Jailbroken iPhone 3G gets external keyboard, says "Hello"

If you're one of those people always complaining about the iPhone keyboard (the lack of one, that is), then this is probably a vital piece of news, even if it's not totally practical. Or practical in any way, actually. Some very enterprising citizen of the world seems to be running a chunk of Ruby code on his jailbroken iPhone 3G, which allows it to recognize what appears to be a Palm / Visor external keyboard connected via a custom cable. The results of this intense bit of modification? Well -- not much, honestly, but it's still kinda cool. "Hello Keyboard," indeed. Check out the video of it in action after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:11PM]

Kind of reminds me of the "attachable function modules" concept that Engadget Mobile posted about earlier (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/11/04/mystery-verizon-phone-features-3-inch-touchscreen-attachable-fu/).
I actually really like the idea here, even if it's not practical at the moment. Now if we can just get a non-ridiculous gamepad attachment to complement this...

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:25PM]

I would much prefer a landscape-mode keyboard on the screen. Once you're using a clunky external keyboard it means you're sitting at your desk. Then you just use your Mac/pc for email, calendar, contacts, etc. An external keyboard is an "extreme niche" thing.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:38PM]

I used to travel with a Palm Vx and a folding keyboard and loved it. This was in the days before wifi was a possibility so I would upload mail when back in the office. I now use a Centro and it is OK but a larger keyboard for those times when you want to crank out a long message would be better. A smartphone that can actually work as a mini netbook.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 23rd 2008 4:05PM]

apple message for you guys instead of making people resort into hacking into the iphone why dont you fix it with out making a new one so all the iphone lovers dont have to cancel their contracts and buy a new one