The Optimus Mini Keyboard

Zugok writes "We all remember the Optimus Keyboard from last year. Now Art Lebedev and his team have designed the Optimus Mini Three keyboard. The 'Mini Three' builds on the idea of those extraneous keys on modern Logitech and Microsoft Keyboards but like the Optimus Keyboard utilises OLED technology for visual customisation of keys. This is not vapourware, pre-orders are being take now with a cut price until April 2nd. This is just a step closer to the Optimus Keyboard. They also have a mailing list for those who want to keep up with developments of the Optimus Keyboard. Happy salivating!" This is a far cry from the full keyboard, but it's still pretty nifty. Assuming it actually does ship.

The concept is very cool, and very cute

[halivar (535827)]

But is it functional? I wonder to myself, "what will I put on those keys?" Pretty much just things that normally are an Alt-Click away anyways. I don't expect the keyboard of being able to handle serious macros, or anything.

Re:The concept is very cool, and very cute

[sprins (717461)]

I wonder to myself, "what will I put on those keys?"

Screen-caps of your favourite pr0n sites of course. What else?

Re:The concept is very cool, and very cute

[AKAImBatman (238306)]

I guess a good application would be a multi-lingual keyboard.

*ding* You are correct, sir!

I have my home computer setup to switch between english and russian cyrillic. It's a real pain to have all those stickers on the keys. Not only do they fade and occasionally stick to you instead of the keyboard, but playing video games (such as Quake III) is a guaranteed way to shear the suckers right off. The result is that you end up with spotty coverage of the keyboard.

Some people use a keyboard overlay (a piece of plastic that is molded to the shape of the keyboard), but those are much harder to come by, don't always fit your keyboard, and interfere with typing.

Now with the Optimus, a switch from english to russian would result in the key glyphs themselves changing. No more worrying about stickers, just *BAM*, there you go. And if my father-in-law is over and wants to type in German for some reason (he's quite good with the language), he can switch the keyboard layout without having to hunt and peck for the keyboard layout.

As a nice bonus, games can finally tell me what keys I'm supposed to press instead of going through the config screen and trying to memorize all the combinations. (Or worse, get out one of those stand-up cheatsheets. Like I have the desk real-esate for that!)

Re:If I was going to buy it....

[Provocateur (133110)]

...and then your girlfriend borrows your PC for awhile, you start a utility that will make the OLEDs draw a big red heart with the words 'Will you marry me?' (just like the cards the audience flips over in the stadiums during games).

Imagine the possibilities...

Imagine having a girlfriend...

Happy salivating!

[digitaldc (879047)]

Just don't do it on your new keyboard, [slashdot.org] they are already disgusting enough, thanks!

3 keys? Perfect!

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

I know what I'm mapping my three keys to: CTRL, ALT, and DEL

Cool commercial applications

[binaryDigit (557647)]

I think that for personal use, this is pretty much nothing but eye-candy. However, I can see some pretty decent commercial uses (note not necessarily in it's current configuration). Keyboards that are able to adapt to the application their running in a kiosk environment (where the core qwerty keys remain fixed, but the others change as needed) for example. One BIG use would be ..... the keyboard as a display. Imagine one of these keyboards in a kiosk where it's actually displaying content as it treats the keys as a miniature multi-segmented display. It would be quite catchy and you could drive a significant bit of content through it. Picture the main interface display being the keyboard (say something simple like some type of ATM), with the standard display containing other information, or perhaps a "guide", or showing more details.

Money

[wongn (777209)]

Well, news was spreading quickly through Digg and elsewhere hours before this story was posted.

I don't know where you got that $300 figure from. If you're extrapolating it directly up, it'd be $4000; but Art Lebedev are still claiming that it will cost "Less than a decent mobile phone"; which would then give you $300. Did I just argue myself in circles? ^^
But, for people interested in getting the full keyboard, I can't see any of them forking out an extra $100 for these 3 keys; which don't have the greatest of practical applications.

$100 for three keys

[Refried Beans (70083)]

That's "Piece of History" pricing right there. It sounds like they need the cash in order to make it through to production of the full keyboard. So they took a prototype, sized it down to something they could afford to manufacture and finished the software they need to make it work. They can use this piece to test the market and work out any problems in their manufacturing process. Sounds like a really good move to me.

Picture

[teslar (706653)]

For those complaining about the site being down without a mirror of a picture.... a little googling does help [engadget.com]

Keyboard Layout labels

[dada21 (163177)]

I use so many different keyboards over the year and I wish the industry had a different label for each layout design. Some have large backspace keys with small enter keys, others have tiny backspace keys with mammoth enter keys. I think I've seen 3 or 4 layouts over time, which is crazy considering that typing becomes more efficient if the keys are in the same place. I figure the best way to get manufacturers to conform a little better is to name the layouts, and once you have your preference, you'll tend to buying the ones you're familiar with. That way manufacturers can see what consumers want and don't want. I'm sure there is a market for different layouts, but it frustrates me when I can't recall what keyboard I am used to without actually buying a new one and then finding out a day later that I'm used to a different sized "any" key.

5000 hours?

[aderusha (32235)]

From the FAQ [artlebedev.com], the expected lifetime of these displays is 5000 hours. That's a little over 200 days. Even with a "key saver", this severly impacts the usable lifetime of this device. I'm as excited about this keyboard as anybody else, but I think I may have to wait until people have had one on their desk for a year to see if I'm going to plunk down a significant amount of coin to buy one.

I know what to use those for

[stunt_penguin (906223)]

The 3,5 and 7 keys, making this my optimus prime keyboard.


I'm so sad.

I love the smell of...

