Logitech made quite a fuss over its release last year of the Dinovo Edge
keyboard, saying it was the most advanced keyboard in the world. It was
admittedly an impressive keyboard, so how does the
new
Dinovo Mini fare in comparison?
The Mini is a small keyboard that's compatible with Bluetooth 2 devices, so
it would be suitable for use with modern phones and handheld computers, although
Logitech appears to be aiming it more at users of media PCs and the Playstation
3.
Also included with the keyboard is a replaceable battery and the USB adapter
(handily, this can be stored inside the battery compartment when it's not in
use). If you use the dongle provided, setup is simply a case of pressing the
connect buttons on the keyboard and the adapter and waiting for the green
all-systems-go light to appear.
The supplied Setpoint software can adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad and
configure the operation of the various shortcut keys, so it’s worth spending a
bit of time here to get it behaving as you would like.
As well as the usual typing, you can switch the Dinovo Mini to a media-remote
mode for music and video, lighting up the dedicated media keys to make them
easier to find at a glance. There shouldn’t be much of a problem here anyway,
since an ambient light sensor, which measures light levels in the room, will
fire up the backlight automatically when it gets dark.
Of course keyboards, particularly mini-keyboards, are all about usability,
and this is where the Dinovo Mini falls down. The keys are quite firm and
require a fair amount of pressure, but the fact that they're so close together
reduces potential typing speeds considerably, at least if you don't want to
spend half your time correcting mistakes. The touch-sensitive pad is also rather
small and doesn’t really offer enough space to comfortably move the pointer
around.
The Dinovo Mini is easy to set up, and certainly looks stylish, but taking
into account the price and its flaws as a keyboard it is more like a luxury
purchase for music and video fans.
Vista compatibility: Yes
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