Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard and Amazon Fire TV Stick
Published December 2, 2017
The Rii i8+ mini keyboard has made navigating around my Amazon Fire TV Stick a lot easier. If you're using the Amazon Fire TV Stick with Kodi, Terrarium TV or any of the other streaming services, you know how cumbersome using the Fire Stick remote can be. Searching for movies by title or actor requires a lot of remote clicks. Even more cumbersome is when you attempt to install software programs like Terrarium. Typing in URLs is not fun. Heaven forbid you insert a typo. Fortunately, with the Rii i8+ mini keyboard, typos are not a problem.
Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard Initial Setup
Before using the Rii i8+ mini keyboard you must charge it. The keyboard comes with a USB charger. It's a three-way cord so you can sideload things if necessary. I’m not exactly sure what side load means but it's there if you want to do it. Guess it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
For my purposes, I plugged one end into the keyboard (located on the top near the On/Off switch) and the other end into the USB charging station. While charging the middle indicator light shone red. When it shut off I knew the keyboard was charged. If I’m remembering correctly, the unit took a little while to charge (longer than I expected).
Learning the Keyboard Features
To explain the keyboard, I’ve decided to take it in halves. I’ll first discuss the bottom half of the keyboard, then the top (bottoms up).
Bottom Half of the Rii i8+
This tiny keyboard packs a lot of functions in a small space. In addition to having a full QWERTY keyboard, the lower half of the Rii i8+ has mouse controls. There are the left and right mouse buttons on the left side of the QWERTY keyboard, and the Page Up and Page Down buttons to the right of the keyboard. When pressing the FN keys simultaneously with the Page Up or Page Down buttons they act as the Home and End keys. The Enter key also doubles as the Three-finger salute (Ctrl, Alt Delete) when pressed with FN key. Depressing the FN key with the space bar adjusts the sensitivity of the mouse.
As with a regular keyboard, the numbers row is located above the letter keys and the F function keys are in the row above that. Each F function key has an alternative purpose when it is pressed simultaneously with the FN key.
How Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard Differs from Full Sized Keyboard
There are a few minor layout differences, however, in the Rii i8+ keyboard layout. This is to be expected on such a small device. The dash/underline and equal/plus keys are located to the left of the spacebar. The semicolon/colon, apostrophe/quotes are located to the right of the last row of letters. And finally, open and close brackets, forward slash and question mark are located beneath the semicolon/comma keys.
In order to get everything on the keyboard, some things had to be altered. It takes a little getting used to, but nothing major. Since I wouldn’t use it to replace full-sized keyboard for typing things such as this post, the changes are insignificant to me.
Top Half of the Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard
The top half of the keyboard is pretty self-explanatory. But since I was verbose about the bottom half, I might as well yammer on about the top half too.
Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard: Top Left
In the upper left-hand corner are the media keys. Arranged in a circle you’ll find the controls for the volume (V+ and V-), Rewind, Play/Pause and Fast Forward. Beneath the media keys circle are three indicator lights as follows:
- Left - Blue light: The blue light illuminates when the device is turned on. It turns off when in standby mode or off (after a few minutes the device goes into standby mode to save battery life).
- Center - Red light: Indicates battery charge level. I believe it flashes when the charge is low, but I’m not sure because my batteries have yet to run down that far. I do know, however, that it does remain illuminated when charging and shuts off when the device is fully charged.
- Right - Orange Light. This light flashes when input occurs, i.e. when typing or using the mouse.
To the right of the media keys are 4 buttons as follows:
- Open media player: I’ve not used this since I’m using it with the Fire Stick. Haven’t tried it with a computer to see if it actually works.
- Turn backlighting on and off. Great when using at night (just like standby mode, the backlight will turn off after a minute or two to save battery life).
- Mute and un-mute sound
- Left mouse button
Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard: Top Center
Here’s where the fun happens. The top center top of the keyboard is the mouse pad. It’s pretty interesting to get used to. Fortunately, they have instructions printed on the mouse pad for people like me who need the extra help in figuring a few things out.
Actually, I’m kidding. The instructions are pretty simple. Single tap invokes the left mouse button and double tap the right mouse button. Using two fingers while dragging up or down on the mouse pad scrolls the TV/computer screen.
Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard: Top Right
To the right of the mouse pad are the following buttons:
- Bluetooth Pairing: Press this button for pairing to make the keyboard discoverable.
- Search: Use it to open a search window or, in my case, search for a movie/TV program.
- Home: Takes you back to the Home screen.
