Virtual Laser Keyboard Review.

When we though about choosing a prize for our contest we wanted to find something really cool. Something that everyone wants to get. And I think a laser keyboard was a good choice. It looks interesting and very unusual.

But is it usable?

From one point of view - it does not matter much ;) Because such a cool device is still cool even if it is absolutely unusable. It is something you can proudly show to your family and to your friends. But who knows - maybe it is a useful piece of hardware indeed.
I had no experience with a virtual laser keyboard before. So I decided to get one from our headquarter office for a short testing. By the way, they themselves use it for very special purposes. I don't think the creators of the laser keyboard expected it would be used in such way. Spb headquarters use this laser keyboard for hiring people :) They say "if you sit in an cafe in the University campus and use this laser keyboard a lot of students are wondering what's that and this is the best way to start a conversation that could bring a good developer in the end".

So I got this keyboard and decided that the best test would be to type this text using this laser keyboard. As you can see I am typing without problems... :) I have found that typing using the Virtual Laser Keyboard might be is even faster than using the HTC Wizard hardware keyboard. It's quite hard to type well for the first 1-2 minutes, but after finding out some tricks it becomes much easer. So I've typed this text in less than 12 minutes including fixing all misprints and etc. The reason of my first bad experience was that I put my fingers very close to the desk's surface and the device detected some "false keystrokes". But when I tried to control my hands and raised them a bit I found that it is working, and working good!

One thing that I don’t like is the size and weight of the device. I think it could be much smaller but maybe I'm not right. From the other hand large and heavy devices are more stable on the desk.

Another small issue is the arrows key order. It seems to me that it would be more correctly to put "up" and "down" arrows between "left" and "right". This will be more alike full size keyboards. And now I can't help my pressing "down" key instead of "right".

But generally I think that's really a great device! It's not only a cool and usable gadget for your Pocket PC or Smartphone but is also a good way to find new friends. I mean when you come to a bar or to a Pocket PC community meeting, place your Laser keyboard on the desk and turn it on you will immediately get attention from people around :)


Summary: I recommend Laser Keyboard to all users who like not only useful but also very funny gadgets.