Sure, that Photoshopped image of the VAIO P we got on Sunday wasn't the real deal, but it looks like it might have some relation to reality -- Sony's got a teaser up for a "VAIO New Mobile" that includes some brief shots of a very swank-looking keyboard and tracking nub. We'll be honest -- we're totally stoked to check this thing out at CES. Counting the days! One more shot after the break.
Sony teases the VAIO P's keyboard and tracking nub
ASUS offers up branded keyboard / mouse combo, remote for Eee Box
If your Eee Box experience is lacking something that you can't quite put your finger on, we're 85.32% sure we know what'll fill that void. According to Eee PC News, ASUS is gearing up to ship an Eee-branded wireless keyboard / mouse combo in both black and white motifs, and if that's still not enough Eee to cure your fever, the multi-function remote should handle those media center duties with ease. There's no mention of a price or release date, so we suppose you should assume these are completely fictional until proven otherwise.
Pogo Sketch stylus turns your touchpad into a tablet
We never really knew anyone intrigued by Pogo's iPhone stylus, but the company's newest writin' stick puts that capacitive touch-compatible tech to a way more interesting use -- turning touchpads into large digitizer tablets. That'd be particularly useful for new MacBook owners who're rocking those gigantor buttonless trackpads, but we'll have to see this $15 accessory in action before we say Wacom's got anything to worry about.
Folding VAX77 Keyboard Fits In Your Touring Trunk [Music]
PlayStation 3 Wireless Keypad review
As hard as it might be for you wizened, Atari-era gamers to understand, there are plenty of people out there who think that today's gaming controllers need even more inputs; even more buttons. That's largely thanks to the inclusion of in-game messaging on most platforms, and, for those whose platform of choice is the PlayStation 3, Sony has introduced the QWERTY Wireless Keypad clip-on. It works as advertised, making text entry much easier and including some bonus touchpad functionality too, but along with those new buttons comes a few new headaches, and we're not entirely sure they're all worthwhile.
Design
The Wireless Keypad is a small, lightweight thing that uses a spring-loaded clamp to affix itself onto your wireless controller -- whether it be of the tingly DualShock3 variety or the rather more frigid original. Once attached it covers the PS, Start, and Select buttons, which are replicated for your convenience in the same location (just a bit higher). There's the full QWERTY spread ready for prodding, plus a few extra buttons, including dedicated ones that bring up your messages list and your friends list. Logical additions, they, because most people who buy this will be sending messages to friends.
It has a smart, sophisticated look, but those buttons are awfully, awfully tiny -- touch-typing here will take a good bit of practice for even the most experienced texters. They also don't give much feedback when pressed, barely registering any movement at all, leaving you to frequently look up at the screen and see if your input has been registered (which wouldn't be a problem if touch-typing were easier). Also, the device protrudes from top of the controller, which can be a bit of a reach. Years of smartphone use has left us with freakishly elongated thumbs, yet even we found ourselves having to tilt the controller upward to reach some of the keys. This is in contrast to the Xbox 360's Chatpad, which sits below the controller and is generally more comfortable to use.
Another major difference between the two products is that, while the Chatpad relies on the Xbox 360 controller for power, the Wireless Keypad has a separate battery. In fact, beyond the spring-loaded clamp, it's completely independent of the gamepad. On one hand this means it won't put any additional strain on the controller's power (not an issue we've heard anyone complaining about), but on the other, rather more frustrating hand this means you now have yet another hungry device requiring sustenance through a Mini-USB plug -- and one more gadget to forget to turn off, too.
Touchpad
As mentioned above, the buttons aren't the easiest to hit or the most responsive we've ever used, but typing with the Keypad is still infinitely better than entering text with the D-pad and on-screen virtual keyboard. The scrolling touchpad functionality, however, is rather less usable. The concept is a bit odd to begin with: you press a key on the bottom of the keypad (the one with a picture of a finger pressing a key), which suddenly turns the whole thing into a large, rather bumpy capacitive touchpad.
The idea is to sweep your finger nimbly across the keys to navigate the XMB or web browser, and while that is a nice idea, in practice it just doesn't work very well. The precision is very poor (probably thanks to the gaping holes between the touch-sensitive keys) and your fingers tend to stick just a bit on the shiny buttons as they move from one to the next. It's only occasionally useful for running through long lists, but generally isn't even worth enabling.
Wrap-up
So, is it a useful gadget and, more importantly, is it worth your $50? Despite its annoyances it does what it advertises: it makes the process of entering text much easier than the alternative of using the D-pad. For heavy users of the PS3's messaging system or for anyone who has already spent hours pimping out their pad at Home in preparation of nights full of text-based discussions, it may be a worthwhile investment.
Compared to the Xbox 360's Chatpad it's a bit less comfortable and a bit more clumsy, but is much lighter and has less of an impact on the ergos of the controller. Ultimately we're not particularly fond of either device, and we're guessing that love for one over the other will more or less fall along party lines -- as most console gaming discussions do. The real deal-breaker here is that $50 price, which seems steep compared to the Chatpad's $30. For that we'd rather buy ourselves (most of) a new game and stick with a wireless USB keyboard.
Brando's latest mini-keyboard: blue backlight, impossible to type on
There's no denying that Brando has a special place in its heart for shrunken keyboards, and the latest addition to its product line continues the trend. This appropriately titled "Wireless Illuminated Super Tiny Keyboard" is a slim 15mm, has 56 keys, and operates wirelessly via an included dongle. Yeah, it may not have Bluetooth or handy media keys -- but you can't argue with that electric blue backlight. If this info has got your fingers twitching, you can order one now for $47 with shipping expected by "end of December 2008."
