Hi All,


Before I get to my question, I'll tell you about my newest Windows computer.


It's a laptop, the one I've been posting about over the last few days. 
Specifically, it's a Xammbox 7" One Netbook One Mix Yoga Pocket Laptop 
Ultrabook Windows 10 Portable Mini Laptop UMPC Tablet PC. The 
under-the-hood stuff is as follows: Intel Atom X5-Z8350, Quad Core, Dual 
WiFi, 8GB. I think it's Bluetooth 4, but can't swear on a stack of 
bibles. I got it on Amazon for about $520.


Yes, it's got a 7-inch screen and a hardware keyboard. When the mini 
laptop is closed, it's about the size of a half sheet of typing paper 
and about an inch (5 cm) thick. It's got a headphone jack, ports for USB 
C and micro USB, an HDMI port, a nanno card slot, and one more thing, 
maybe a port for the small end of a regular USB cable. The external 
speaker is pretty loud. I'm not sure whether it's in the back or 
underneath, probably the group of little holes underneath, but the 
loudness makes it seem like sound is coming from the grill in the back.


I got this pocket computer because I'm switching jobs. The new job 
involves a small but regular amount of computer work. I can probably do 
it all on my phone, but I wanted an easy-to-carry backup in case the 
computer work is more involved than I anticipate.


At this point, I've really only had the pocket for about a day, so it's 
too soon to recommend. In terms of download times and general 
responsiveness, it's slightly less responsive than my desktop, which is 
a mid range machine. The October 2018 version of Windows is what comes 
up, based on the Narrator commands, and in addition to the hardware 
keyboard, the device has a touch screen. You're supposed to be able to 
fold the keyboard all the way back so it's under the lid, enabling you 
to use the pocket like a tablet. That works, but the lid and bottom of 
the machine don't quite lie flat against each other, so the experience 
feels vaguely bouncy, like you're using your device while riding in a 
car. I had no problems setting the Xammbox up, aside from operator 
stupidity and not wanting to create a Hello PIN.


So far, the biggest drawback seems to be the battery life. The reviews 
I've read say you get about 4 hours from a full charge, especially if 
you're streaming. I've recharged the unit twice, and the 4-hour battery 
life is consistent with my experience. I got a little less when I was 
downloading and installing software, and a little more when I was mostly 
just practicing with it.


The keyboard is interesting. Mostly it's the qwerty keyboard we all 
know, but there are some changes. The function keys and number row are 
short and wide, like standard keys cut in half horizontally. The 
caps-lock, comma, period, and slash keys are all half width, so there's 
a little bit of an adjustment, with the comma and period especially. the 
tab key is above the Q, and backspace (no delete key that I've found so 
far) is on the right edge of the q-p row. Weirdly, the semicolon and 
apostrophe keys are big and near the arrow keys. The function key is at 
the left end of the space bar row. The space bar itself is divided in 
two. The thing that breaks it up is, I think, a tiny trackpad you swipe 
over and tap. Below the space bar are left and right mouse keys.


I'm not sure how comfortable typing will be over all. My hands, which 
are not especially dainty, are about the right size for this keyboard, 
so my first impression was that typing would be comfortable for me. . 
Over time, however, I noticed that some of the changes were a bother, 
especially the punctuation, the tab key, and the fact that I need to 
practice to get a feel for the number row. These are all things I may be 
fine with in a few weeks, though, so it's hard to say.


Now for my question. And actually, I don't know what my question is. 
Maybe it's "Has anyone else noticed this behavior on a device?" or "Is 
this a sign of a possible problem?"


I was using Narrator for most of the day yesterday while I was setting 
up the pocket and messing around with it. I had a few odd problems with 
the keyboard. For example, I couldn't close apps with alt+f4 or 
fn+alt+f4. I could only do it with ctrl+w. I couldn't exit and turn off 
the computer with that command either. I had to hit Windows+x, then 
arrow up to Shut Down. I wasn't too concerned about that because I 
figured the function keys had been high-jacked as they so often are on 
laptops. But then when I was on the desktop, I had trouble selecting 
items. I wanted to delete two shortcuts and rename two other shortcuts, 
but when I arrowed to the icons, I couldn't get the correct context menu 
to come up, whether I just arrowed to the icon or pressed space on it 
first. Much later in the day, I used an OTG cable to hook my regular 
keyboard up to the pocket. I didn't change anything else. This time, 
everything worked as I expected. I was able to close apps and the 
computer with alt+f4, and I was able to delete and rename the desktop 
icons by just arrowing to the item. The external keyboard is the 
ergonomic keyboard by Microsoft; it's called the natural 4,000 or 
something like that.


Why the difference in behavior with the two keyboards?


Thanks for any wisdom.


Ciao


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