I am using a no name WIN compatible RF keyboard w/touchpad that I got on Amazon. Keys and pad work great. Reading on the forums about Android and RF keyboard with dongles. Seems there is a love / hate relationship. 
AMIKO Amiko A3 Owners Thread
- Thread starter KE4EST
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 895
- Views 128K
After rebooting the A3 the keyboard now seems to be recognized a little better than before.
When I simply plugged it in and tried to start using it, it sort of worked but not very well.
A reboot with it plugged in and now it's much more useful. The media keys actually mute and control the volume for one thing.
The trackpad does now work so navigation is better in some areas. When it's functioning as a satellite tuner the touchpad is not very functional.
When you're doing things outside of the television aspects, it functions more like a laptop.
It's not perfect but it's a big step up from the remote control only option. I am not much of a fan of that air mouse thing.
This helps with that in a big way. Entering text is sooooooooo much better now.
I recommend getting a keyboard with a touchpad of some sort for the A3. Your choice of course.
Edit: I checked but could not find any drivers specific to this keyboard for Android but I read in hundreds of comments on Amazon about using the Logitech k400r on Android and everyone agrees, it simply works. You just pair the keyboard to the dongle thing on a windows or a Mac computer then move it to the android device and off you go ! And that's pretty much what I did.
I do recommend a reboot though after plugging it in. Doing so made it work better for me.
When I simply plugged it in and tried to start using it, it sort of worked but not very well.
A reboot with it plugged in and now it's much more useful. The media keys actually mute and control the volume for one thing.
The trackpad does now work so navigation is better in some areas. When it's functioning as a satellite tuner the touchpad is not very functional.
When you're doing things outside of the television aspects, it functions more like a laptop.
It's not perfect but it's a big step up from the remote control only option. I am not much of a fan of that air mouse thing.
This helps with that in a big way. Entering text is sooooooooo much better now.
I recommend getting a keyboard with a touchpad of some sort for the A3. Your choice of course.
Edit: I checked but could not find any drivers specific to this keyboard for Android but I read in hundreds of comments on Amazon about using the Logitech k400r on Android and everyone agrees, it simply works. You just pair the keyboard to the dongle thing on a windows or a Mac computer then move it to the android device and off you go ! And that's pretty much what I did.
I do recommend a reboot though after plugging it in. Doing so made it work better for me.
Here's a photo of the keyboard (Logitech k400r) compared to my Apple wireless keyboard and Apple trackpad. They are pretty close in size.
I put several assorted remotes next to it for size reference. When I bought this thing I didn't realize it was going to be this large.
I guess they used Lurch as the hand model in the photos to make it look smaller.
It's basically a laptop keyboard. (My Apple keyboard is physically identical to the keyboards they put in laptops.)
One thing I'm not too thrilled with on the Logitech is the trackpad is up higher than I would prefer but it's not a deal breaker.
The silly scribbles on the trackpad, I don't get it. They could have left that off. It makes it look immature and childish.
But it seems to work well so the few trivial complaints I have about it are, trivial. I'll get over them in a day or two.
I'll have to say it was money well spent. Now I just need to figure out how the keyboard corresponds to the remote control.
As I figure out what keys do what I'll document them.
I put several assorted remotes next to it for size reference. When I bought this thing I didn't realize it was going to be this large.
I guess they used Lurch as the hand model in the photos to make it look smaller.
It's basically a laptop keyboard. (My Apple keyboard is physically identical to the keyboards they put in laptops.)
One thing I'm not too thrilled with on the Logitech is the trackpad is up higher than I would prefer but it's not a deal breaker.
The silly scribbles on the trackpad, I don't get it. They could have left that off. It makes it look immature and childish.
But it seems to work well so the few trivial complaints I have about it are, trivial. I'll get over them in a day or two.
I'll have to say it was money well spent. Now I just need to figure out how the keyboard corresponds to the remote control.
As I figure out what keys do what I'll document them.
Attachments
Right. One thing I can say for sure is that when you build a favorites list each channel is assigned a number.
By keying in the number of your favorite it will immediately change to that channel without any other nonsense.
I have RTVE on #23, MeTV on #37, COZI on #42, ThisTV on #43, etc...
I just type the two digits and it changes channels and if needed, moves which ever dish.
There is a little magnifying glass on the the F3 key. If I press that in the google play store it bring up the search and I can start typing.
I guess that depending on the app you are running at the moment the keyboard will do different things.
I assume the satellite tuner is pretty much considered to be an app as well.
So it's up to us to figure out what keys that app recognizes and what they will do.
