Optimus Pultius becomes Optimus Aux, new prototype shows up

Feeling held back by the Optimus Maximus' 113 OLED keys? Then you've no doubt been anxiously anticipating Art Lebedev's Optimus Pultius keypad, which the design firm now says will be dubbed the Optimus Aux whenever it's actually released. So as to not leave us completely hanging, the firm has also revealed the new prototype pictured above, which is just enough to make us a little wistful of the early days when the Maximus first flickered to life. Head on past the break if you need a reminder of what the final product is supposed to look like.

[FuzzyCat @ Sep 19th 2008 11:02AM]

Last!

Where's that Optimus Whateverus - the one with the single LCD?

[216 @ Sep 19th 2008 11:06AM]

optimus oo

[Alex Padilla @ Sep 19th 2008 11:07AM]

With all the hype surrounding the keyboards, does anyone know if they're actually any good? I've never tried one, but they seem like they'd be okay to use.

[Phil Perman @ Sep 19th 2008 11:18AM]

According to Engadgets own review, they are great to look at and very well built, but for actual typing, rather crap

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/22/optimus-maximus-at-long-last-we-bring-one-home-to-test/

[telepheedian @ Sep 19th 2008 11:13AM]

Put some flashing neon colors on the displays, and you've got the mother of all Stepmania controllers.

[dhytspam @ Sep 19th 2008 12:31PM]

Hey that's not a bad idea.

[Stereobot @ Sep 19th 2008 11:14AM]

Thanks Engadget for not at all explaining what this thing does.

[Adam @ Sep 19th 2008 11:20AM]

If you don't know what it is then click the links in the description for more info. They don't need to explain the item every time there is an update. Lets not get to tedious and simplistic.

[Drew @ Sep 19th 2008 11:23AM]

The missing explanation:
You push things and the computer responds by doing things.

[Shane @ Sep 19th 2008 11:26AM]

Seems pretty self-explanatory to me...It's a bunch of user-definable keys with OLED displays embedded.

Lets hope that it doesn't take Lebedev nearly as long to get this thing to market and that it doesn't cost a small fortune once it is released...

[TavisJohn @ Sep 19th 2008 11:46AM]

And it will probably cost $500.00 for this 11 key device...

[Patriks7 @ Sep 19th 2008 12:22PM]

I know that I'm not the best person in Math, but I am pretty sure that 3 x 5 = 15 (which by the way =/= 11..)

[TavisJohn @ Sep 19th 2008 12:50PM]

Meh, So I miss counted... 15 keys for $500.00 then, does that make it that much of a better deal?

[Tim @ Sep 27th 2008 7:39AM]

From the prices at ThinkGeek (3 keys is $134.99 and 113 keys is $1589.99) I calculated the equation for the cost (assuming it is a linear function).

Cost (USD) = 291/22 x Keys + 104839/1100

This gives a cost of $293.717272... for a 15 key keyboard.

I'm guessing they would take it up to $299.99 or something similar.

[ScooterDe @ Sep 19th 2008 1:41PM]

I expect this would be more popular than a full keyboard. An array of function buttons with visual displays, which change according to the program you are running, would be helpful - but buyers will likely realise that most keyboards have (non-visual) function buttons already.

[Chip @ Sep 19th 2008 2:30PM]

As do I. If I could connect two of these at the same time, I could finally replace my aging G15 with something smaller and keep these for misc function keys that I can no longer live without. Am I being completely ridiculous in hoping these will sell for ~ $100?