- Right mouse button
Even farther right is a circle of directional keys. On a full-sized keyboard, the directional keys (arrows) are usually found next to the number pad. On the Rii i8+ mini keyboard it’s located on the right with an OK button in the middle. The OK button has the same function as the Enter or left mouse click.
Pairing Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard with Amazon Fire TV Stick
The Rii i8+ pairs with any Bluetooth device, but since I’m using it for the Amazon Fire TV Stick, that’s what I’ll talk about here. You can actually pair it with your Bluetooth phone, computer or tablet if you’d like.
On the Fire TV Stick navigate to the Add Bluetooth Devices screen. You get there by going to Settings - Controllers and Bluetooth Devices - Other Bluetooth Devices - Add Bluetooth Devices. Once you’re at the screen, press the pair button on the keyboard.
When the Fire TV Stick discovers the device, select it with the Fire Stick remote. The Fire Stick will pair with the keyboard and you’re done. Test the keyboard by pressing the Home button to bring you back to the Fire Stick’s Home screen.
The Rii i8+ mini keyboard also comes with a USB dongle for non-Bluetooth devices. Since I paired this with the Amazon Fire Stick I didn’t need the dongle. However, if you choose to use the keyboard with a non-Bluetooth device, the dongle is necessary.
My Opinion of the Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard
Being the dinosaur that I am, I’m not proficient at texting. On a full-sized keyboard, I can type upwards of 80 WPM, but texting reverts my WPM to approximately 3! With this in mind, I had concerns about using this mini keyboard. Surprisingly, however, I’m able to type pretty quickly and accurately with it. I think it’s the rubber-like (silicone?) material of the keys. My fingers don’t slip off the keys and create typos. It has a nice feel.
All in all, I’m happy with this little keyboard that I purchased from Amazon.
BTW, if you want to read the manufacturer's manual, you’ll find it here: Rii i8+ Mini Keyboard Manual
Rii i8+ Keyboard Flashing Blue Light
Update 12/12/18: The other day I went to use the mini keyboard and I noticed the blue indicator light was flashing. That was odd so I figured I’d go online to find out what was going on. In Google, I typed “mini keyboard rii i8 blue light flashing” and couldn’t find an answer. Surely, someone else had the very same problem with their mini keyboard so I tried wording it differently. Well, apparently, no one but me has had this problem.
Being that I couldn’t find a solution online (not even in the manual), I decided to play around with the keyboard. Actually, the solution was simple. I charged the keyboard for a few hours and voila! The blue light stopped flashing. Now I know that when the blue light begins to flash, I need to charge it up. Guess I’m the only one who didn’t know this..
Felicia (aka Low Tech Grandma) is a wife, mother, grandmother, freelance writer and low tech blogger.
Last Modified: 10 February 2023
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Comments
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- Alexandros February 8, 2021, 1:04 pm
Hello, Low Tech Grandma.
I know the post is a little old, but I don’t know where else I could find answers to some questions I have.
I am torn between buying Rii i8+ and Rii i4, and I want to use it on my PC.
The i4 is missing the media buttons, so I would like to ask if the directional buttons are controlling YouTube videos by doing steps Forward-Backwards and volume Up and Down….. Does the OK button Pause/Play a YouTube video on a PC?
Since the i4 only has left-right mouse buttons as triggers I would also like to ask:
Is it possible to highlight a text only with the touchpad, without using the left mouse trigger button?
And can you drag & drop items again only with the use of the touchpad and not pressing the buttons?
Thank you.
- Low Tech Grandma February 11, 2021, 9:48 am
Hi Alexandros,
Unfortunately, I don’t have experience with the Rii4. What you can do, however, is if you order it from Amazon (Amazon affiliate link), you can test it out. If it doesn’t fit your needs, you can always return it.
I’ve purchased items from Amazon hoping it would fit my needs. Sometimes, the items didn’t do as I expected, so I returned them. Most Amazon products have a pretty wide return window.
I hope that helps.
- Alexandros February 12, 2021, 3:59 am
Hello, Low Tech Grandma.
I have failed to get my point across, reading again the way I formed my text, I can see how, not what I had in mind came through.
The Rii4 I am talking about may not have the extra media buttons, but since all the other buttons of those two controllers are the same, I was wondering how, since you have it in your possession, the Rii8’s Directional Pad and OK button, reacts on YouTube videos on a PC. Does OK Pause/Play it for example?
And if with the Rii8 you can drag & drop items and highlight text with only the use of the touchpad and not having to use the left-mouse designated button.
So then I could come to the conclusion, which one of those two is going to suit me better.
Unfortunately, I live in a Country in the Eastern part of Europe and Amazon is not always so convenient to buy from, here.
