Werkema.com: The Sony PCG-U101

Typing on the U101

One of the biggest questions that people ask about the U101 is Can I type on it? That keyboard is pretty tiny, after all. The answer is yes, you can --- this text was written with it --- but you will have to change the way you type, and don't expect to do 60 words/minute right out of the box.

On a full-sized keyboard, I'm a touch-typist, and can go at 70 words/minute on a good day. On a bad day, maybe 60. That's why I can build a huge web site like this for the U101 and have time left over. Moreover, most days, I'm in front of said keyboard for several hours at a stretch: ten-hour workdays aren't unusual. So I'm a pretty keen choice for somebody to evaluate the keyboard.

The U101 keyboard packs a lot of keys into a tiny space. The keyboard takes up less space than a standard 8½ × 11 sheet of paper folded in half --- folded either way!

Initially, I was struck by how small the keyboard really is. It's officially 2/3 the size of a standard keyboard --- at least for the alphabetic keys --- but it feels like it's about half the size of a standard keyboard, or possibly smaller. But small is not necessarily a bad thing; that's the mantra of the U101, after all.

It takes a little acclimatization to get used to the keyboard. I think you really can type at at least 60 words/minute on this thing, if your fingers aren't too big. Small hands will have no problem with the keyboard; big fingers may bump multiple keys at once. Your mileage will vary. Right now, I'm at about 45 words/minute as I type this, but I think I will be able to go faster with practice.

What you should know:

Note the extra-small size of the punctuation keys compared to the alphabetic keys; the punctuation keys are only a little thicker than a pencil.

The punctuation will slow you down somewhat. Some of that is because the keys have been moved, and that just takes a little getting used to; I still get (parentheses) wrong, because I type Shift+9 and Shift+0, when they've been moved left one key to Shift+8 and Shift+9. However, punctuation will always be more difficult than on a standard keyboard since it usually is on thinner keys: semicolon, at, colon, comma, period, slash, and several others are victims of this. But given the limited space constraints of the keyboard, I think Sony did it as well as they could.

Alphabetic keys are usually full-speed. The alphabetic keys are big enough that if you're a fairly relaxed typist --- i.e., you don't insist on having your hands on the home row at all times, and are willing to let the wrong finger sometimes hit a key when the right finger won't reach or would bump something --- you can type alphabetic text (spaces included) at full speed.

Expect to sometimes miss a key. Your fingers are trained for a larger keyboard, and sometimes you will miss a key on this keyboard by tapping somewhere other than its exact center. The keys don't activate unless fully depressed, so if you just push down on the edges, you won't get any result. Until you retrain your fingers for the change in size, you can and should expect to miss a key every once in a while. I missed about a dozen in this paragraph, but it's nothing the backspace key can't fix.

The Enter key
A tall, thin Enter key. Don't hit ] by mistake!

Beware the Enter key. The Enter key is tall and thin. If you normally use your right pinky to hit it, you'll probably miss it and hit ] instead (right next to it). If you normally lift up your hand and tap it with another finger, you'll probably be fine.

There are four Japanese-only keys on the keyboard.

What are those other Japanese keys? There are four keys on the bottom row beside the spacebar that have only Kanji text on them, and a lot of people wonder what they do. Here's the answers:
- The leftmost key switches between Kanji/Kana and Romaji; in other words, between Japanese characters and Roman (English) characters.
- The key to the left of the spacebar is the Unconvert Key. This key takes a selection of Kanji (or the Kanji left of the cursor) and transforms it into Hiragana. This is only meaningful if you can read Japanese.
- The key to the right of the spacebar is the Convert Key. This
  
  The arrow keys around the trackpoint-mouse act as the paging keys if you hold down "Fn."
  key takes a selection of Hiragana or Katakana (or the kanas left of the cursor) and transforms it into an appropriate Kanji symbol, or pops up a Kanji menu if multiple symbols match. This is only meaningful if you can read Japanese.
- The rightmost key switches between Katakana and Hiragana. Although it has a label on it for Romaji, I haven't yet figured out how to make it switch to Romaji. This is only meaningful if you can read Japanese.
- In addition, if you set up the English keyboard that comes standard with Windows (it's not set up by default in Windows XP Japanese, but you can change that in the Control Panel), you have another hidden keystroke available: Left Alt+Left Shift. Pressing Left Alt+Left Shift will switch the keyboard between <EN> and <JP> layouts, which is useful if you need to type European accented characters.

Yen key
The Yen key and backslash key behave almost exactly the same: they both can produce a Yen symbol.

What about Home, End, PageUp, and PageDown? You won't see these anywhere on the keyboard, but that's not because they're not there. Sony doubled these up under the arrow keys around the trackpoint-mouse, and you can use the Fn key to access them: Fn+Left=Home, Fn+Right=End, Fn+Up=PageUp, Fn+Down=PageDown.

Beware the backslash key. On Japanese keyboards, there is a backslash key, but it produces a Yen symbol (Japanese money symbol). This can be a little confusing, but it isn't, really. The Yen symbol operates just like backslash everywhere you see it, and both symbols are fully interchangeable. It just looks weird, that's all.

In short, don't be in a hurry, and you'll figure the keyboard out. The keyboard is fully functional, just small. And if you need any more proof, I used it to write this page!

Even with all that description, many people don't really understand the size of the keyboard very well; the numbers and words don't express it as well as a good picture does. Here is the U101 sitting next to a standard full-size keyboard. I put two equal-length pencils and two identical pushpins on them to give a sense of scale.

Incidentally, if you do need to type at the U101 for long periods of time (for example, you happen to be in the office, or replying to a huge number of e-mails), you can make it easier on yourself by picking up a larger-size USB-compatible keyboard. There are lots and lots of USB keyboards out there, and they all work with the U101. Just plug it in and use it: there are no drivers to install or anything. I've found that for writing large amounts of text, a small portable USB keyboard is a valuable add-on (just like a small portable USB mouse is on most laptops, including the U101). An external keyboard will cost you anywhere from $10 to $50 at a retail store, depending on what you want from it. An external mouse is also a good add-on, and will cost in the same range. I paid $24 for a "Zippy" brand keyboard and $20 for a CompUSA mouse, and haven't regretted buying either one. You don't always need them with the U101, since it does have both built in, but they're nice to have when you're going to be using the U101 for long periods of time.