[ Via: Engadget ]
Mystery ThinkPad keyboard pops up on Lenovo's Flickr page
While we may not know exactly what item we're looking at in the photo above, we do know that we like it. This hot peripheral showed up on Lenovo's photostream without any explanation, and from the image it seems pretty much like a keyboard-lover's dream; it looks to be wireless, psychotically thin, and boasts an integrated trackpad and numpad. If you've been itching to find a stylish companion to that ThinkPad USB Portable Secure HD, this may just be the keyboard for you. As expected, no info on pricing or availability, but we'll definitely keep our eyes out for more as it becomes available.
Update: Damn, it looks like this is just a super-hot pic of a new rev of Lenovo's already-released wired UltraNav keyboard -- as our astute commenters have pointed out, it's probably on Flickr because it was posted on Lenovo's Design Matters blog today. That's not to say we wouldn't take a wireless version of this bad boy in a heartbeat -- feel free to rock us, Lenovo.
[ Via: Engadget ]
TraderTools' keyboard for traders -- all that's missing is the panic button
We don't usually see many gadgets aimed at the high rollers in the foreign exchange market who read this site religiously, so when we ran across this sweet piece of PR for the Al-1 Compact Keyboard for TraderTools' Liquidity Management Platform, we pounced! Sick of all those other trading keyboards that have been piling up with each new piece of software? This guy has been "humanly engineered" to replace all of 'em, with extra large, color-coded keys for the those things you do best -- like destroying the lives of average Americans. Now you can "buy low" and "sell high" with a single keystroke. This keyboard will have you aggregating liquidity with the best of them. There's no word yet on pricing or a release date, but keep your eyes open -- with the way this economy's headed, we're certain these units will be flooding eBay (and estate sales) soon enough.
[ Via: Engadget ]
Leather wrapped keyboard utters 'eat mor chiken'
Though not the first leather wrapped keyboard our eyes have seen, we've yet to spot one this meticulously crafted. In fact, each board is reportedly handcrafted on site, a process which takes around a fortnight to complete. And trust us, you pay for all that labor, as evidenced by the lofty ?49,800 ($550; not engraved with letters) / ?54,800 ($606; etched with characters) price tags. Eh, we'll take pleather and a PS3 or something, but thanks!
[ Via: technabob ]
Gokukawa Leather Keyboard Provides Buttery Soft Typing Experience [Keyboards]
It was just last month that our mouths were agape at the sight of a leather-wrapped Asus Eee PC. Now, dammit, they're agape again after viewing the buttery soft Gokukawa leather keyboard. The $548 asking price is kind of a kick in the teeth, especially since there are no labels on those smooth, silky keys. However, for $603, you get letters etched into the leather. Lucky you. Not so for the cow.
[ Via: Gizmodo, The Gadget Blog ]
United Keys OLED Display Keyboard and Keypad hands-on
Well, any doubts of legitimacy have certainly been quelled: United Keys rushed us over an OLED keyboard and keypad today, and they're certainly the real deal. We're naturally utterly un-blown-away by the product -- you get what you pay for -- but it's still a relatively unique and interesting product, and wears the mantle of "the poor man's Optimus" quite well. Read on for our full impressions.
Overall, we're pretty much completely and utterly unsurprised by what United Keys has for itself here. The design is unimpressive, the software is slightly undercooked, and monochrome keys could never begin to look as impressive as color ones. On the other hand, everything works as promised, and it's hard to complain about the price. Still, we're more looking forward to the future of the product than its current incarnation: United Keys CEO Ronald Brown says that the software will be improved on an ongoing basis, and that they'll even consider open sourcing that effort if they feel like the demand is there (hint, hint). As for folks who simply cannot handle the monochrome, United Keys is naturally looking into color, with the main limitation being price, since they hope to launch a color product at a similar or slightly higher pricepoint to this one.
[ Via: Engadget ]
Logitech G18 gaming keyboard shows its not-so-ugly face
We spied the Logitech G13 Gamepad when it was announced earlier today, and now Engadget Chinese has caught wind of something else that may be in store for us. The keyboard pictured above is apparently the G18, and we while we have almost no solid info on it, we can glean a few things, such as the apparent groupings of fast function keys on the left side of the board (some which seem to be numbered G11-G15), not to mention that tiny display at the center. We don't know when we can expect this beast to arrive, but the G13 Gamepad is expected in January so fingers crossed.
[ Via: Engadget ]
- logitech serves one-billionth mouse
United Keys now shipping OLED gaming keyboards
We heard about a United Keys OLED gaming keyboard quite a awhile back, and we were a little skeptical of its chances of coming to fruition, but here it is, in reality, ready to simplify your life. Well... it's ready to try, anyway. The keyboard features 103 regular old, everyday keys, and boasts nine monochromatic OLED display keys on the left side which can be custom mapped and identified by text or images -- really giving the Optimus Maximus a run for its money, huh? This bad boy is 20.5-inches long and 7.25-inches wide, but the good news is that if you don't want the full keyboard (and who can blame you?), you can order just the keypad of nine OLEDs. They're taking orders now, and apparently shipping within two weeks. The full keyboard is going to run you $259.99, while the OLED keypad is $199.99. Shocking photo of the keypad after the break.
[ Via: Engadget ]
Thanko USB bear gloves don't inhibit your typing, keep palms toasty
Ah, how timely! Over two years after the USB-powered G-Gloves hit the scenes, in comes Thanko to bring a much needed new face to the niche. These Kumasan mittens both get powered from a single usb port and even have cutouts to allow your fingers to move freely. There's no mention of a price nor any indication that these will ever be released outside of Japan, but this is definitely a must-buy if you're headed to that side of the globe anytime soon.
[ Via: AkihabaraNews ]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)