Keyboards are the primary input device for computers today, and been one of the most overlooked when it comes to modding. There are many choices of bling for cases, mice, and even monitors, but the lowly keyboard needs love, too! Several years ago, innovative modders began using flexible EL lighting tape in their keyboard bases to add that final elite touch to their rigs, which was a laborous and messy undertaking. Now inexpensive LEDs are being used in keyboards to offer more Bling for the Buck. Logisys offers their Phone Smart LED keyboard, which they claim is one of the brightest available, and also notifies you when your cell phone rings.
Keyboard layout
The colorful Logisys logo is adhered to the top left of the keyboard. The keyboard’s base is a shiny hard black plastic with an almost laquer feel. Because of this, fingerprints show up quite readily on its surface. The main keyboard layout itself is very compact, similar to a laptop keyboard. There are several function keys that are normally placed between the letter keys and 10-key pad, but this compact layout forces them into the main area. The Pause, Scroll lock, Print Screen, and a new Wake Up button is placed above the number keys, to the right of the shortened Function keys. The Home, Page Up, Page Down, and End keys are placed to the right of the enter button. The Delete and Insert buttons are placed between the small spacebar and arrow keys.
Specifications
- Dimensions: 16.75″(L)x6.5″(W)x1.2″(H)
- Key Number: 104 Keys
- Input Power: 5V+/-5% 120mA
- Travel Distance: 3+/-0.2mm
- Keyboard Cable: 74.8 Inches
- Weight: 1.54LB
- Compatibility: Compatible with Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/NT
- Safety: FCC. CE. BSMI
- Supports Multi Language
- Flashing LED Incoming call alert
- Compact Design, User Friendly
- Perfect for use in any Working Environment
- Customized LED Lights.
The back of the keyboard is rather featureless. It has four shallow silicon feet to prevent slippage, and there is no adjustable slope: it is fixed at a shallow 3 or 4 degree angle. On the back is a removable door, which is large enough to accomodate one AA battery. There are no electronic components here, so this base must be used with wireless keyboards that require battery power. I suppose you could fit a battery in this cavity just so you had a space handy for your cordless mouse.
Gaming Difficulty
The arrow keys are shoved into the bottom right of the main keypad area. To make room for them, the right shift and space bar have been shortened significantly. The keys placed around the arrow keys normally aren’t mapped to any functions during gaming, so accidental slippage might not be as catostrophic as you might think. The left control, Windows key, and Alt keys are shortened to make room for a new “Euro” key, which has absolutely no purpose in the American market. The left Control and Alt keys are heavily used in gaming, and these small keys will almost certainly hinder online PC gaming.
Lighting control
The advertised feature of this keyboard is its phone integration. When your cellphone rings, the keyboard’s 10-key keypad lights up with a little “LED dance”, which is a matrix of LEDs that cycle every 1 second or so. When you first plug in the keyboard, this operation is performed. The main keyboard area does not respond and does not light up, even if your phone does ring. To turn the main area on, you must first press an ON/OFF switch located on the top right of the keyboard. It is a toggle switch, so when depressed, the blue LEDs light up, and when released, turn off.
The blue LEDs are very vivid and each key has its own small dedicated diode. The spacebar could stand to have 2 or three LEDs, because one is not enough to light it up sufficiently. The overall light produced by these 87 LEDs can illuminate your desk, and you could actually read by them in a dark room (or dark LAN party garage). Unfortunately there is no way to turn on the 10-key pad unless you can make your cellphone ring.
If you live by your cellphone, this novel feature may just tickle you enough to choose this keyboard over others. The keyboard has some radio circuitry that detects the presence of a cell phone ringing, so your phone must be in close proximity for this feature to work. Since there is no way to tie a particular cell phone, then your keyboard may alert you to your neighbor’s calls!
Although this is a well constructed keyboard, gamers may find its layout cumbersome. Those used to typing on a laptop will prefer this keyboard, as it has a similar layout, but is more responsive than a typical laptop’s keys. The brightness of this keyboard can help those who need help seeing their keys, as complicated flight simulators and other games have many special key mappings. If you’re doing heavy document editing, then the odd placement of the highly used editing keys (Delete, Insert, Home, End) will definately cause a few stumbles. I have no idea why the Euro key was given the prime real estate on the bottom left of the keyboard: even if the European audience hailed it, I cannot see it being used so much that it needs to be the easiest key to press on the whole keyboard.
Taking everything in, this is a light-use keyboard that will definately get you attention at LAN parties: first for generating such a bright blue glow, and second for taking the most rockets-to-the-face.
CrazyPC was kind enough to sponsor this unit. The Logisys Phone Smart LED Keyboard can be purchased direcly from Crazy PC.
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