While watching TV I tried pressing everything from A-Z and they did nothing that I could see.
Other keys did do things but I'll post about those later this afternoon, for now I'm done.
By keying in the number of your favorite it will immediately change to that channel without any other nonsense.
I have RTVE on #23, MeTV on #37, COZI on #42, ThisTV on #43, etc...
I just type the two digits and it changes channels and if needed, moves which ever dish.
There is a little magnifying glass on the the F3 key. If I press that in the google play store it bring up the search and I can start typing.
I guess that depending on the app you are running at the moment the keyboard will do different things.
I assume the satellite tuner is pretty much considered to be an app as well.
So it's up to us to figure out what keys that app recognizes and what they will do.
While watching TV I tried pressing everything from A-Z and they did nothing that I could see.
Other keys did do things but I'll post about those later this afternoon, for now I'm done.
D, can I call you D? I haven't gotten that far yet but im working on it, one thing I've discovered is even though I've saved 10 favorites I can only find 1?
Here' s the keyboard mapping as posted by T134 over at FridgeFTA:
F2 << page
F3 >> page
F5 RED
F6 GREEN
F7 YELLOW
F8 BLUE
ESC Back
ENTER OK
Source: http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=34810#ixzz3Is2iGi2A
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
Ernie
F2 << page
F3 >> page
F5 RED
F6 GREEN
F7 YELLOW
F8 BLUE
ESC Back
ENTER OK
Source: http://www.fridgefta.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=34810#ixzz3Is2iGi2A
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
Ernie
I've found that if I re-scan a satellite, the favorite flag gets removed from any channels on it. I don't remember whether the Alien2 did that, but for some reason I'm thinking it didn't. Can anyone tell me for sure?
Yeah all my favorites are gone except for the very first one is saved. I don't think the A3 is a good first stb, I'm brand new to this and all of these quirks are sending me off in another direction. So what was the first stb you purchased or what would be a good first box to get?
Maybe start a new thread with this new subject?
The A3 has been one of the most uneventful STB releases that I have experienced.and since it is a new STB to market there have been very few reports of operational issues. I have been extremely pleased with the exceptional maturity of the firmware and the speed of Amiko's quick response to legitimate problems. The majority of operational issues that have been reported to Amiko have been corrected in the next firmware update.
When you run across an issue like a favorite flag being overwritten, report it to Amiko Americas. Joe will respond very quickly and forward on to the Spark team if it is beyond his scope. This should be a very simple fix!
I am not an Amiko fan boy, but rather a long-time hobbyist and STB developer and realist. I give kudos when they are due and call out crap when that is what it is. In my opinion, the A3 is one of the best STBs on the market today. It is easy to use, fast, extremely accurate scanner, and the OTT capabilities are incredible.
Best of all, it is backed by a very responsive engineering group. This cannot be said of most STBs on the market today. Very few STBs are released to market with planned support and continued development.
Last edited:
I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I feel that this STB is pretty darn decent, overall.
It has amazing capabilities and if a doofus like me can fumble her way through it certainly you guys can.
I've had some ups and downs with it but it's mostly been because of my not understanding directions or even worse, not reading them at all in the first place.
I tend to just plow into things and start clicking stuff and pushing buttons. I usually break things in the process but in the end I figure it out.
I've had several different set top boxes and most of them were not very good. The MicroHD is a great little box but it's very basic. But, it's very, very reliable. It just works and it works great!
But it doesn't have any bells or whistles. It's a tuner and nothing more.
This thing is a computer that lets you watch TV! How cool is that?!
It has amazing capabilities and if a doofus like me can fumble her way through it certainly you guys can.
I've had some ups and downs with it but it's mostly been because of my not understanding directions or even worse, not reading them at all in the first place.
I tend to just plow into things and start clicking stuff and pushing buttons. I usually break things in the process but in the end I figure it out.
I've had several different set top boxes and most of them were not very good. The MicroHD is a great little box but it's very basic. But, it's very, very reliable. It just works and it works great!
But it doesn't have any bells or whistles. It's a tuner and nothing more.
This thing is a computer that lets you watch TV! How cool is that?!
yea yea yea the box is great I mean it's better than sliced bread but guess what a new wrinkle while I'm doing blind scans it just freezes and becomes inoperable it's happened 3 times and must be unplugged to rebooted. All that gobbly gook you guys are talking about doesn't mean anything if the box is unresponsive or unusable, later when these things are worked out it will be different but from now I'm just going to get a different box thank you very much
Similar threads
