[mauiboy]

Got my Shasta keyboard today. Wow… talk about premium compared to competition standard models. The look and feel of this Shasta keyboard will be hard to beat. Nice full size keys and rugged design. Hardware is impeccable. I borrowed some device from the work place to test out this new keyboard. I tried to prepare a comparison between the Shasta and my MMG that I got about 5 months ago. To be unbiased I just list the features in the manual and my observations using both while trying to see how well they let me do what the keys on the BlackBerry does.

Stuff I got from the docs............................Shasta............ .MMG
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Hotkey (open phone app.)..........................Yes................ .Yes
Hotkey(auto dial number)........................... No.................Yes
ESC key (Escape).....................................Yes.. ...............Yes
Arrow keys.............................................. ..Yes.................Yes
Menu key (open menu)...............................Yes........... ......Yes
Shift + thumb wheel (highlight characters)....No.................Yes
Press and hold key (Upper case).................No.................Yes
Repeating characters..................................Yes... ..............Yes
Disable repeating characters........................No.............. ...Yes
Number of programmable hotkeys.................8.................20+
Turn on backlight when key is press.............Yes.................Yes
Backlight brightness adjustment hotkey........No...................Yes
Special symbols.........................................Al tGr + key......Hotkey
Ctrl + X/C/V (Cut/Copy/Paste)......................No.................Yes
Key tone simulation....................................No.. ...............Yes
Key tone volume adjustment........................No.............. ...Yes

Different Blackberry issues
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7250
Character input lag......................................Yes...... ...........Yes
Number keys work in phone app...................No.................Yes
Number keys open phone app......................No.................Yes

7100i
Character input lag.....................................Yes....... ..........Yes
Number keys work in phone app..................Yes.................Yes
Number keys open phone app......................No.................Yes

8700c
Character input lag.....................................Better.... .............Better
Number keys work in phone app..................Yes.................Yes
Number keys open phone app......................No.................Yes

My Conclusion:

I like typing on the Shasta with its full size keys. My typing is not impressive so it harder to press the wrong keys. :>) Both have that dreaded lagging problem that gets better with the newer blackberry devices like the 8700 and they both function well enough as input devices. So if you have big hand then you better off getting the Shasta. If you don’t mind slightly small keys but want a keyboard that seems more complete in their drivers then that might be the MMG. And if you’re one them “boys with toys person” you might get them both. Hahahaha… just kidding I get them through work since we work with PDA devices every day. I can’t wait till the boss say it’s ok to get one of them Virtual Keyboard to play with.