The Broken

So, after three months, I've got a basic review of my "new" keyboard.

When I got it, there was some signs of wear and tear on the keyboard and mouse. For one, some of the text on the bottom of the keyboard was faded. It looked like from being slid across a desk. The same goes for the mouse and for the glide pads on the bottom of the mouse. Rather disappointing.

Minus 1 Point

One of the little flippers on the bottom of the keyboard just fell off the other day. I don't even use them, so it seems odd that it would just fall off one day without any reason.

Minus 1 Point

They removed the scroll lock button, because "it's not often used" however, they added in an "F-Mode" key... for being dumb, I feel they are in need of... They also put the "connect" button in an odd place on the bottom of the keyboard, so it's a little too easy to hit when picking the board up. And the new layout of the "home-end" keys area of the board and moving of the "insert" key completely into a different area of the board. Not to mention the missing left windows key. Not major issues by themselves, but for us KVM users out there, I must say:

Minus 1 Point

The mouse doesn't have an off button. Even with my lack of using the mouse, it has already died, within three months of use. I picked up rechargeable batteries shortly there after.

Minus 1 Point

The keyboard has a simple and sleek "black" design. Smooth keys. Not to mention the special utility keys, such as backward, forward, and volume controls.

Plus 1 Point

The keyboard batteries, which I really utilize, have not failed. I have replaced them with rechargables anyway, but they went three months without so much as a single issue. I did have to reconnect once to the receiver for the keyboard, but that was after taking a vacation for almost a week, leaving the keyboard and mouse sitting idle without anyone using them.

Plus 1 Point

The mouse, lefty-compatible, fits well in the hand and is quite simplistic, utilizing the standard three button with scroll wheel. And the optical light hasn't cause me any issues as of yet, working just fine on my desktop, my mouse pad, the edge of the bed, even on the leg of my pants once.

Plus 1 Point

It's wireless, need I say more? And I already knew about all of it's flaws before I purchased it.

Plus 1 Point

Final Score:
0
Break Even.
I'm not exactly impressed with my Logitech EX110 Cordless Desktop, but it's not exactly bad either. There is definitely room for improvement, and there were a few corners cut by both Newegg and Logitech, but nothing too serious. I'd buy another in a heart beat. As a matter of fact, I noticed several of these wireless guys when I was on site earlier today and was impressed with the wise decision of the owner to purchase a decent wireless keyboard. It really did help the office seem less cluttered.

klickity-klack

My new keyboard has arrived today. This blog is half an early review, half a test of how easy it is to utilize the keyboard. The keyboard is unique in appearance, layout, and design concept. It'll be interesting to see how extended use of the board will turn out.

But, starting with the basics...

Initial impressions: The 'board
The keys are totally membrane-esk, even more so than any previous keyboard I've used; while nothing can beat the old IBM "Classic" keyboards, which had a distinctive "clack" with each key press, making it quite obvious when one had actually depressed a key. The classic IBM keyboards where where I founded most of my typing skills (I actually started on a Mac SE keyboard as well as a standard membrane keyboard that I utilized on my Packard Bell 486dx back in the day; so I adapted well to membrane keyboards later on).

The closest I've come to the feel of the EX110 is some of the more "modern" Dell keyboards, the ones with the odd shape. Their keys have a similar feel, almost as if one isn't typing at all... They keys move in a more solid motion on the EX110 however, decreasing the plastic-on-plastic sound, however, they still have the "gooey" feel of a well-designed membrane keyboard.

The biggest, and most noticeable features of the keyboard are the new layout for the secondary keys. There is a large space between keys F8 and F9, it focuses one on the Logitech logo, but there doesn't seem to be much more of a reason for the space than that. There is also a new "F-Mode" button, which toggles the function keys from being their standard, "F1, F2, F3... F12" to launcher keys, such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and so on. I'm not a huge fan of MS Office programs having their logo white-washed on my keyboard, but at least it's in a dark blue color, which is hardly noticeable.

The board has also been "relieved" of two keys: "Right-Windows" and "Scroll Lock," two keys that are not commonly used. However, the Windows key has become more and more of a short-cut-enabler key, similar to Alt, and removing it from the left side of the keyboard may cause some people quite an inconvenience.

There has also been a slight layout change of the "Home/End/Page-Up..." key arrangement, which is usually in a 3x2 arrangement. They have changed this area of the keyboard dramatically. Insert has been moved up next to Print Screen, on the same row as the function keys, but further to the right. The "Home/End/Page-Up..." area of the keyboard has also been re-designed to function in a 2x3 arrangement, and Logitech has also elongated the delete key, so it is similar in size and shape to the "+" and "Enter" keys on the number pad.

Other than that, there are even more specialized keys now than there were on my iTouch, not only do I now have extensive media keys: "Play/Pause, Stop, FF, RW, Vol+, Vol-, Mute," but Logitech has added in "Web-Browser-Stop" and "Go-Back," and like my old iTouch, there is still the hot-keys for "Email," "Home," and "Calc." Fortunately, these keys fit well into the design of the keyboard.

