The Optimus mini three sees release

You've been patiently waiting, and now the wait is over. The Optimus mini three keypad officially hit today from Art Lebedev Studio. Nothing much here we haven't seen pics of or couldn't already infer, but we do have dimensions (4.6 x 2.0 x 0.7-inches), a price (it's going to go for $100), and some dates (you'll be able to pre-order this week to get yours when the first batch rolls out on May 15th). Oh, and you can also orient it vertically (nice) and play animations up to 5 fps on its 96 x 96 pixel 262k color 0.78 x 0.78 OLED keys. Did we mention its big brother, the full Optimus keyboard, also makes a cameo on the site being listed for sample manufacture by late 2006? Well done.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Vibe Vigilante @ Feb 17th 2006 2:18AM]

Surely a little tablet USB bus powered would be a better idea? 3 buttons is limited. With a tablet, there are so many other possibilities. Man this is silly; I can't believe people are falling for this - either flaming it to hell cause its not the bad - boy optimus everyone hoped for or praising it because they think an Art Studio releasing concept drawings of keyboard with 'tiny little TV screens' has re-invented the wheel. People get with the program, do we really need this - are HotKeys not enough ?

[Luke Welling @ Feb 28th 2006 3:47AM]

I do think it is a shame it does not have a joystick or scroll wheel or something on it as well. There are lots of things you could control with three changable buttons and one analog control. You could run a home media pc from one or, a car entertainment pc, without having to resort to a full keyboard at all.

Just three buttons is less useful ... but I have still ordered one.

[Joel @ Mar 4th 2006 11:17AM]

you guys are missing one of the coolest things about the keyboards. take a look at the half life 2 part of the mini keyboard test. it will show the actual screenshot of what you will load! and when you hit pause it will show you where you left off not just an icon. then you can hit play to resume.

the most amazing part of the keyboard is that it is not just a bunch of pictures, it can be semi-real time (5 fps) feedback from your programs. developers will release plugins for it.
say in photoshop you want to use a filter on something. you can have a key set to do the filter and already have a small rendering of what it will do on the same key. not a perfect example, but you can see the possiblities.

because this thing will be so popular amoung nerds, and programers, there will be ass tons of plugins ready right after release, and they will only get better.

the keyboard will last 3 years during normal use. then it STARTS to fade.
i won't spend $100 on neon for inside my tower like a lot of people but
i will pay $100 dollars a year for more productivity and more fun + awesomeness.

[Product Reviews @ Sep 9th 2006 8:24PM]

This is nice, but $100 is too much. I'll wait for a price drop or a cheaper alternative.

[Jonathan @ Sep 21st 2006 3:35PM]

I have one on my desk today. It was a rocky start becuase there is a bug in the software that causes it to go dark when you switch applications after pushing one of the buttons.

I was emailed a patch to test today and so far it is working great. I mostly use it for its CUT, COPY, PASTE functions and for that it is great. There is nothing like hitting a big button to move data from one app to another so I don't have to use CTRL-C and CTRL-V

It would be really useful is the context switching used the current window title in addition to the current application. If this was the case then three buttons would be OK. I can imagine programing this thing to do all kinds of specfic things in specfic dialogs.

So far, by using MacroExpress in conjuntion with its "Hot Key" plugin I have been able to control a medical imaging workstation and other tasks.

Well worth the $100.

[David Oh @ Jan 31st 2006 6:43PM]

I'm waiting for the keyboard... but man oh man, i could see this being used for carputers, custom terminals, in DIY hacks.... 100 is a very good price for this technology. it's also a good proof of concept so they can acquire funding for the actual keyboard.. which i hope won't be 40 pounds with keys that take 3 pounds of pressure to actually depress.

[GunForHire @ Jan 31st 2006 6:53PM]

Can't wait till the Optimus is out and lots of Chinese companies start knocking it off so we can get one that doesn't cost about $300.