I am planing to buy it locally and the return policies are not the same if the buyer has opened the package of the item they’ve purchased. That why I am obligated to know, how Rii controllers react, prior to the purchase. And I cannot find a video for this nor the Riitek company answered an email I’ve sent them……
Anyway, thank you for the time you’ve dedicated for me. Cheers.
- Low Tech Grandma February 17, 2021, 10:27 am
Hi Alexandros,
First I want to apologize for the late response to your inquiry. I don’t often use the Rii8, so I had to remember where I put it. 🙂
I’ve tested the Rii8 with YouTube videos. The arrows located on the right-hand side of the keyboard will fast forward and rewind videos. You have to hold the directional arrow down until you reach the desired point in the video.
The Play/Pause button on the left side of the keyboard does play and pause videos.
As far as drag/drop and copy/paste, I’ve been able to select the item I wish to copy, use a two-finger tap on the mouse pad which will open the right-click menu items. I selected “Copy” and then navigated to the destination, used the two-finger tap and then selected “Paste”.
So far I haven’t been able to place the mouse pointer over an item and drag it to the destination. I’ve had to use the Copy/Paste function.
I have not used the right or left mouse buttons on the keyboard, I did everything with the mousepad. Of course, it can also be done with the left/right mouse buttons on the Rii8,
I apologize for the initial confusion. I hope this answers your question. If not, please let me know and I’ll try to clarify things.
- Kev January 15, 2021, 6:28 am
Hi, I hope you can help.
I just bought the Rii i8s keyboard but I can’t seem to get it to pair with my firestick.
The keyboard is not Bluetooth so I have used the dongle that came with the keyboard and I have tried many times but it just will not pair.
Please do you have any tips to help me.
Many thanks.
- Low Tech Grandma January 15, 2021, 11:18 am
Hi.
I believe you’ll need an OTG adapter for a non-Bluetooth keyboard connection.
With the adapter, you’ll be able to plug the dongle directly into the Fire Stick. I really wanted to try it out for you, but I couldn’t find my OTG adapter. As you can guess, I’ve got tons of wires and adapters, but that one seems to be hiding from me.
Fortunately, they’re inexpensive and should solve the problem. Please let me know if it works for you.
- Kev Watson January 15, 2021, 3:51 pm
Thankyou so much for getting back to me.
Trust me to forget that bit. I already bought a OTG cable and have the dongle plugged in to it, but I just cannot get the keyboard to pair.
- Sebastien Idee March 4, 2020, 11:22 pm
Hi Felicia,
I hope you can help me with my issue: the orange light (the left one) on Rii keeps bleeping when I turn the devise on and can’t do anything with (stop it, use the device,…).
What should I do?
Thanks in advance.
- Felicia March 5, 2020, 8:01 am
Hi Sebastien,
I’m not sure if this will solve your problem, but the orange light usually illuminates when you’re typing or using the mouse. Is it possible that one of the keys on the keyboard is stuck in the down position?
What I would do is go through and depress each key on the keyboard. If you come to a key that won’t go down (depress), that might be the problem as to why the orange light constantly illuminates. If you could somehow get that key unstuck, it might solve the problem.
Also, your keyboard might be different than mine, because the orange light on my keyboard is on the right where yours is on the left. I don’t think that makes a big difference regarding the constant bleeping, but I just wanted to mention that.
I hope this helps.
- JOHN G April 12, 2019, 11:25 am
I now own 4 Rii8 mini Keyboards, when I first get one I can CLICK Icon to Icon, Menu to Menu but mainly from movie to movie on my Android Stream Box w/o having to wait for the arrow to drift to my selection, I tried Disabling the Mouse pad using Fn+F8 and the pad was disabled but it did not eliminate the arrow and I still could not make onscreen choices using the “OK & 4 directional buttons” can you tell me how to restore the navigational function using only the 4 Directional/OK buttons or do I have to BUY a FIFTH Mini Keyboard
HAVE FUN
- Felicia April 20, 2019, 5:11 pm
Hi John,
I’m afraid I’m not of much help. I’m not really sure I understand the question. Unfortunately, I think I’ve shared everything I know about the Rii8 in my post and the few responses to the comments.
Sorry, I’m not very helpful in solving your situation.
- John Gittens April 21, 2019, 1:07 pm
Thank You Grand MaMa for responding with Speed and Alacrity
OK I do not know what I did but 1 of 4 of my mini keyboards went back to factory default settings and basically eliminated the slow drifting arrow and went back to being able to click from movie to movie in any direction, I use Morpheus. I am afraid to try one of the other keyboards because it occurred to me that maybe the reset originates in my Android Box
HAVE FUN
Your Newest Faithful Subscriber
- Nick March 2, 2019, 9:05 am
Hi Felicia: My name is Nick and I’m a new user for the Rii I8+ BT mini keyboard. After pairing it, it practically control every function of the Amazon TV Firestick 4k except the Audio and mute buttons. I’ve googled it and haven’t come into a solution yet. I wonder if you can walk me (help) how to make them work with the keyboard.
