Cordless keyboards and mice, a new trend

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

My brother has just called me. Jokingly, he said, "When I was your age, I had to go to my office and work there the whole day. It was unimaginable that I could stay home like you do."

I reminded him that, although I spent so much of my working time at home, I was almost always in front of my computer from six o'clock in the morning until midnight. Of course, I still take a bath regularly, have meals at our dining table and go out of my house when necessary.

If, like me, you spend a lot of time working on your computer, one thing is clear. You must make your work environment as comfortable as possible. You have to invest in a few accessories to make working as enjoyable as playing. These may include a large desk with plenty of drawers, an ergonomic and fully adjustable chair, a large and sharp computer monitor, a cordless headset phone that lets you move about while talking, and a set of cordless keyboard and mouse.

If you have been reading my articles, you will know that I replaced my old Logitech cordless mouse with a new one not very long ago. In fact, I reviewed the Logitech Cordless MouseMan Wheel in July, after I bought one for myself at Ratu Plaza. It has served me very well from day one. I have had to replace the batteries once so far, which isn't too bad.

This week, courtesy of Logitech, I was able to play around with Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical. It is a combination of a cordless keyboard and a cordless mouse. The box contained these two peripherals, six AA-sized Panasonic batteries, a transmitter/receiver unit that needs to be connected to the PC, and a detachable palmrest that I did not even bother to look at.

The transmitter/receiver module, which communicates with both the keyboard and mouse using radio frequencies, has two cables and plugs for the PC. The keyboard cable should be plugged into the keyboard port (as you'd expect). The mouse cable can be connected either to the PS/2 mouse port at the back of the PC or one of the PC's USB ports. The keyboard requires four AA batteries, and the mouse -- unlike my Cordless MouseMan Wheel, which uses two AAA batteries -- requires two of the supplied AA batteries.

I was a little surprised to see that the keyboard and mouse started functioning as soon as I had connected the cables and powered up my PC, even though the software had not yet been installed. Installation of the software was incident-free, perhaps because I already had the right Logitech driver on my PC. The keyboard kept functioning at a range of around 1.5 meters from the monitor, but stopped working when I backed off further.

The optical mouse is quite different from my Cordless MouseMan Wheel. Being an optical mouse, it does not have a ball underneath it to register any mouse movement across the mousepad. Instead, it uses an optical sensor. A bright red light blinks each time I move the mouse. My test period was too short to allow me to find out how long the batteries would last. Logitech claims that they will last two to three months on the mouse and up to six months on the keyboard.

The keyboard itself is very lightweight. If you are used to those heavy-duty Omnikey keyboards made by Northgate, which were very popular in the U.S. back in late 1980s and early 1990s, you won't like this one. However, I believe Logitech deliberately makes this keyboard as lightweight as possible so that it can be easily placed anywhere, even on your lap.

What do I like?

First and foremost, I like the absence of cords. It makes my desktop less cluttered and would give me the freedom to move back from the CRT if I had better vision. I also like the mouse's optical sensor, as there are no ball and roller bars inside the mouse well that I have to clean with cotton buds. I also like all the multimedia buttons on top of the keyboard. The round volume knob is so intuitive, while the Play, Stop, Next Track and Previous Track buttons work well even with my Winamp.

Most of all, however, I like the iNav scroll button on the left side of the keyboard as well as the Go and Back buttons underneath it. The iNav scroll button works exactly like the one on the mouse, but we can use it with our left thumb. The Go button will call up a small dialog box in which we can quickly type a URL address. When we hit Enter, we will be taken to the Web site immediately.

Logitech is creative enough to add labels to the keys that are part of the Windows shortcut key system. So, for example, on the front side of the P key there is a label "Print". It means that pressing this key together with Ctrl will call up the Print dialog box. You will also find Copy on C, Paste on V, Open on O, etc. This feature can be very useful to those who want to learn Windows shortcuts.

Being an avid IBM classic keyboard fan, I find the keys much too soft. It took me some time to get used to them, although once I got the feel I could resume my ordinary typing style. The Windows keys between the Alt and Ctrl keys on both sides of the space bar make it very difficult for me to press the Ctrl-Alt- Shift shortcut keys for the Word macros that I have created.

Turning to the mouse, I still prefer the larger Cordless MouseMan Wheel. I found the Double-click button on the left side of the Cordless MouseMan Optical harder to reach, while my thumb would fall naturally on this button in the Cordless MouseMan Wheel.

Logitech touts the Zero Degree Tilt of its latest line of keyboards. Personally, I think this feature is relevant only to those who are lucky enough to have a desktop specially designed for computers, with a keyboard tray located lower than the desktop. I still prefer a tilted keyboard when I work.

Yet, if you are looking for a keyboard and a mouse to replace your existing ones, you might need to consider this package, which costs around Rp 850,000 at a local computer store (US$99.95 at Logitech's Web site).

Cordless keyboards and mice are becoming increasingly commonplace, and this Switzerland-based company seems to be leading the market. Logitech has even expanded its computer accessory offerings by acquiring Labtec, a company that has been making good multimedia speakers and headphones for many years.