Logitech K380 Keyboard

I use my Nvidia K1 Shield as my main interaction device when I’m away from my PC for extended periods of time, as with any touch screen device using the onscreen keyboard takes up a chunk of real-estate, that shrinks the content that you are viewing. To circumvent this I bought a bluetooth keyboard to allow me to type blog posts and the like a whole lot easier and to also keep the screen size maximised for application usage.

Over the Christmas period I found that my existing bluetooth keyboard had stopped powering on correctly.
So rather than try to figure out how to fix the weird power switch issue (that would most likely need some soldering), I used some money I was gifted from my Grandparents to get a new device.

I wanted to pick up the device ASAP so I could use it over Christmas when I would be using my tablet more heavily, but rather than waiting for a delivery, which around Christmas could have a 3 to 10 day delay, I hit the shops to attempt to find a replacement. After checking in a number of stores and weighing up the devices that were on offer, I finally settled on the Logitech K380 (UK Qwerty) which is a Cross-Platform and Multi-Device bluetooth keyboard.

Powered by two AAA batteries (expected to last around 24 months) the K380 is lightweight device weighing in around 420g, but the craftsmanship feels solid with the keys moving fluidly and comfortably within their recesses. The device has 4 rubber feet that hold the device in place when used on a flat surface, however the lightweight nature means that the device isn’t uncomfortable resting on your lap.

Out of the box the keyboard functions in a basic manner, with nearly all core keys performing their expected function, however characters that require the use of shift key function as if the keyboard layout is defaulted to use the US layout so the @ key is on shift 2 by default rather than it being “.

I have to admit that it took me a little time to figure out that I needed to download an additional application to the device in order to utilise those advanced features. If you need the Android version it can be found here: Logitech Keyboard Plus. One of the core features of the keyboard is the multi-device setup and quick switching keys, I didn’t really have much cause to use this but I tried it out connecting to my Phone on the second profile, then swapping between them using the dedicated keys.

I used the keyboard quite a bit over the Christmas break for typing into slow moving environments like forums or sending tweets, I also found it very useful for chatting on faster paced environments such as Discord and Twitch. It was nice to have cut and paste functionality and once I had it figured out plus the ability to auto-complete functionality for names and the like.