I blogged about this January 14th of this year.

Finally an OLED keyboard was released called the Optimus Mini Three. It is not the full keyboard everyone is waiting for (which is scheduled for release the end of 2006), but it is still cool.

Price and availability

The price of the keyboard is $100 until April 2, 2006. The keyboard will be available for pre-order this week.

After April 2, 2006 the price will be higher.

Keyboards ready for shipment will arrive on May 15.

Plugins

The more plugins are written, the easier to use and the more practical will be the keyboard. The library of plugins will be opened at our website.

We expect gadget lovers, programmers, people who like new computer accessories, and other enthusiasts to be the first buyers. We believe that by the end of summer a sufficient number of plugins will be written for Optimus Configurator, so that the keyboard can be presented to designers, traders, cutters, photographers, and kids.

Optimus Configurator

Optimus Configurator automatically recognizes the application and uploads images and commands for the current context.

Optimus Configurator will be written for MacOS and Linux shortly after Windows. We are working on the Windows version.

As of now, only one Optimus mini three keyboard can be connected to a computer.

OLED

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) in our screens last for 5000 hours of continuous use (after that they don’t die but become dimmer). The screen saving mode is designed to extend the keyboard’s lifetime. The OLED screen lasts for around three years with typical usage.

The screens are very fragile, so they were put inside polycarbonate keys to protect them from mechanical damage.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 10:58 am and is filed under Bucho, Hardware, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.