How To Connect Keyboard To Samsung Tablet

How to connect Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard to Samsung Tablet

Since it is very tiring to write longer texts on a touchscreen keyboard, you can connect your Android device to a Bluetooth keyboard. This will give you a real keyboard under your fingers, where you can type much faster and more accurately. You can also see more of the display on your Android smartphone or tablet because there is no need to show a virtual keyboard.

Before using it for the first time, you must register your Bluetooth keyboard with the Android device. You establish this connection in the settings of the smartphone or tablet:

Open the settings of the Android device and navigate to "Bluetooth".
Activate Bluetooth.
Turn on your keyboard and press the connect button. Refer to the user's manual of the Bluetooth keyboard to find out where it is located.
On your Android device, tap "Search for Devices". Select your keyboard from the list of found devices.
You may have to enter a number combination on the keyboard which you confirm with [Enter].
The connection is established – From now on you can enter all texts with your Bluetooth keyboard.

How to log-in a Logitech keyboard to the Samsung device

After you have carried out this installation, the connection is established automatically, which saves you a lot of effort. If the Android device or keyboard was switched off, you only have to take care of a few things to reestablish the Bluetooth connection.

The connection must already have been established once.
Bluetooth must be enabled on the phone or tablet.
The Bluetooth keyboard must be turned on. You might need to wake it up from standby by pressing any key.
The keyboard must not have been connected to another device since the last connection. Otherwise, you must register the keyboard again with the guide above.

Some Bluetooth keyboards even let you control the Android device. The [Esc] key then replaces the Back button and [F1] takes you to the Home screen. Depending on the keyboard model, there may also be a volume control or email shortcuts – just try a few keys.

The best Bluetooth keyboards for Samsung tablets

Smartphones and tablets offer many advantages – writing longer texts is not one of them. Your virtual keyboards are entrusted with short messages, but for longer mails or formal correspondence you have to still use your PC again. Even clever keyboard apps like SwiftKey hardly solve this problem. However, with a universal Bluetooth keyboard (minimum15 usd), almost any smartphone or tablet can be transformed into a fully-fledged workstation – as long as the device has the wireless interface and an up-to-date operating system.

Since the Bluetooth versions are compatible and the keyboards always work with the HID profile (Human Interface Device), the universal keyboards can be connected to almost all devices with Bluetooth interface.

This includes media players, game consoles and TVs. Smart TV sets in particular benefit from a hardware keyboard, because a remote control is very difficult to use for entering text. In practice, however, it turns out that keyboards and end devices often have different opinions about the function of the keys.

Clearly different features and equipment of Bluetooth keyboards

Typically, the keyboards support Windows, MacOS as well as iOS and Android according to the manufacturer's specifications. Logitech also gives a compatibility guarantee for the K480 with Google's ChromeOS, while Samsung recommends the VG-KBD2000 TV keyboard only for four smart TV series and Android devices from their own company. Basically, however, the keyboards work with all devices that meet the requirements. The keyboards come with either battery or rechargeable battery operation, whereby the latter often turns out considerably worse. Very cheap devices often lack batteries or USB charging cables.

Some keyboards also have comfortable stands for tablets and smartphones. The opposite pole is formed by folding keyboards, such as the Donzo IBK-03, which make themselves particularly small during transport thanks to the folding mechanism.

Their disadvantage: The keypad is divided by the folding hinge and somewhat unstable, which is at the expense of the typist's ergonomics. A look at the test field shows: A really good and valuable writing experience is often only available on models starting at 50 Euros. The very affordable Ultra Slim, which is sold by Anker for just under 15 Euros as well as by CSL, is the laudable exception with a surprisingly solid typing field.

Some models have a switch that manages several Bluetooth connections – the feature has this and the Logitech K480 in our test. You can control up to three devices directly – instead of a tedious new registration, only a few seconds are needed to change devices.

Bluetooth keyboards for Samsung tablets review

When using mobile devices, you should take care that only models with Android 4 or iOS 6 can handle Bluetooth pairing by default. Then, the use is surprisingly smooth, but you have to put up with small quirks: In interaction with Android, multimedia or the [Back] keys, mostly [ESC], are occasionally not recognized (like Donzo).

With the Perixx, a system reboot was also necessary after pairing to allow the keyboard to be used, and the keyboard was also the only one that stood out due to an excessively long input delay. A general problem with Android: Sometimes the OS does not recognize a different layout, the keyboards work according to the American QWERTY scheme, if you need to have your keyboard layout in another language. Otherwise the keyboards work quite well on Android devices.

In principle, this also applies to iOS devices: Writing and using multimedia and special keys is very well implemented. Biggest shortcoming here: The [TAB] command is, in contrast to Android devices, not fully supported on iOS. For example, if you fill out a form in an app or on a web page, you can switch between the input fields with the [TAB] key, but for final confirmation with a button, you often have to use your finger directly on the touch display – a bit annoying in the long run.

Logitech Bluetooth keyboards for Samsung TV

Bluetooth on the TV is not uncommon, but hard to recognize as the manufacturers hardly advertise the feature. As a rule of thumb: If the model has WLAN, it is very likely that Bluetooth is also integrated – both interfaces are often built on one chip. But the reverse is also true: no WLAN, no Bluetooth. Pairing is usually done via the network settings and works like other devices by entering a PIN on the keyboard. However, the compatibility of televisions still lags far behind. Multimedia keys are hardly supported, sometimes keys are assigned incorrectly, for example [TAB] as [ENTER], or do not work as expected. Even supposed keyboard leaders like the Samsung VG-KBD2000 don't work flawlessly here.

One solution to such problems is to use remote apps, which are available for practically all Smart TVs. If you use a Bluetooth keyboard to control the remote app on your smartphone or tablet, you can often trick stubborn TVs and use them a little more conveniently. Another alternative is the Harmony Smart Keyboard from Logitech. Thanks to the Harmony database, the keyboard can handle over 200,000 entertainment devices – but here, the setup is done via an online app and, depending on the number of devices in the living room, it can be quite tedious.

Tip for video game console owners: In contrast to Sony's PlayStation 3/4, Microsoft's Xbox models don't have an integrated Bluetooth interface. Here, a wireless keyboard can be retrofitted for the end device via a USB dongle, whereby it must be a keyboard-dongle combination that is already paired by default (such as Logitech K400). Thus, you don't have to abstain from comfortable typing, neither during gaming nor on the smartphone.