Bluetooth keyboards have been a part of our lives for a few years now. We use them with tablets, with large screen displays or sometimes just as wireless accessories to our regular computers. While these wireless wonders have indeed become more affordable with the passage of time, getting a good Bluetooth keyboard from a top tech brand for about Rs 1000 has been considered about as likely as Iceland winning the cricket World Cup (notwithstanding their Twitter wit). Which is why we must confess to being both amazed and impressed by the rather elaborately-named HP 350 Compact Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard. The keyboard has an official price tag of Rs 2,499 but is actually available for much lesser. A lot lesser. The white avatar is in fact available for 1178 at the time of writing on Amazon, and even dips below Rs 1,000 with certain credit or debit cards. The black one on the other hand is priced at Rs 1799. Some might mutter about digital racism, but we are frankly stunned at just how much the HP 350 (which is what we are going to call it henceforth for the sake of simplicity and conserving word counts) delivers for not too many bucks. Sleek looks, easy to carry There is nothing remotely "cheap" about the design and appearance of the HP 350 keyboard. The white model we got was made totally of plastic (60 per cent of which is post-consumer recycled plastic!) with a matte finish and in terms of overall layout, is very similar to the layout we see in many notebooks, particularly from Apple. It is a six-row keyboard, with a dedicated row of special shortcut keys right on the top. The keys themselves are very well designed, of a decent size and well spaced out. We never felt that any particular key was inconvenient to use. There are four tiny LEDs at the top right to indicate the device you are connecting to and the battery life. There is a power on/off slider on the upper side and on the back of the keyboard are tiny rubber "feet" to keep it slightly off the surface and just below the top is a battery slot, which takes two AAA cells (you get two with the keyboard). It is a sleek, compact keyboard, less than a foot in length (less than the length of a 13-inch MacBook Air) and about 12 centimetres wide. It slopes gently downwards and is roughly under 2 centimetres in height at its highest point. At a touch of over 300 grammes, it is small and light enough to fit into any backpack. It feels very solid and HP claims that it is spill-resistance as well, which is a blessing for folks who work with water, coffee and tea close at hand (hint: us!). The type you love to type on…and go on typing (thanks, battery life!) And it actually works brilliantly. Using it is as simple as switching it on, finding it on the Bluetooth settings of your device and selecting it (it works on Bluetooth 5.2). You can connect up to three devices to it, and switch between them by hitting the Bluetooth key at the top of the keyboard, It will by default connect automatically to the last device it was connected to. We connected it without any problem to a OnePlus 11, an iPhone 15 Pro Max and a Redmi Pad tablet and it worked beautifully with each of them, with no need to download any additional software. The shortcuts on the top of the keyboard for switching tracks, adjusting brightness, accessing emojis and so on worked without a hitch, and the usual keyboard shortcuts for cut, copy and paste worked perfectly too. HP has marked out the Command key clearly for Mac users, something which many keyboard manufacturers forget. You can even customise the keys if you wish. The best parts of the keyboard however, are its typing experience and battery life. One of our major grips with relatively compact keyboards has been the cramped keys with limited travel. The HP350's keys come with a surprisingly deep travel and actually delivered a better typing experience than we have had on many notebooks. Rather remarkably, they remain relatively silent in spite of this, which is a godsend for folks who work in public places like cafes and libraries or who even like to type quietly in the back rows of meetings (hint: us again!). This is a surprisingly spacious and punchy keyboard to use. HP promises two years of battery life from those two AAA cells, and frankly, we would be delighted with even a quarter of that. We have used it for over a week and there has been no dip at all in the battery. Awesome for the price (black, please, though?) All of which make the HP 350 Compact Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard an absolute no-brainer for anyone who wants a good Bluetooth keyboard for about Rs 1,000. It does not just beat all the others in that zone, it thrashes them. Some might complain about the absence of typing angles and the lack of a stand to prop up devices, but we do not think those are even remotely deal breakers given the kind of performance the HP 350 delivers. Our only real complaint about it was its colour - white looks great but we know it does not age well. Especially in dusty conditions (alas, Bluetooth keyboards do not come with their own cases - they really should) or when being tapped by hands that are not washed every half an hour. We would definitely recommend keeping a brush and some mild cleaning fluid handy if you are a heavy user. Still, that would be a very small price to pay for what we think is by miles the best budget Bluetooth typing experience you can get in the market. It comes from one of the biggest brands in the tech world (hey, Steve Jobs asked its founders for spares), works with multiple devices, is very full-featured (no, you cannot get a dedicated number keypad or a touchpad at THIS price), works with multiple devices across platforms and has battery life that runs into months, rather than weeks. Now, just give the black one at a similar price, HP. Or launch a grey one. Or just get us a good cover for this one.
