Samsung Galaxy Player and Bluetooth Keyboard Possible?

[teh.sean]

I'm on the fence about whether to get a Samsung Galaxy Player. The big question is whether it works with a HID Bluetooth keyboard. I haven't found a definitive answer on the nets, so I thought I'd ask the ever knowledgeable pocketables community. If there's anyone out there that has one (5.0 or 4.0) please let me know what your experience has been using a BT keyboard with the Player.

If a working solution requires rooting or the addition of 3rd party applications (like bluekeyboard jp) just let me know so that I can start off in the right direction.

Also, if anyone can recommend ANOTHER Android device roughly the same size as the 4" Samsung Player (basically, pocketable) that they know firsthand supports HID Bluetooth keyboards I would love to hear about it. Something like an Archos 43, etc.

Thanks a bunch everyone.

[markr041]

I have the Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0. It pairs with the mini bluetooth keyboard I just purchased. No driver needed, no rooting. The keyboard is a standard HID device. I paired, got a number to type in, and it paired and connected. Instantly. It works.

Hip Street Universal Tablet Bluetooth Keyboard

[teh.sean]

Thanks for the info! I bit the bullet and bought it.

For anyone wanting to know, there ARE a few odd issues with using a bluetooth keyboard on this device.

Using the left shift on my keyboard sometimes causes it to go into SHIFT-LOCK, but only for non alphanumeric keys. The best example I can use to explain this is that if I capitalize a word in the middle of a sentence using the shift key, the period for that sentence will register as a '>' character instead. Odd quirk.

The other big gripe is if you rotate the device to landscape mode, the arrow keys do not get remapped properly. They maintain their portrait based orientation. I had a similar issue with the original Droid and a USB keyboard (through USB host on the DROID, fairly science project stuff) I got working with it.

I think this is the relevant post to fix the second issue (guessing from memory):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=468703

But warning, changing the keymap REQUIRES ROOT ACCESS.

[teh.sean]

Just an update, I was able to root the Player using the following resources:

Samsung KIES (drivers for the Galaxy) here:
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/do...s/YP-G1CWY/XAA

These tools:
http://papousek.org/downloads/galaxy_player/

Follow the instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1424358

And have fun.