I've also noticed that the keyboard font seems to be something a little block-esk for such a newly designed board. It reminds me a lot of the good-ol' Windows system font. At least the key-markings are centered (they used to be in the upper left of each key) and non-italic (commonly used on Mac keyboards until recently, and some PC keyboards).

So far, my most common mis-typed key is "Insert," frequently when pasting in URLs, I'll do "Shift + Insert" instead of "CTRL + V", it utilizes both hands for doing an Insert instead of a paste, which I have to rely entirely on my left hand to do. It simplifies things for me, but with insert being move nearly two inches on this new deign, I keep heading over to the "Home" key, which is in the position that "Insert" used to be on my old keyboards.

However, it is a nice board. The design seems to be based mostly on symmetry instead of standard QWERTY-extra-keys layout that has been common in the tech industry for nearly a decade. Non-standard keyboard layouts are starting to make a come-back on desktop units, as can be seen with the Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard, which doesn't implement a number pad and uses a "Fn" key to emulate some keys that otherwise are not available.

The one remaining comment I have on the keyboard is it's over-all sleek-style. The keyboard is quite thin, light, and it contours well to the touch. Lesser used keys (such as the function keys) are thinner, to decrease the keyboard area they take up, while more commonly used keys, such as the spacebar are over-sized, making them easier to hit. The black keyboard with glossy-highlights and silver accents and white text is really quite beautiful.

Now comes the true test of this keyboard... Active operation and use. I've kept all my documentation and even the box with the foam peanuts in it at work, just in case it doesn't turn out the way I want.

Initial Impressions: The Mouse
The mouse is rather quite unremarkable. It's designed to be the usual Logitech uni-handed mouse. It is black with glossy-highlights and silver accents and white text, just like the keyboard is, and is quite sensitive, for the same performance settings as my old Logitech USB ball mouse, this guy really zips across the screen. My only concern is what everyone else is complaining about, without having an off button on a "AA battery" powered optical mouse, the batteries could easily drain. That can only be revealed over time. There is a slight "cheap-ness" feel to the scroll wheel on the mouse, but it functions well, and make just take some getting used to.

Remaining Concerns
There are a few reservations I have about the keyboard and mouse of EX110... And that is just that there are signs that this might have been an open box. On the back of the keyboard, there is some writing that is worn off, which to me looks like it may have stemmed from use over time. The mouse also is showing some extensive wear on the glide-pads. These could both easily be due to the manufacturing of the components, but there is also a possibility that this EX110 combo was once returned to NewEgg. But, NewEgg has always been very good about clearly labeling returned items as "open box," which makes me doubt that it is a returned product... However, it is still a concern that'll be in the back of my mind for a long time to come.

For this guy, only time will tell if it is a ripe cherry, or a rotting lemon.

control-freak

Yesterday, I spilled a limited amount of water on my wireless keyboard. The keyboard seemed fully functional after a quick "upside-down shake" to relive the keyboard of the water. However, over night, the board lost it's "control" keys. Yes, keys. Neither control key presently functions, nor does the "caps lock" key... Which doesn't make any sense!!

The water was only spilled on the right side of the keyboard, keys like B N M < >, H J K L : " Enter and Shift got hit with the water. However, for some unclear reason, the left and right control keys as well as the caps lock key are now not functional. It's quite confusing!!

Since I lost my CTRL key, I've started to notice how often I use it... CTRL + T for a new tab, CTRL + F for find. CTRL + A for select all, CTRL + F# (in linux) for the TTY sessions, CTRL + Backspace to delete entire words instead of individual characters, CTRL + PgUP/PgDWN for moving between the different tabs! I couldn't even lock my computer this morning (CTRL + L in linux) nor log into my Windows box (requires CTRL + ALT + DEL to access the log on prompt). ~sigh, a sad life it is for the IT pro who can't use the control key. I even thought about looking through linux to see if I could find a mapping program to make something like the Windows key map to the CTRL key, at least until I can get a new keyboard, but I'm holding off on doing that, just because of the trouble it can cause.

My wireless keyboard, a logitech itouch, is quite old, I purchased it back when I was still in high school, using it sparingly until I got well into college, around 2004 I believe. And now it's finally starting to kick the bucket it seems. I've found a decently cheap and decently workable keyboard/mouse combo at NewEgg/Walmart, so I'll be looking into that later this week. The problem is that it is only available online... No "in-store inventory" was found based on the info from either website. It seems that I'll have to purchase a new one online to drop by staples/walmart to see what they have laying around. ~sigh.

For now, I think I can deal with out a CTRL and Caps Lock key... At least for a few days. With wet electronics, it's quite possible the system will come back to me tomorrow! Besides, ensuring that a new keyboard and mouse will work correctly with linux (via wireless over a usb wireless receiver) can be quite a pain and all too frequently involves returns. ~sigh. According to several websites however, they are indicating the EX110 Logitech Cordless Desktop works just fine over USB in Linux.