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DigitalAlchemis

13 Posts

775217

December 8th, 2013 19:00

Venue 11 Pro - Slim Keyboard not behaving as expected or it should.

I recently received the slim keyboard from dell for my Venue 11 Pro - Baytrail tablet.    Overall I like the quality and functionality, although I too like others have encountered the intermittent non-functional keyboard, but that's not the subject of this post.

I have noticed a couple items in its behavior that don't work as you would expect and I hope can be corrected via software. 

1. When the keyboard is attached but folded back behind the tablet (ie the keyboard is not in use) the on screen keyboard will not appear.  This makes it hard to use the device as a tablet as anytime data entry is required you need to unfold the keyboard and hold it somehow while you type then fold it back behind the screen to continue tablet use.   When folding the keyboard behind the unit its just as important to make the on screen keyboard available as it is to stop the keyboard itself from functioning,  right now the keyboard stops working as it should be no alternative input is available. 

2. In much the same way as item #1.  When the keyboard is attached but folded back behind the tablet orientation is locked so the screen will not rotate to portrait or landscape mode at need.  So if you were carrying it with the cover / slim keyboard on and opened it up, folding the keyboard behind the screen the screen is stuck in landscape mode.   The only method ive found to change its orientation is to go to desktop and run the intel graphics app to edit the orientation.

Combined this makes the slim keyboard worse than useless in several usage scenarios.   I want the slim keyboard for the occasional need to input more data than is practical on the touch screen AND to protect the tablet.... but if your usage is more tablet than notebook you will find yourself constantly working around these limitations.   

You have a great product here, but you really need to take a page from the surface playbook here.   They kind of set the standard and expectations for how keyboard covers on tablets should work and while I really like the hardware the usage is awkward as it stands. 


Laurent T

10 Posts

March 12th, 2014 15:00

Yes, exactly ! No news about a new bios ? The last one was the 20 february. It'so loonnggg... It's awful

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 12th, 2014 15:00

I would have to agree that the onscreen keyboard is now very resistive feeling. I had my unit swapped out with a new one because of it and it didn't resolve the issue. The new tablet seems to do better but it is really bad when the thin keyboard is attached to it. If I detach it and reboot it seems to be a lot better...This is just getting very annoying.

dugdugdug3

13 Posts

March 12th, 2014 19:00

Droujav, When you replacement keyboard is flipped behind does the on screen keyboard come on?

droujav

28 Posts

March 12th, 2014 19:00

Hi, just received my replacement keyboard (slim). Works flawlessly !

droujav

28 Posts

March 12th, 2014 20:00

Hi DUGDUGDUG3,

just tested it and unfortunately no, on-screen keyboard does not come on when keyboard is flipped behind. (i never use it that way so I did not think of testing it...)

Laurent T

10 Posts

March 15th, 2014 14:00

That's it, more than 3 weeks since the last bios release. Please please Brian, will there be a good news this week ? And I must say, since the A10 Bios, my touchscreen is much less responsive, I often need to press twice the same letter to make it appear :(

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 17th, 2014 06:00

I have been doing more testing. And was a bit wrong in my description. Keyboard detached from a cold boot I do not have really any touchscreen issues. Everything seems to be fast and responsive. Keyboard then attached and everything still seems good. Put the machine to sleep with the keyboard attached either by manually selecting sleep or closing the keyboard and then wake it up and it Is hit or miss on whether things are good or not. Sometimes resuming from sleep works other times it does not. If from a cold boot the keyboard is attached the touchscreen is unresponsive to where about a third of the swipe from the bezel is recognized and key press touches are not working properly. Swipes from the screen to navigate work most of the time but in card games it may not start on the correct card so it is almost delayed. So it almost seems from either sleep or cold boot when keyboard is attached there is issues but if it is attached after it is done booting it doesn’t seem to present an issue.

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 17th, 2014 07:00

if when the keyboard is attached and it goes to sleep if you can detach the keyboard before it wakes up everything seems to work as well. Must be something when the machine has the keyboard attached during power-on or wake up that makes it have the issue

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 17th, 2014 08:00

manually putting the unit to sleep does not help when the fold down of the keyboard wakes it up. This is the area that needs to be addressed...Fold down wake up of the keyboard.

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 17th, 2014 08:00

When the issue is present manually putting the unit to sleep and waking it up via the windows button or power button resolves the issue but it will come back if it goes to sleep and wakes up via keyboard fold down.

fritschetom

10 Posts

March 17th, 2014 08:00

Ok further testing again...If the machine is put to sleep when the keyboard is attached by folding up the keyboard and then brought out of sleep with the keyboard being folded down then the problem exists...If it is put into sleep by folding up the keyboard and then immediately folding the keyboard down it will not wake back up which is expected...Then press the windows or power button to wake it up the problem does not exist. It seems to be an issue with the sensor from folding down the keyboard to wake it up at this point for me.

SBC-INC

3 Posts

March 19th, 2014 17:00

Hello Brian (or anyone with Dell)

Please respond with an update on the promised drivers fixing this. If it isn't about 2 weeks out, I'm contacting my Dell Sales Manager and returning this entire set.

I already have the following issues:

1) "SATA Device Removed" error with internal SSD (I already have to send in my device for this, and they don't have 256GB SSD in stock)

2) Mic does not work

3) Freezes (also needs mainbaord replaced)

4) All they keyboard issues of this thread.

5) Pen doesn't work properly

5) Battery detached errors

If I knew the drivers were being worked on, I would wait and send it in for repair. But if they are not I'm just going to refund. I don't know how much longer I can assist Dell with this. If I wait to long, my chances of a refund are just about 0%. 

harpe025

9 Posts

March 19th, 2014 17:00

I wish I had seen this post before purchasing this (it was delivered today). How can Dell not realize that people don't want to disconnect the keyboard to use this like a tablet?! I bought this because the Surface RT doesn't do enough and the Surface Pro is too expensive. However, the Surface RT works flawlessly with the touchtype keyboard installed. When folded back behind the tablet, the onscreen keyboard pops up in metro mode. Also, the screen orientation changes when I rotate on the Surface RT with the keyboard attached. My God Dell! Your slim keyboard sort of doubles as a cover/case. How could basic usability testing missed this. People don't want to remove the keyboard every time they use the thing as a reader, metro mode, etc.! How many people do you see using iPads with the cover folded back (hint - A LOT)? This is the same thing. If you don't want people to use it like that, you shouldn't have made it so the keyboard will fold back. I'll probably have to return this thing. I am still in awe how this could have been missed.

Planetexpress

1 Message

March 20th, 2014 16:00

I am considering buying the v11pro and would want this functionality as well. i think most people would expect every good table with keyboard to have all these functions.

cpalenshus

13 Posts

March 20th, 2014 22:00

I just received my Venue 11 Pro and slim cover. I only had to use it for about 2 hours before I started googling about these problems. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the onscreen keyboard wouldn't come on when the cover was folded back. Three months ago, you said you were looking into the problem and would post back. What is the solution?

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