Design

Before I even get to its design, the first thing I'd like to try and demonstrate for you is its overall size...

To try and demonstrate just how small it really is, I took a pic of it laying on the palm of my hand and another next to my current favorite HTPC keyboard from BTC.  The BTC keyboard is smaller than your standard keyboard and the grip handles are unique and a favorite among many who have used it.  Now, despite its size, they packed quite a bit of functionality into it and its layout is actually quite impressive from a purely design standpoint.

This keyboard is quite appealing.  It sports a mainly black colored theme that is accented with silver on its outer trim and right side control area where the mouse and specialty buttons are.  For its size, there sure are plenty of multimedia buttons available.  These not only run along the top, but on both sides as well.  The bottom is matte black and is where you'll find the connect button and the receiver slot for maximum portability.

Taking a much closer look, we find the music and volume control keys on the left side of the keyboard.  On the right, you have additional control buttons for playback, as well as the integrated mouse, action keys and two office shortcut keys.  The top control buttons consists of launch an action keys such as web, search and back/forward controls.  Finally, you'll note that the keys are fairly large considering its shockingly small size.  The only keys that are quite small are the function keys along the top row.  The layout of the keys is fairly standard as well.

**click to enlarge**

An even closer look at the right side shows the integrated trackball and mouse button, which does enable/disable mouse functionality.  There will be a faint red glow around the trackball indicating it is active.  Under it, you'll find some convenient copy/past keys and just below that are two MS Office shortcut keys.  Why feature Office buttons on a keyboard that is clearly designed for the HTPC user?  Yeah, just doesn't make much sense at all.  Where's "the green button" or other useful keys for such use? 

Considering its size, the receiver slot on the bottom was a nice touch.  Finally, what I really liked was the location of the left/right mouse buttons.  No, they are not one of the buttons under the trackball.  They are actually located on each top corner of the keyboard, putting them at the perfect location for proper use and control.

Performance

As far as performance goes, the keys and left/right mouse buttons are excellent.  However, that's were all the good ends.  The side buttons work well but feel stiff and are quite noisy.  The embedded trackball mouse is pretty bad and unresponsive.  It does not track well at all and don't expect to just roll it fast to get your pointer moving.  It won't go anywhere!  After playing with it for quite some time, you can learn to use it better but it does not work like most trackball pointing devices.  You have to somewhat push down quite a bit and move it slowly in order for it to work well enough.  I was very disappointed with the mouse functionality and would have preferred any other method here, such as a joystick-style design.

Last but not least, the range is pretty bad.  In fact, it felt like I was using an IR keyboard rather than RF.  You definitely do not want to plug the tiny receiver on the back of your PC.  If you don't have front USB extension ports on your HTPC enclosure, I would highly recommend an extension cable and place the receiver in an open area in front of the PC.  This practically eliminates all the connectivity issues I faced and is recommended for use this way.

Next: Conclusions