[Gr3g @ Jan 31st 2006 6:56PM]

I especially like the Ram/CPU indicator. If they release this bad boy with an open API I'd be all over that.

[Fantaz @ Jan 31st 2006 7:00PM]

I'm definitely modding this into my case homehow. Can't wait to buy the keyboard!

[George @ Jan 31st 2006 7:03PM]

Some funky maths: $100 gets you 3 keys so be prepared to shell out $3.466 for 104 (dynamo generator included of course).

[Brian Stuckey @ Jan 31st 2006 7:11PM]

The site says the the keys have a 5,000 hour life. That is only 2/3 of a year (if left on 24/7). So - if you have this neat gadget - what is the point of having OLED displays for keys - if the keys always have to go into "display saving mode?" I still like the idea - I just wish they would last longer.

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus-mini/answers/

[matt @ Jan 31st 2006 7:17PM]

I'd be all over it
if I didn't have a laptop
if the laptop wasn't a Mac
and if it was only $50

[Josh L @ Jan 31st 2006 7:55PM]

Combine this keyboard with this technology:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/12/lucents-snooze-catcher-for-dvrs/

and it turns on/off depending on whether you're looking at the keyboard or not :)

[kenny @ Jan 31st 2006 8:06PM]

#5 Fantaz, that is exactlly the type of thinking I believe they were thinking about for the 3-key thingy...

You could theoridically mod it for:

Booting the computer? (maybe don't know, steping away from the regular buttons in lue of nice looking OLED buttons for a media center....)
insta-CD-music-iTunes-activation when inserting a disk/burning one?
ect...

least to say, it at least will give people an idea what to expect with the full keyboard...

[Mr. B @ Jan 31st 2006 8:06PM]

This looks like it'll be a pretty neat accessory, but I wish the screens were the size of the whole button.

[Rhochi @ Jan 31st 2006 8:07PM]

It says 5000 hours, but it also says it has built in power saving which will shut off the screens when not in use, this would probably at least quadruple its lifetime, assuming youre using your computer 6 hours every day

[ventivent @ Jan 31st 2006 8:37PM]

At $100, this device reminds me of the Griffin Powermate:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/index.php

Super cool to look at, not that much functionality, and overpriced for what it does. The perfect gift.

[SOAD @ Jan 31st 2006 9:03PM]

Ok, wait....im confused. DO this for me...

http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/

on the right of the "side view" picture, it says

"Release date: 14.07.2005"


so is that what they mean by late 2006? or is that the release date for the mini-three?

[Simon @ Jan 31st 2006 9:31PM]

I'm going to get one of these. They are quite expensive and it's a pitty the displays aren't as big as the keys, but it's damn cool anyway.

I don't think you can mod it to switch on the computer, as it needs a running computer to control it, but there are surely a fex thousand cool things to do with it.

For starters I'ld like it to display System Stats (CPU / GPU Temp) and Incomming Skype Calls while playing WoW. I hope Skype can be made to use on of the keys to accept a call and then hang up afterwards, all the while displaying who you're talking to. That'ld be sweet.

Or maybe I could use it for my gateway PC, displaying the current Network Traffic, Bittorrent Stats and Free Diskspace. I guess I need more than one of these ;)

I just hope the real keyboard will not have those borders around the displays too. They would turn out realy small and the whole thing would loose lots of its appeal. For this three button thing it's ok, but only because it's more a gimmick than a tool.

[Johnny1337h4x0r @ Feb 1st 2006 12:13AM]

oh man, this thing is PERFECT.

Alt Ctrl Del in with animation

[Xander @ Feb 1st 2006 12:16AM]

14:

thats when the concept and the renders were posted to the site. Its a design firm, they don't send to production everything they come up with, that date just shows when the idea was finally released.

[Jason Anderson @ Feb 1st 2006 12:21AM]

#14, that's the PRESS RELEASE date. The date that article came out. Not the release date for the keyboard.

