Mapping problem with Wireless Keyboard and Japanese iPhone

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Mapping problem with Wireless Keyboard and Japanese iPhone

Hi everyone:

This seems to be a slightly obscure question -- at least, I can't find a ready answer for it with the search terms I've tried, possibly because most people don't use this particular accessory with the iPhone.

I have an iPhone 4 that I bought from and use on Softbank, the carrier in Japan, where I live. While visiting the United States recently, I bought an Apple Wireless Keyboard from an Apple retailer. I wanted to carry it with me for use with my iPhone, so I would reliably have a convenient way to access the Internet without being confined to the touchscreen keyboard. (I live in a rural area where WiFi spots are uncommon, but my iPhone's access to Softbank's data network is fairly good and consistent.)

However, to my frustration, I can't use the keyboard due to a mapping problem. The Bluetooth connection is fine -- the iPhone can discover the keyboard. However, the mapping is off: typing "Q" gets me "A," typing "Z" gets me "W", numbers and punctuation are off, etc. The key point: This is NOT a problem with the International Keyboard settings (under the Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> International Keyboards menu). I have the Keyboard setting set to QWERTY, which is the layout of the Apple keyboard; I have tried all the other possibilities, just in case. None of them work. Setting the Keyboard setting to QWERTY does not make the external QWERTY keyboard map correctly.

The rather ironic addendum is this: While on a recent trip to Tokyo, I visited the Apple store in Shibuya and, after concluding the main business of my visit (discussing my MacBook's battery problems with an English-speaking staffer), I took out my iPhone and keyboard and asked him about my mapping problem. He started with the Keyboard menu, tried the same things I had tried, realized they weren't working, and puzzled over the problem for a while. Then he did this: He hit a key combination (I believe) that brought up a menu on the iPhone's screen. "Ah, there's your problem," he said, and selected a new setting. The problem was instantly fixed.

To my chagrin, however, I neglected to write down what "Ken" had done to fix the problem. Argh... I was looking at the iPhone upside-down; I'd already taken up more than half an hour; people were waiting, and I guess, being used to living in the countryside now, that I'm not used to Shibuya crowds any more. Anyway, I didn't take careful notes or ask him to walk me through it, and now I cannot recall or repeat what he did. And I still can't use my keyboard!

Any ideas or advice, anyone? How did "Ken" fix my problem, and how can I repeat it? Much, much appreciated, in advance.

iPhone 4, iOS 4.1, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Softbank

Posted on Aug 9, 2011 2:23 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

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Aug 9, 2011 3:12 AM in response to shirasagi

In settings > general > keyboards, have you looked closely at what is chosen under Hardware Keyboard. That is what determines your mapping, not the virtual keyboard part where you choose qwerty or azerty. For example, under English you could have French selected instead of US. Same under Japanese.,

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Answer 2

shirasagi Author

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Aug 9, 2011 8:23 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you for your feedback. Yes, I should have specified that we tried that. Under Hardware Keyboard Layout, I've tried U.S., U.S. International - PC, U.S. Extended, and in fact everything else on the list (just in case!) But no matter what I choose, I'm still typing QWERTY and getting AZERTY.

This is very frustrating!

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,916 points

Aug 9, 2011 8:32 AM in response to shirasagi

Very odd. You might try a reset of your device.

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Answer 4

shirasagi Author

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Aug 9, 2011 1:40 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Well, I've reset the iPhone any number of times already, and it hasn't helped with this issue.

What I'd really like to be able to do is to figure out what that Apple Genius did in Shibuya, as I described in my original post, so I can replicate it. What could that menu have been that he brought up on the touchscreen (we were in Notes for testing the keyboard), and how can I replicate it? I suspect that there's something going on at a deeper level: that there's a default "Japanese" key mapping set in my iPhone that I need to switch out, if I want to use the keyboard properly. But I can't for the life of me remember exactly what that menu said or how he accessed it.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

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115,916 points

Aug 9, 2011 1:54 PM in response to shirasagi

shirasagi wrote:

What I'd really like to be able to do is to figure out what that Apple Genius did in Shibuya, as I described in my original post, so I can replicate it.

Yes, that's puzzling, because as far as I know the only place where qwerty/azerty would ever come into play would be the keyboard settings. Standard japanese keyboards are qwerty too. Is there any chance you have more than one keyboard active? In that case you could mistakenly switch among them via Apple/command + space on the hardware keyboard, or the Globe key on the virtual keyboard.

Does the virtual keyboard work correctly? What are the settings for Region?

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Answer 6

shirasagi Author

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Aug 9, 2011 2:12 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

THAT'S IT. Sir, you have solved my problem. Thank you!!

And I feel a little silly; this will doubtless seem to an expert as if it should have been obvious all along. But isn't that always the way in hindsight? 😊

Here's what happened: The key combination I was trying to remember was "Apple/command + space on the hardware keyboard," as you just said above. The "menu" it brings up is, apparently, a list of keyboards. I take it that this list is the same as the list of the "virtual" keyboards on the iPhone? I have never had more than one external keyboard -- the Apple Wireless -- but I do have several keyboards active virtually, as the iPhone in Japan seems to come with both the "Nihongo Ten-key" and the "Nihongo Romaji" keyboards active, and I added several other languages as well.

When I hit "Apple/command + space," this list comes up on the iPhone's touchscreen. Highlighted and checked at the top is "English," just as if it had been selected all along. But nonetheless, when I first turn on and pair my keyboard with the iPhone, I need to perform this key-combination action, as if to "reselect" English, and then the keyboard promptly starts working properly as QWERTY. I can only assume that one of the others had been default-selected before -- presumably one of the Nihongo ones? -- and that this was causing the interference.

Thank you again! You have made me and my wireless keyboard very happy. 😀

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,916 points

Aug 9, 2011 2:38 PM in response to shirasagi

shirasagi wrote:

And I feel a little silly; this will doubtless seem to an expert as if it should have been obvious all along.

In this case not at all. One of the weaknesses of iOS is that you cannot by inspection easily tell which keyboard layout you are using. In Mac OS X there is a "flag" at the top right of the screen which lets you know if you suddenly have switched to French (essentially the only azerty possibility) instead of US or something else. But in iOS devices there is nothing to tell you other than the keys not doing what you expect.

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