Using a Physical Keyboard
If you type a lot of text, work with large documents, or just don’t like typing on glass, you can use a physical keyboard. You can connect the keyboard to your Nexus via USB or Bluetooth and then use it just as you would with a computer. For USB connections, you may need an adapter to connect the keyboard to the Nexus’s Micro-USB port. To connect a Bluetooth keyboard, see “Bluetooth Devices” in Chapter 5. Bluetooth and unpowered USB connections drain the battery quickly. To connect multiple USB devices, use a powered USB hub.
When you connect a keyboard to your Nexus, you can use it to navigate as well as type text:
- Use the arrow keys to select items.
- Pressing Return when an item is selected is equivalent to tapping that item.
- Pressing Escape is equivalent to tapping Back.
- Pressing Tab or Shift+Tab jumps to the next or previous text field.