I have been eager to test a portable alternative to Graffiti for a long time. Since the recent influx of portable keyboards for the Handspring Visor, I have been trying to decide which one would work the best. I decided to look into the ThumBoard keyboard by Seiko Austin.

While I couldn't live without my Stowaway folding keyboard, I would like a smaller input alternative. Graffiti is fine for small notes, and the Stowaway is great for large papers, but neither seem to work well for average use. The one problem I have with the Stowaway is that it requires a solid surface to set it up on for reliable use. I have attempted to use the Stowaway on my lap without much success. This is where the Seiko ThumBoard comes in.

The ThumBoard slides over the bottom of the Visor, so it does not require any surface or other setup. This allows the keyboard to be much more portable than other alternatives. However, the slide-on design means that the ThumBoard is not compatible with the Visor Prism or Edge. Visor Prism users should look to the Snap-N-Type keyboard for a similar solution, while Edge users appear to be out of luck. I hope to have a full review of the Snap-N-Type available soon.

The Seiko ThumBoard comes nicely packaged with a simple, but descriptive, manual. The small user's guide describes, in English, French, and Spanish, everything you need to get started. The package also contains a single floppy disk with the ThumBoard driver. While I would have expected a CD-ROM, the floppy disk should work fine for most anyone. If, like me, you do not have a floppy disk drive, you may download the drivers from the Seiko Austin website (http://www.seiko-austin.com). This is actually the preferred solution, because the driver version provided on the floppy disk is listed as v1.0, while the most current version available as of this review is v1.2.

The small driver (under 20k) installs like any other Palm application. Make sure that any other drivers that use the hotsync connector or infared have been disabled. Originally, the Stowaway keyboard driver on my Visor conflicted with the ThumBoard driver, causing the Visor to attempt to hotsync when I tried to use the ThumBoard. However, since then, I have used both the ThumBoard and Stowaway while both drivers are enabled. Beaming is also unavailable while the ThumBoard is enabled.

The ThumBoard has many functions packed into a small space, so naturally the buttons are going to be small. I do not have particularly large hands, but I do have some trouble with pressing multiple buttons at one time. Unless you have particularly small hands, you will have to get used to the size of the keys. In addition, the keys closer to the sides of the keyboard, such as 1, Q, A, Z, 0, P, and the backspace key, are a little difficult to access. At times, I have found it to be more comfortable to hold the Visor and ThumBoard in one hand and type with the other.