Keyboard lights up to say "honey, I'm on the bus"

IF I, AN IGNORANT scribbler, told you that a keyboard can detect an inbound phone calls to your mobile, you'd tell me I'm nuts, right?. Well, I am nuts, but the keyboard thing is for real.

The keyboard I tested has an English layout, with a € key below the left side shift. It is very lightweight and the plastic has a shiny polished texture, not the best for my taste. The first annoying characteristic is the lack of a "L" shaped enter key. I do prefer the big L-shaped Enter, but I admit that's a matter of personal preference and that I manage to type just as well on my notebook which sports a non-L Enter key just like this keyboard. Second annoyance: it lacks "support legs" in the back to raise the keyboard height if you want to.

Size comparison, back light turned off

That's what I dislike about it. On the plus side, the keyboard's back light illumination can be turned on and off via a simple switch above the numeric keypad. I will save on the explanations because you can see pictures below. But the keyboard's most touted feature is the ability to flash its keypad to signal an inbound phone call to a nearby mobile -cellular for Americans- phone. It would require some serious engineering to detect and isolate just the ring codes being sent of the mobile's airwaves, yet this piece of kit manages to do it. It's black magic if you ask me. I tried to confuse it by placing a 2.4GHz wireless camera and a 900Mhz cordless phone next to it and see if it would light up, but no joy.

Size compared to a regular multimedia keyboard, Kensington trackball, and mobile phone

So does the keypad light up when a cellular phone next to it receives a call? Yes indeed!. And not only does it light up, it displays "light waves" and movements on it, indicating that each of the keypad's lights (or at least rows and columns) is individually addressable by the keyboard's firmware. No software to install, this is a 100% hardware implementation. The bad? It only does it's playful and amusing light magic for a few seconds, seven to eight seconds at most, or ten seconds if you start counting from the time when you dial the call. So, if you often let the mobile ring for a minute or two before picking up the call, be warned that the joy of the light show will have ended much earlier by then. This is one serious shortcoming.

My Xplore M98 mobile rings, the keypad starts playing its light show

So how useful is it?. Well, I suppose that if you play games or listen to music with headphones AND leave your mobile in the same surface as the keyboard, around a meter around, it would help you notice the inbound call. This is particularly useful if your mobile lacks a "glowing keyboard lights" feature and you don't want to annoy a sleeping person nearby with your mobile's ring tone. So does it work? Yes, it "does what it says in the box" as some famous Scottish editor likes to say. How much sensitivity does it have? Can you place the mobile phone across the room and would it light up when there's a call as well?. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but no. In my tests, in order for the keyboard to respond to the inbound call, you must place it no farther than eight to ten inches from the keyboard. After eight inches the detection becomes erratic. So why would one place his mobile next to the keyboard? Well, I find myself charging my Xplore M98 using the data/charging cable, connected to the USB port on the PC for power, instead of using the wall AC charger, so there's a scenario where I have my mobile next to the PC for a long time.

Keyboard turned on, picture with flash, without flash

A video is worth a thousand pictures

You can see a video of the action over here at Blip.TV, and another one with the Xplore M98 smartphone further apart here, and one scenario where the keyboard no longer picks the inbound call signal, over there.

In Short
This keyboard gets high praise for its "gee, cool" factor of detecting mobile phone calls -tested with 1900Mhz GSM service and the Xplore M98 PalmOS smartphone, only-. Yet it gets a little thumbs down because of the plastic case, which is too reflective, and prone to getting fingerprint marks all over, plus the keys are slimmer and do not travel as much as in my two other desktop keyboards... it's more like half-way between a notebook keyboard and a desktop one, with thinner keys. It's also smaller than a full-size multimedia keyboard, so that will be a bonus to people with little space on their desks.

Silicon Graphics USB keyboard and the LogiSys "Phone Smart"
compared, contrasted, and both playing dead

In the right side of the numeric keypad, you can see a bit of the circuit board traces, and that space will surely be prone to be filled with dirt. Other than that, I found the keyboard adequate for my typing, yet not excellent or comfortable. If you surf the net with headphones, playing games or listening to music, and want to have yet another way to know -besides the vibrating and flash light that some mobiles already have- give this keyboard a try. I paid $35 greenbacks down here in tangoland -which includes 21% VAT and the import duties that must have been paid by the importer- so it's not a big price to pay to experiment. "Serious" people who dislike cool tech toys and flashing lights should look elsewhere. ?

L'INQS
VIDEO: Logisys keyboard's light show in action
LED pillows
LED illuminated mouse pad
LED illuminated mice
LED illuminated chair
UK worst European energy waster, survey shows