Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse and Jawbone Headset

Ok - I have finally managed to get the Bluetooth working properly on my laptop, it took a while but fiddling with the settings etc. I have finally managed to get the Apple Keyboard and Mouse connected plus my Jawbone Icon headset.  Microsoft have not made it easy for bluetooth devices, there are quite a few forum theads out there complaining about the bluetooth functionality within Windows7.

The main issue was around that the devices kept dropping off and not connecting again - I had to right click on the Bluetooth Icon and choose Open Settings, then ensure Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer was checked, also within the Hardware tab, I clicked on the Properties button, which brings up the windows about the bluetooth module, there was a Change settings button there which allowed me to get to a Power Management tab, the Allow computer to turn off this device to save power was checked, so I unchecked that too.

So a bit about the devices...

Apple wireless keyboard

This is a lovely piece of kit, lightwieght, stylish, lovely design, and works straight off, there are only a couple of down points I have found..

• There is no delete key, only a backspace key, therefore you still need a normal keyboard to log onto Windows with the Ctl Alt Del three finger salute.  There seems to be a lot of Forums etc. (when you search t'internet) that say you can use the fn + backspace keys, but they never worked for me.  I even downloaded the drivers for the keyboard from the Apple Boot Camp Project, and that did not work either.
• The other main issue is the layout, I can only assume with Apple, one layout fits all, but it is an American layout -hey ho.  Agian the easy way is to either change the layout of your Windows7 keyboard to US or get a Sharpie pen and write over the keys.  Personally it is not a big deal for me as I tend to touch type and not look at the keys.

The up side to the keyboard and mouse, is the distance I can use them from the laptop is far greater than the normal wireless products, perfect for using on my meeting table as well as my desk.

Apple Magic Mouse
What can I say, it looks stylish, yep that's about it, it looks stylish...

Let's not beat about the bush here, the mouse is a beautiful piece of design, and it does sooo much when attached to a mac book - connect it to a Windows7 machine though and all you get is the possibility to move the cursor, left and right click and look at the design.  Apple have not released any Windows drivers for the mouse, so you just get the basic functions, I can live with that as the scroll option is far outweighed by the fact I can use it on my meeting desk.

Jawbone Icon Headset

This is my favorite gadget, a bluetooth headset that can pair to two phones at the same time, has noise assasin software built in, so I can even use it in my noisey comms room and it looks cool too.

You can just see the Jawbone underneath the big clumpy Plantronics headset.

I have set the Jawbone up on my Avaya One-X Communicator IP phone, and it seems to be working fine, although a bit quiet on the voice... it is certainly a lot more compfortable to have in your ear then the Plantronics.

So I will continue using the bluetooth kit for a while and see how I get on - watch this space...