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Motorola Backflip Tip

One thing that has been frustrating me with my new phone is the lack of less-than ("<") and greater-than (">") keys on the Motorola Backflip's keyboard. These characters are available in the soft on-screen keyboard, but some applications (like ConnectBot SSH) block access to it. I do some HTML work over SSH from my Backflip using ConnectBot, and I wrote special editor macros to insert these characters. I can delete them now!

Maybe every other Backflip user in the world knows this, but I just discovered yesterday that while alt-K inserts an open parentheses, shift-alt-K inserts a less-than symbol. To get a greater than symbol, shift-alt-L.

As well, shift-alt-A inserts a pipe ("|") symbol and shift-alt-Z inserts an underscore ("_"). It just never occurred to me before yesterday to try using shift and alt at the same time!

My friend Eric writes:

Useful to Cliq owners, too. Thanks. I'm so grateful, I even write you an email as a workaround for your lack of comment functionality.

Shift-Alt . = ...
Shift-Alt N = \
Shift-Alt F = [euro]
Shift-Alt J = ^

Is this an undocumented feature, or a case of a Tech Writer failing to RTFM?

Those tips don't work on the Backflip, but I've included them for any other Cliq users.

I do read manuals for new electronics (typically while the battery is charging), but don't remember seeing this. I just checked the online (PDF) version of the Backflip User's Guide, and the "Typing Tips" section (page 20) that talks about modifier keys doesn't mention using Alt and Shift modifers simultaneously.

2010.07.02 at 10:30am EDT

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