Thanks
Oh, your picture instructions have helped my a lot on understanding and finding out how to use the function keys for example.
- Felicia March 3, 2019, 8:25 am
Hi Nick,
Thanks for stopping by. Unfortunately, I have the same issue as you do. I basically only use the Rii i8+ remote to type in movie titles or insert email addresses and passwords. Other than that I use either the Firestick remote or the TV remote to change channels and control the volume.
I’ll do some research to see if I can find a solution to the volume/mute issue. If I come up with anything I’ll share it with you. Sorry I wasn’t able to help.
- Tom January 8, 2019, 8:50 pm
Hi Felicia!
I’m hesitating between the RF version and the BT version, which is much harder to find.
I was able to get the very latest version in a store in my area. The latest version has nearly instantaneous wake from standby, as well as two levels of backlight, which can be chosen by pressing the backlight button repeatedly.
Does the Bluetooth version also have two levels of backlight? Also, does it wake instantaneously like the latest RF version?
I wish the Bluetooth version was readily available, but it seems to have been discontinued as there is no mention of its existence on the Riitek website.
Thanks or your time and advice!
- Felicia January 9, 2019, 4:11 pm
Hi Tom,
My Rii only has one backlight level. As far as it the wake time, it takes a few seconds before it’s fully functional on the screen. There have been times when I started typing a web address only to look up to see the first two letters missing. I’ve since learned to wait a second or two before typing.
- Tom January 10, 2019, 1:45 pm
Thanks for the input Felicia! This sealed the deal for me: I will be hanging on to my latest version RF version.
The latest version wakes up instantly, with absolutely not a single missing character input. It works like magic, like it’s hard wired to the Firestick 4k.
Hopefully some day they update the BT version as well.
- Felicia January 10, 2019, 8:40 pm
We can only hope. 🙂
- David JL October 27, 2018, 11:01 am
I am trying to pair my Rii i8s to the Amazon Fire Stick. I have followed all of the videos on YouTube and instructions on blogs, but I can’t get it to work. It is connecting to the TV because I can change the volume through the keyboard but it will not pair the Bluetooth Fire Stick settings. I have tried turning the debugging off and on in the device settings.
Any ideas before I send it back?
David
- Felicia October 28, 2018, 6:50 am
Hey David,
Have you tried disconnecting it from the TV and pairing it with the Fire Stick only? I’m not sure how many devices it can pair with at one time.
I’ve had similar problems with other Bluetooth devices. It’s worth giving it a try. Let me know how it goes.
- Richard Durost July 4, 2018, 11:32 pm
Mini Wireless Keyboard 08RF/2.2 is available from eBay for about 9 bucks shipped. This seems to be nearly identical to one of the Riitek models, a NON-Bluetooth model.
The key to success: Insert the receiver, and after Windows detects it and finishes loading drivers (a few minutes), press Fn + RF (Function F1 on the keyboard) to restart the automatic pairing process. My 08RF paired after a few seconds to a Windows 7 PC using this method.
I have not tested it on my Fire TV gen. 3 device yet because I’m awaiting delivery of a USB port expander so I can connect the receiver.
Here’s the manual that gave me the tip: http://www.riitek.com/uploads/soft/i8.pdf
The 08RF/2.2 that I got was described as a Bluetooth device, but it isn’t. It doesn’t have the Bluetooth pairing button. This is what is labeled with a magnifying glass on the non-Bluetooth mini-keyboards.
Good luck!
Richard
- Felicia July 5, 2018, 6:43 am
Thanks for the info!
- Jeremy May 17, 2018, 5:00 pm
The problem I’m having is syncing up the mouse pointer, like just say I’m clicking on a link, I have to position my cursor like 3 inches down off the link and try to find the right spot to click it, any suggestions on what’s going on?
- Felicia Williams May 24, 2018, 8:43 am
Jeremy, I apologize for the late response. As I mentioned in another comment, my son was in a serious accident and my time hasn’t been my own for a while.
As far as using the mouse, it is a little tricky, because there’s more than one mouse access. When using the remote I use the mousepad to navigate around and then double tap (or is it single tap) to click the link. You could also use the arrow buttons located at the top right-hand corner of the remote to access a link and then click the OK button in the middle. I find that to be a bit more cumbersome.
Which method are you using?
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