[ragnar @ Feb 1st 2006 3:51AM]

Power saving mode... I don't really get it. Isn't the very idea of this that it would be always visible? For instance with the email example, it's not really useful if the button screens get dimmed.

And btw about the full keyboard thing. If this thing, with 3 buttons and 3 screens, cost $100, just imagine how much a 100 button keyboard will cost. I'm calling "no way!". It's not going to happen.

[DeepKeeper @ Feb 1st 2006 4:43AM]

2SOAD "Release date: 14.07.2005" - means the concept release date :)

p.s. I think I'll be the first one to order it:)

[Alex Crouzen @ Feb 1st 2006 6:04AM]

These buttons are perfect for 'status'-type functions. Say you've got an application that is normaly/mostly hidden from view and has a few states it can have. A few presses on one of these buttons can change that for you and show you what the new status is without having a display on your screen. It would even work with its' power-save mode. The first press would not change the status but show it...

And I like how it looks...

[Rus @ Feb 1st 2006 9:03AM]

No mac compatibility :-(

[Davandron @ Feb 1st 2006 9:04AM]

For the DIY'ers and curious, mini OLED displays can be purchased from places like Mouser and Digikey. A full color 96x64 pixels is $80. Digikey has monochromes for $40.

$100 for this thing seems like a bargain.

[Rob @ Feb 1st 2006 10:33AM]

No where on the site does it say what version of Windows it works with. Do you think it's safe to assume win2k can run it, or is this an xp only type deal?

[Nick @ Feb 1st 2006 12:18PM]

They want $100 for 3 keys? I'll pass until the price comes down.

[Alex @ Feb 1st 2006 12:20PM]

Cool device. But I would rather spend 100$ on something as cool but more useful, say an iPod. Ok, not the same functionality, but at this moment I truly don't see any functionality. For "just cool" I think it's a bit too expensive, even as a gift...

[Eli @ Feb 1st 2006 2:19PM]

So if we extrapolate that price out to a 104 key full keyboard, it's $3466. Just about what I was thinking it would be.

Also, 5000 hours? Useless. This may be a fun toy, but the full keyboard is total vapor. They even admit it -
"Full-size Optimus keyboard is being developed. We are looking forward to laying our hands on a sample before year-end." - that means they don't even have an actual prototype, just some renders and maybe a mockup.

[Samuel Lago @ Feb 1st 2006 4:47PM]

@19. I hate nay-sayers, shut up.

You're all worried about the lifetime etc... boo-hoo, nobody gets this because its a long term invertment, its a dream product and you get whats given, if its a sucess then you can worry about future releases being 'more reliable'.

I can't wait for the hacker keyboard hack, remember the laptop keys design, well if not you'll have to watch the film to see it -- dead cool!

[testman57 @ Feb 1st 2006 5:13PM]

As it is, I think the scaled price of the keyboard should be nearer to 400 $ than 3500 $... Here is my thinking:

Here we have 3 screens with 96x96 pixels, but from what we know, the keys of the keyboard will feature only 32x32 screens, so that means the cost for one 32x32 key would be near 1/9th of 33 $, and 108 keys would then be 400 $... that would gives us a nearer idea of the price to eexpect I think...

[Dissent @ Feb 1st 2006 8:21PM]

rofl

Most pointless device ever. You nerds do realize that you can just map whatever function you want to any of the dozens of unused keys on your current keyboard, right?

Besides, do you REALLY want your keyboard flashing some crappy 4-frame GIF's at you? If you want a bunch of annoying crap flashing at you and trying to get you to click it, just navigate to your favorite porn website.

[RabidZombie @ Feb 2nd 2006 1:30PM]

Dissent, in all honesty, yes and, well, yes.

It doesn't matter if you can do it with your current keyboard. My current keybaord doesn't have the ability to change the displays when I open Photoshop or HL2, my keyboard doesn't flash at me when I get a new e-mail, but with some quick and easy modding (or a simple selection of the pre-built ones), this one can!

Think of the childre- I mean possibilities.