Cordless keyboards and mice, a new trend

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.