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.

Re:Hmm...

[FinestLittleSpace]

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]

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:The concept is very cool, and very cute

[AKAImBatman]

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:3 keys? Perfect!

[MrNonchalant]

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

I got to the site a day before it was Slashdotted (thank you, Digg) and that will be one of the possible combinations. There was also a "Any" key configuration where all of the keys literally switched to the word any. There was one where you could control iTunes and another one where you could control picture or PowerPoint slideshows (the keys actually showed mini previews of the next and previous pictures/slides). Really cool, but at $100 for 3 keys I'm not biting.

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

[RetroGeek]

get this thing out for less than $500-$600

Sounds good. Where can I get one?

Seriously, the thought of having each key what it's current action is is intoxicating. Imagine pressing the CTRL key, and having all the key caps show their CTRL-? action.

So the key C would show "COPY" when CTRL is pressed (for a text editor) or "Break" if at the command line.

Re:The concept is very cool, and very cute

[ShyGuy91284]

I also wonder how obnoxious the finger grease may be. Fingerprints are annoying on an LCD. If they are visable on tiny screens you can press (which are known to have more bacteria/crud on them then the toilet seat), I can imagine it could deter from the beauty of the keyboard technology quite a bit.....