GoKawiilRita El Khoury / Android Authority
When the March Pixel Drop started rolling out to the Pixel Tablet along with Android 16 QPR3, the one feature that caught my eye was the new Desktop Windowing experience. This promised to be a glimpse into the future of Aluminium OS and Android as a desktop PC environment, but there was one big hurdle along the way: the touchscreen.
As much as I like swiping and gesturing, a proper desktop experience requires mouse and keyboard support and needs to be flawless from day one. So, to get a feel for Android’s desktop future, I started looking at Bluetooth keyboards and mice for my Pixel Tablet. For less than $50, I found the answer, and now that I have, I can’t believe I waited this long.
Between Android 16 QPR3’s Desktop Windowing capability, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and more powerful mouse support, my Pixel Tablet now works like an ad-hoc laptop, and all it took was two minor purchases.
Android’s external keyboard support is excellent today
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I had a glimpse of Android 16’s more powerful external keyboard support when I tested the Clicks Keyboard case last year, but having a full-on QWERTY on my desk is a whole other experience. I went for the Logitech Pebble Keys K380s ($34 on Amazon), a small and portable keyboard that can switch seamlessly between three devices and offers dedicated buttons compatible with Android’s navigation (Home, Recents, and Back). It turned out to be the perfect decision.
Everything I want to do on my Pixel Tablet, from switching between apps, going to the home screen, opening the app drawer, and navigating back through menus, is feasible without having to memorize a specific shortcut. I wouldn’t have lasted with a keyboard that didn’t offer these natively — having to repeatedly reach out my hand to the display to swipe or tap would’ve completely disrupted the flow and made the entire “PC” experiment silly and pointless.
More importantly, though, Android now supports a bunch of shortcuts with any traditional keyboard, even if they’re not built into dedicated keys. There are shortcuts to switch between open apps, take screenshots, insert emojis, switch keyboard languages, open Gboard’s built-in clipboard or translator features, drop down notifications or Quick Settings, and open any app. Even Android’s new window management features have assigned shortcuts, so you can easily send an open app to the desktop windowing view, move it to the right or left side of the screen, move it between displays or open desktops, and minimize or maximize.
You don’t expect a touch-first operating system to have such solid keyboard support, but Android now does. And for someone as addicted to shortcuts as I am, who’s always looking to optimize their unnecessary mouse time, this is absolute perfection. I’m still trying to learn the different ones, but knowing I can press Start + / at any point to invoke the shortcut overlay and refresh my memory is a good trick.
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