customer support). A very friendly and helpful tech named Todd helped me out. So now I can access the faster APN. Thanks Todd!

I realize there’s a lot of technical mumbo jumbo here, and believe me, I skipped over a lot of details so this wasn’t overwhelming. If you have questions, please post. And Todd, if you happen to see this (I did mention the blog to him), feel free to post a comment, if only “Hello.”

Soon I will post on my actual usage of the Note. Until then …

Especially since the BlackBerry 10 phones won’t be coming until late 2012.

Source: The Joy of Tech

No, it’s not a baby. It’s another gadget. More later.

No, not the pink marker. The phone. it’s the newest arrival to my gadget harem. Do you recognize it?

2012 should be a better year. It better be. On the tablet front, the aforementioned release of OS 2.0 in February 2012 should (hopefully) put the PlayBook on a better footing. But RIM’s mainstay is the smartphone, not the tablet. What about smartphones?

OS 7 is an evolutionary dead end. The 2012 crop of smartphones will have a completely different OS: BBX BlackBerry 10. Basically, BBX BlackBerry 10 is a the new marketing term for the QNX OS in the PlayBook. The prior marketing term, BBX, turns out to be legally unavailable because another company (BASIS International) already had a trademark on the BBX name. [Edits on 12/7/2011]

I have the PlayBook, and its QNX OS has a lot of promise, notwithstanding the crippled OS 1.0. I really don’t care whether they call the OS QNX, BBX, BB 10 or Godzilla. I want version 2.0 NOW!!!

That rant aside, 2012 BBX BlackBerry Roadmap Preview gives the details for anticipated 2012 BBX smartphones. It also mentions a 10” PlayBook sibling. But the stars of this show will be the smartphones.

RIM currently is between the proverbial rock and hard place. Move too slow, the market passes it by, as has happened on the smartphone front in the last few years. Move too fast and release a half-baked product, like the PlayBook, and customers lose confidence and go elsewhere.

CES in early January should provide a better clue on RIM’s 2012 roadmap. I’m rooting for RIM; competition is good. But we’ll see.

I’m really enjoying my HTC Jetstream and using it in meetings for note taking. This probably will be my main Android tablet until its quad-core sibling, the HTC Quattro, is released, reportedly Spring 2012. I’m still using my iPad 2. There are apps I use which are available only on iOS, no Android equivalent. As far as Windows 7 is concerned … well that will have to wait another week or two

I’m still dithering over a phone to replace my aged HTC Droid Incredible (version 1, not 2). I’m very interested in the Android Samsung Galaxy Note if it comes to the US (probably early 2012) and works on the Verizon network (unclear, only AT&T confirmed for now). I’d also be interested in a RIM BBX phone. However, it doesn’t appear one will be available until about Fall 2012. That’s a long time to wait. early 2012 at best. If much longer than that, may be too long for me. Another candidate is a Windows Phone 7 Nokia Lumia 900 if it comes to the US (again probably early 2012) and works on the Verizon network (again unclear, only AT&T confirmed for now). At the rate this process is moving, the iPhone 5 may become a candidate.

That’s it for now. Until soon …

Anyway, I was rebooting in landscape mode. Something possessed me to rotate the device to portrait mode. Amazingly, that worked. Later, I saw some posts from others this worked for also. Not sure why this worked, but it beats a reboot loop.

Aaarrrggghhh. Right after I talked myself out of an Ultrabook after considering the pros and cons of the Ultrabook concept, I read Engadget’s review of the Asus UX31. The review is very positive. I then read James Kendrick’s also positive review of Lenovo’s IdeaPad U300s. I need to dither think more about this. In the meantime, here’s a compendium of Ultrabook reviews.

I’ve previously defined “Ultrabook” as a Windows clone of a MacBook Air. Then I directed you to a more precise definition at What’s an Ultrabook? on Ultrabook News, a site started by my friend Steve “Chippy” Paine. 

Chippy now has posted the cases for and against getting an Ultrabook. The case for is pretty obvious: An Ultrabook, like a MacBook Air, would be lightweight and high-performing and has a long battery life. The argument against basically is that the Ultrabook concept involves a number of compromises that can be avoided by an only slightly heavier laptop.

If you’re considering an Ultrabook purchase, I’d suggest you first read both articles carefully. I was strongly considering an Ultrabook purchase. I’m not sure anymore. Putting on my attorney hat, after listening to the opening arguments, I’m more persuaded by the against argument. What about you?