Optimus Mini Three OLED keyboard reviewed

Robbedoeske writes "The first Optimums Mini Three keyboards have been shipped to Holland and Tweakers.net managed to lay hands on one of them to review this precious gem." Apparently the drivers crash a lot, consume way to much CPU, the device is capable of only 3 frames per second, and the packaging makes the images look far more crisp than the actual device. And with a price tag of over $100, I'm scared to imagine what the price of a full keyboard will actually be should it ever actually ship. But it still would be neat.

Comments

Packaging?

[conigs]

...and the packaging makes the images look far more crisp than the actual device.

I am shocked... shocked I tell you to learn that the image on the package looks better than the actual device. How could this possibly have happened? Who would dream of such a thing?

Onto the device itself. I'm glad to see it develop and that it's more than just a concept. The technology is still in its infancy and it will take time for it to improve and come down to an affordable level. I'm looking forward to the day I can get a full keyboard like this.

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Or do we think this is hardware limitation?

Per the article, the software is constantly updating the images to make sure they have the correct images, this is surely driving the CPU load higher than it needs to be

Let me be the first to say thanks.

[Grendel Drago]

Thank you, to all the dorks who buy overpriced, half-baked, barely-functional products like this one. You fund the research and development that makes these things useful for the rest of us. We salute you.

Re:Don't worry

[rblancarte]

Then why not have some descent embedded controller built into the keyboard that controlled this? IE - the only real communication between the CPU and keyboard (outside of typing) is a refresh of what application is running. Then the keyboard micro-controller would be notified of the change and update the keys accordingly. Then the CPU doesn't even have to worry about what to display - just make sure that the keyboard is aware of current state. Heck, state changes like key-press (changing what the keys look like when you press ctrl or alt) wouldn't even touch the CPU - they would be known about by the controller, and it could modify they keys accordingly.

To me, this is a very cheap way to make the keyboard much more effecient, yet not raise the cost much at all ($10-20 max).

RonB