This Folding Keyboard Means You Can Never Escape Work

Summer vacations are officially a thing again, and you can ditch your laptop while traveling without giving up actual typing, thanks to a tiny but effective folding keyboard. 

I tried out the Samsers Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard ($28.99 on Amazon) on my first post-pandemic road trip recently. Thanks to its easy setup and excellent typing experience, I can recommend this gadget to anyone who can’t stop themselves from working when they should be relaxing.

Tiny but Mighty

Samsers is not exactly a well-known brand, so I was a little nervous ordering this keyboard even though it has many five-star reviews on Amazon. I’ve been burned by such "reviews" in the past. But I was pleasantly surprised when I received the well-packaged little item. 

When folded up, the keyboard is ridiculously small, about the size of a large iPhone, and not much thicker. I’m a stickler for spacious, well-made keyboards, so I was doubtful at first glance that I would be able to do much work on this thing.

Unfolding the keyboard powers it on, and with a press of a Bluetooth button, I was connected to my iPhone. Then, I placed it on the handy, included folding stand, and all of a sudden, I was ready to type. 

The actual typing experience is amazingly good for a device of this size and price. Even though it looks small, it’s got about the same key size as a regular keyboard. Within minutes, I was typing at nearly the same speed as on my MacBook Pro, the keyboard against which I measure all others.

But Should You Type on Vacation?

Now that I was set to compose a novel or very long emails while traveling, I was confronted with the fact that maybe I shouldn’t. I recently saw a Tweet that reads: 

“European out-of-offices: 'I’m away camping for the summer. Email again in September.'"

"American out-of-offices: 'I have left the office for two hours to undergo kidney surgery, but you can reach me on my cell anytime.'"

There’s a lot of truth to this Tweet. I’m one of the many Americans who has a hard time unplugging entirely from work. In fact, I pitched this story when I was nominally on vacation. I used the Samsers keyboard perhaps too much. 

My advice, therefore, is to go on vacation without a keyboard unless you have to. 

Nevertheless, if you feel like you must have a portable keyboard, the Samsers isn’t the only one out there. Almost any Bluetooth will work, of course, but there are also quite a few foldable keyboards, so you can secretly stick one in a pocket, and people won’t know you are such a dork. 

A particularly nice-looking option is the $49.99 minder Foldable Portable Ergonomic Keyboard, which has an aluminum frame. It also comes with an integrated touchpad and boasts up to 60 hours of battery life. 

There’s also the well-reviewed $36.99 iClever BK03 that allows you to set up a Bluetooth connection with three devices at once, including those running Windows, Android, and iOS. The manufacturer claims it’s made out of aircraft-grade aluminum and weighs 6.3 ounces. 

A slightly more unusual design is evident in the $32.99 Geyes Portable Travel Foldable Keyboard, which folds into three pieces rather than the usual two. The extra fold allows you to place your phone onto a built-in stand while you are typing, instead of having a separate stand. It comes in either gold or rose gold. 

Any of these keyboards will help you transform your phone into an actual typing device while you are on your summer vacation. You even could pair it with a portable Bluetooth mouse, like the folding $44.37 Microsoft Arc Mouse. But consider that the average American worker takes only 10 days off per year, while Swedish workers have a mandated 25 days off. Maybe you should just leave your keyboard at home.