Do
Compare latest consoles like Playstation 2, Xbox 360 Or PC Games & more.
Keyboards with “Display Keys” in Development
Keyboards with “Display Keys” in Development
For those PC hardware enthusiasts out there, United Keys and Foxconn Technology Group announced that they are working together on a PC keyboard for gaming that will display custom images in the keys. They hope to have the keyboard in stores as early as this summer.
The keyboard uses OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays embedded in the keys to put custom images on the tops of keys such as icons or pictures. The companies hope that ultimately, the keyboard will be supported by programs such as games, such that the icons on keys would change in ways contextually appropriate to the program. They call the image-enabled keys “Display Keys.”
— 
61 points
Advertisment_Rightbar_Standard
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Facebook
Technorati
Do you want to do more than just read news or articles about games? Then join the GamersGlobal community today and grow from "User" to "Editor"! Together with our professional journalists, you'll be part of an accurate, high-quality, up-to-date gaming website. It's easy, it's free, it's fun -- so join us now to:
Vote
Publish
Co-op
Level
User created content, unless stated otherwise, is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Germany License. All other copyrights remain with their respective owners.
What's the difference to the "Optimus Maximus" keyboard ? Does anybody know that ?
I have seen these things before as well, they are kinda cool, but really exprensiven, and OLEDs don't like it if you hit them very hard all day, which means you have to change your keys quite often, which is, again, expensive...
Just to follow up Kunzesvatter comment: So far, only 800 of the Optimus Maximus keyboards seem to have shipped, the next couple of hundreds are announced to ship until end of February (see http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/). So the United Keys/Foxconn variant is surely not the first, but perhaps it will be more widely available, and perhaps beginning this summer.
I think it's a safe bet that the keyboard by United Keys/Foxconn won't be cheap. Just like with the Optimus Maximus I won't be willing to pay about 1000 € for a keyboard. These keyboards are cool but way to expensive for a normal user. I think I just have to go on with using cheap, throw-away-after-1-year keyboards for about 10€.
A keyboard I would pay 1000€ for at least needs to have a working Do-what-I-mean Button ... probably next to a Do-what-I-really-mean Button.
it says
approx. 462.27 US$
approx. 371.40 €
so just 370 euros. You throw them away? A cherry keyboard survives everything :)
Well maybe I remembered the price wrong. But 370 € is still a lot of money for a keyboard.
And the "throw-away-after-1-year" keyboard was just mentioned to illustrate the point. If you're lazy at cleaning those things they tend to become really filthy after a year or two.
For 370 € you can possibly get 37 cherry keyboards that together will serve you well for say at least 37 years (possibly more).
sure. But if you got the money, perhaps you are willing to spend that much? A good keyboard is, like a good montitor, not relevant for FPS, still it is much more fun to use a computer with a good one...
But a keyboard has to feel good, not look good. How often do you look at your keyboard when typing something or playing a game ... almost never ?
So a good keyboard is indeed like a good monitor as you have more fun using these - but in what point they have to be better is clearly different.
We have a long way to go before we actually see the United Keys board in action. Has anyone actually spent time with the Optimus Maximus? (Not just tapped on it at a trade show, but really put it through dozens of hours of use?) If so, how did it feel and how does it stand up?
I have to see this Keyboard on an actual photo, I find this display-technic very interesting, but honestly, the Optimus Maximus doesn't look that great, it's way to angular, even the keys do not have round corners, it looked like you would hurt yourself with that. And most importantly, (for me) it must feel great to actually type something, and for me, nothing beats the G15, but I have to admit that I never bought anything else than Logitech.
I really like cherry, but to get a really fitting keyboard you almost have to buy several ones in a shop and bring all of them except one back :)