United Keys taking orders for 205PRO customizable LCD keyboard

Remember all the buzz a couple of months ago about keyboards with fully customizable keycaps? Well, it looks like United Keys is making it real, with the 205PRO, a $299.00 keyboard with LCD function keys to be available in the first quarter of next year (the company is taking preorders through the end of the year at $199.99). Each function key has a 20x20 LCD icon that can be completely customized using software provided by United Keys. We'd still prefer the keyboard that started all the buzz — the Optimus, in which each key has its own fully customizable OLED display, but that one's still as yet vapor, and given the price of the 205PRO, we can only imagine what an Optimus would cost if anyone managed to make one.

[Via I4U News]

[sr20de @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

I'm definitely waiting for the OLED version, regardless of cost.

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Two words: Optimus Ripoff

[Stu L Tissimus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Frankly, this seems useless (for now), seeing as this type of capabability just isn't built in to any applications yet. As for just little shortcut keys, I guess it works, but it doesn't seem like such a big advancement for $200. Also, I for one am waiting to see what comes of Windows Vista's Sideshow, and if any apps'll actually use it.

[eMarrs @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

its only the F buttons though right? How could this end up costing $300 to replace 12 keys with tiny b&w screens? definately not $250 more than the average well put together keyboard. hmm, thats like $20 for each little button. If you want this enough to buy it, you might as well put forth the effort to build one yourself.

[Mark Young @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Not that I would buy it but gamers may see an advantage if you can not only see the keyboard but also cusomize to each game...

[Marc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

The keyboard should let all the keys be changed, not just the function keys. A complete LED keyboard would allow for quick language changes, etc. Long overdue.

[Rob Thompson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

That's funny that you'd think United Keys ripped of Optumus when Optumus has just a drawing and United Keys has an actual product. The information on the web site says that you can customize game by game.

[josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Yup, this is lame. No other way to put it. The optumus is the one I'm waiting for.

[Spank @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Yes, I can't wait for the OLED versions. I always thought that existing keyboards were far too reasonably priced, and consume far too little electricity.

sheep....

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Yea, I am sure that this company was well into the development of this keyboard when the idea of creating a mockup first came to the people at Optimus.

[Tom Keegan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

I've been working with the guys from United Keys on this project.

I wish United Keys could put OLEDs in the keytops, but it's just not possible for a consumer electronic keyboard right now. Believe me, they have tried and will keep on trying until they make it happen.

I think the Optimus keyboard is really cool. I want one, actually. But I also want a Landspeeder and a Star Trek replicator too.

For now, the actual real deal (I took the photo of the actual real prototype on your site) will really ship about February. It actually works, and it is really cool when you see what it does live.

And by the way, United Keys in fact owns the IP free and clear, since there's nothing out there quite like it (photoshop vaporware notwithstanding).

[John Laur @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

The optimus is a great pipe dream but to argue that we'll see it within five years for fewer than five thousand dollars is completely insane. And very few people are going to be willing to pay five grand for a keyboard -- the MBTF is simply too low... Add to that a keyboard that is exponentially more difficult to clean and service and you'll probably be looking at $100 a year just to send the thing off for cleaning.

LCD keycaps aren't exactly new. I have thought many times over the last 10 years or more about how to prototype in-key displays and it always gets back to the cost. It's an easy problem if you want to throw a lot of money at it, but even mass production is not going to get costs low enough to where people will be able to afford it even if you could drive the price as low as $1000 (which you absolutely cannot currently do)

[Bob Henderson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

The point of the 12 display keys in the function row is that you really don't need the entire keyboard enabled. Unless you have an application that requires all keys, like changing an English keyboard to Chinese characters, working at one time, 12 function keys provide an almost unlimited number of combinations. The "breakthrough" of the United Keys approach is that the programs or games themselves serve up the right keys at the right time.

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

This product is obviously not what people want, sure I want a Ferrari but I can't afford one, so I'll take a Ford and wait. The OLED keyboard will make it, hopefully looking the same as its mock-up i.e. sleek and with no screen borders.

The thing is would you still want a keyboard when hand gestures are all the rage?

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

I want just a keypad or numpad with these on them, I want to keep my current keyboard. Something like what the X-Keys folks do. (http://www.xkeys.com) Plus, maybe limiting it in that fashion might keep the cost lower.

[Jake Covert @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Isn't the whole point of the keyboard that they keys don't change?

Sure, the contextual meaning might change, on an app to app basis, but the keys are always the same.

I just see myself staring at the top row a whole lot more with something like this...

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

I would like to see a full fledge keyboard with additional keys to the left all of them (whole keyboard) LCD keytops with backlite. This would rock for people like me who enjoys being up at night and using the keyboard for certain purposes like programming, or gaming.

I know... It is easy to remember where keys are but it is just the fact that it looks cool you know? Plus, when your pulling a two-nighter it is hard to remember where some keys are.

I wont be getting this keyboard though.

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Both the optimus and this keyboard are still thinking way too much within the box. You know all those touchscreen laptops/tablets that are out there and getting cheaper by the day? Buy one, set a personalised keyboard image as the background, hack in a mapping of screen area to keys, and then get it to output itself as a keyboard via a USB cable. O.K. so maybe it would be slightly more expensive right now, but keep in mind half of what you're paying for with the tablet is the computing power, which you definetly don't need for a keyboard, rip it out, replace it with something one tenth of the cost, start up a manufacturing line and watch the floods of trekkies interfacing with their computers through glowing blue and green rectangles

[Giggles McGee @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

A LCD-based keyboard (like the customized tablet PC mentioned above) could be cool, but studies have shown that the tactile feedback of discrete keys on a keyboard is preferred for daily use. There are experimental ways to provide "click" sensations through LCDs, but these remain somewhat expensive and unconvincing.

If we want to really think outside the box, we should crank on more efficient I/O devices (remember, the QWERTY layout was NOT developed for efficiency) such as direct neural interfaces. Of course, then we�ll all develop chronic psychological issues instead of carpal tunnel. : )