How to: Put an iPad to work, in the car

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Wireless Keyboard

If you’re typing anything more involved than a Web address forget about the iPad’s on-screen keyboard. So, when I travel with my iPad, I bring along Verbatims’ $50 Wireless Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard.

It is smaller than most paperback books, weighs less than 10 ounces and folds open to reveal full-size keys. Its space bar is awkwardly split, but the keyboard works well. It comes with a padded case and offers a full set of keys plus ones for playing multimedia, adjusting the pad’s volume and its brightness.

There’s no software to load, but the Verbatim keyboard requires a pair of AAA batteries. It works like a charm with an iPad as well as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Motorola’s Xoom and any tablet that has an HID-based Bluetooth system.

It works perfectly sitting on a lap or on the fold-down door of my car’s glove box, making it the passenger’s best friend.

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Brian Nadel is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in technology reporting and reviewing. He works out of the suburban New York City area and has covered topics from nuclear power plants and Wi-Fi routers to cars and tablets. The former editor-in-chief of Mobile Computing and Communications, Nadel is the recipient of the TransPacific Writing Award.