United Keys to ship OLED keyboards this summer

[HEXUS]

The incredibly delayed, incredibly expensive but incredibly cool Optimus Maximus keyboard is facing firm competition from United Keys who today announced plans to ship an OLED keyboard tailored for PC gaming by summer 2008.

Read more.

[HSK]

In that article the price mentioned of around £800 quid for the Optimus Maximus Keyboard, but on their site:-

approx. 371.40 € > 277.348 GBP?

Still bloody expensive.

[merple]

In that article the price mentioned of around £800 quid for the Optimus Maximus Keyboard, but on their site:-

approx. 371.40 € > 277.348 GBP?

Still bloody expensive.

that should read from 371.40 euros
371.40 € gets you a single oled in the spacebar, pretty naff

The full monty is 1256.86€ which is currently 938.560 GBP
Optimus Maximus

[HSK]

what! just for one space bar OLED?!

:-\

[spazman]

Just a tad out of my price range

[digit]

Yeah, to cut costs for consumers you specify how many oleds you want installed in the keyboard. You'd be silly to buy a keyboard with one oled in though...

[merple]

yup, bargain aint it?


back on topic with the united keys board... not too keen on it really.
I think with oled keyboards its either all or nothing for me.
It just doesn't seem very useful to have a bunch of programmable keys take over your F keys
that and the board doesnt look very nice. I guess if its cheap enough people will still buy it just for the oled factor

[Arimus]

I must have missed something somewhere along the lines... I'm trying to think of a single good reason (and no; wow factor is not one) for wanting an OLED keyboard in the first place.

Okay, may be on some specialized equipment - but then a custom keyboard would do the job just as well - though I suppose if it was fully software definable so as you press a modifier key the oled changes to display the new 'purpose' of the key then that might gain some standing...

But I could probably do the same using a touch screen and a software keyboard for a fraction of the cost...

OLED keyboards strike me as being a solution in search of a problem.

[Stoo]

Apparently there's a fair bit of dirt behind the United Keys effort..

Medison Celebrity: Scam or just a bad idea?: United Keys & Valdi's imaginary keyboard

[Splash]

ThinkGeek :: Optimus Maximus Keyboard

The Maximus has arrived (for those with more money than sense in the US only)

[HSK]

ahh im just tryna think of what the mark up is on this expensive keyboard.

[TomFred]

me too....

and how the hell its claimed to aim at gaming...

keyboard is a keyboard, not like mouse

[DR]

I really do not like typing on them - they feel nasty

[Funkstar]

and how the hell its claimed to aim at gaming...

Custom key images dependant on the game you are playing?

For instance, instead of having to remember that 1 - 9 are different weapons, you could have the appropriate weapon icon on each key. It could probably be controlled to only appear when that weapon is available to you.

If fully graphical keyboards became relatively common and there was an open API for them, game designers could use the keyboard as an extension to your monitor. Why take up screen realestate, when you can through things onto the keyboard.

No idea if that would be a good thing, I don't play games, but it is an interesting concept and some pretty cool technology.

[beanbandit]

Custom key images dependant on the game you are playing?

For instance, instead of having to remember that 1 - 9 are different weapons, you could have the appropriate weapon icon on each key. It could probably be controlled to only appear when that weapon is available to you.

If fully graphical keyboards became relatively common and there was an open API for them, game designers could use the keyboard as an extension to your monitor. Why take up screen realestate, when you can through things onto the keyboard.

No idea if that would be a good thing, I don't play games, but it is an interesting concept and some pretty cool technology.

Spot on. Have a look at the Z-Boards, gaming keyboards where you buy the base, and then add different keysets which are set up for specific games. This is just much more advanced (and more expensive)

A keyboard as an extension of the monitor is exactly what Logitech have tried to do with the G15 keyboard. Small display that can be used with games to show certain elements, ammo, health etc. I use the same thing for WOW, has stats for char, plus other information like ammo, bag space. Very handy, and as you say, it gives me more on-screen real estate.

When Art Lebedev first announced this keyboard i thought it would be a great idea, especially the programming side of things. Unfortunately OLED's are still in their early days, and so are damn expensive. Give it a year or two and hopefully these will come down in price.

[HSK]

agreed. defo have to wait a while until the price becomes realistic for the average users.