[squoozer (730327)]

fresh vapourware in the morning. Come on - this is a scam. If it isn't a scam than at a minimum it won't be as good as the pictures they are currently showing. The display will fail within a year, the keys will be heavy and nasty and the API will suck.

OLED technology just isn't good enough for this to be viable yet. Maybe, if you were NASA, you could get this keyboard to work but then howmany of us have unlimited piles of cash? To anyone that does happen to have piles of cash to burn please send some my way - thanks.

Sod the colour screens

[hattig (47930)]

Make a version with a long-life OLED colour (not 5000 hours because of the blue) monochrome display.

Looking at my keyboard, woo, look, black on white. No reds, purples, greens ... well, that might be mouldy cake between the keys.

I'm sure that monochrome would be cheaper for a start, require less bandwidth to update, and for keyboard uses, just as useful.

Currently it is three pressable displays.

Stick a 64x64 monochrome/greyscale OLED into a key-sized key, and make a keyboard from that. Leave the full colour version until the technology is better - both on the OLED side and on the keyboards with display side.

Looks like someone's 59 days early.

[Theovon (109752)]

Hey, guys, April fools is in two months!

In all seriousness, I'm curious what anyone would do with a keyboard that has only three keys on it. And who would buy it for $100?

It might be useful for embedded applications, like some mall kiosk where you push buttons to get through a menu. But it's still a bit pricy and short on keys.

Hardcore programmers KB.

[TonyZahn (534930)]

The true programmer's keyboard only needs 3 keys: 1, 0, and backspace (and the old types will tell you you don't need the backspace).

Re:Hmm...

[FinestLittleSpace (719663)]

I applaud them for attempting to release even three keys. I think they've got some guts. It isn't cost effective in small quantities, but if they can secure guaranteed sales in certain areas, they can bring the pricing down by bulk purchase so much.

Good luck to them, if they pull it off.

I can't really afford $100 on that right now... especially as I am 90% at my laptop. Ah well.

Re:Hmm...

[FinestLittleSpace (719663)]

I think it's an absolute pure luxury right now, and you can tell that they are aware of this, but to think that one day - maybe in 5 years - these really will be a viable purchase is exciting to myself. If the keyboard is good, this isn't a gimmick... it's a really really good way of working. I know I could do with easily seeing what every key on MY keyboard does on a long days slog in Discreet Combustion.

Re:What It May Cost?..... a LOT!.......

[Slugster (635830)]

This whole discussion of cost came up on one tech forum when they last released plans to sell the full keyboard.
They said then the famous "as much as a good cell phone", which could be what? Some people are happy with the $50 phones, but the latest PDA-style computer with mobile service? That could be near $1000.

So how about this:
A few of us looked around, and the cheapest backlit OLED displays we could find for sale were displays for cell-phones, and each display cost roughly $75 (for the cheaper ones, in bulk). Those displays were big enough for about six keys. Bulk isn't OEM pricing of course, but that would figure to around $12 per key (for a 32 x 32-pixel display only).

Now even if you are willing to cut that cost estimate in half, that still means that these displays would cost roughly $5 per key. For around a hundred keys, that's $500 alone. OLEDs certainly will get cheaper over time and this may take them a year to get together, but they won't get that much cheaper. By far the main products they are used for is mobile phone displays.

Plus there's a good-sized piece of work underneath to run the pretty pictures. I'd be very surprised if they could get this thing out for less than $500-$600. There are other companies that produce customised-key boards of the normal type (just with different physical key shapes and positions) and they get $200-$300 for those.
~

Re:Hope their keyboards

[LiquidCoooled (634315)]

Heres a review (with pics) from engadget [engadget.com]

Re:Not vapourware?

[RESPAWN (153636)]

I don't think it's uncommon for companies to rely on the pre-order funds to finish final development of a product. Sometimes they just don't get enough though, and they never release their product.

Re:Dude, it's just a pre-order, not a pre-purchase

[Richthofen80 (412488)]

What kind of 'they can't charge your card until product ships' crap are you spewing. Video games stores take pre-orders every day. Sears and Tweeter charge you TODAY for the TV that's shipping next week. There's no law that says receipt of good or shipment of goods must take place before charging can.

Now, if they fail to deliver the product EVER, that's a crime.

Re:Dude, it's just a pre-order, not a pre-purchase

[Eivind Eklund (5161)]

I don't know about laws - I *do* know about agreements, though, as I've coded this stuff for customers. Credit card payments work as a two phase system. In phase 1, when the customer orders, you reserve the funds from the customer account. This "feels like" a charge - the money isn't available for your use any more.

Then, you pack up and make the order ready for shipment. When you have the stuff assembled in a box and ready to ship to the customer, you "capture" the payment. This is when you actually get the money, and things can fail at this point too (e.g, if the card had been stolen.)

Capturing the money before you're shipping the order is definately against the agreements used - I'm not sure if it is illegal or not.

There's also some maximum amount of time you can keep the funds reserved - I think this vary by agreement, too.

So, you don't get the money until you're shipping the order, unless you use a factoring company or similar. A factoring company (usually) lends you money against the right to collect on your bills, and cancels the debt as the bills are paid. They're often also collection agencies, and they're normally in the black, so they can grab tax credits for losses etc - thus making the bills more worth to them than to you.

Eivind.

Re:Not vapourware?

[masklinn (823351)]

From the Art.Lebedev website:

The keyboard is in production. The first lot is set to arrive on May 15.

Retail price of Optimus mini three is $100 (subject to change after April 2).

The keyboard will be available for pre-order this week.

It should also be noted that Art.Lebedev is a well known art studio, and that it works and has worked with many world-class industries and corporations. Definitely not the kind of guys who'd bet the (well established) respectability of their name and studio with vaporware