Accessory: While we’re talking about weird Bluetooth devices…

This one comes right out of my “odd bluetooth devices for cell phones” bin. It’s not new by any means, but again it’s just one of those weird-but-cool devices. Meet the i-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard.

The i-Tech Virtual Laser Keyboard

This object in question is, believe it or not, a super high-tech gizmo: it can project a “virtual laser keyboard” on any nearby surface with one feature - it actually lets you type on it.

Pretty amazing right?

With the magic of bluetooth device pairing you can have this keyboard running off your Symbian smartphone, laptop, pc (why you’d be using this on a pc, I wouldn’t want to know), and PDA. You can even add the virtual “noises” that emulate typical keyboard clicking sounds. (no word on whether the application runs on Nokia N90 phones)

Personally, I would love to test out this item as it is one of the oddest (and possibly one of the most innovative) Bluetooth gadgets that might actually be useful. The company’s website claims that the virtual keyboard “facilitates touch-typing input at the highest typing speeds.” This has yet to be determined. Me, I type around 100-130 wpm, so I find it a little hard to believe that this little squirt keyboard can keep up. Bluetooth keyboard, that is. All that sending and receiving data back and forth between the application and the hardware has to have some kind of delay somewhere…considering Bluetooth is not exactly one of the fastest transfer mediums out there.

You can find some reviews online stating that you can’t type nearly as fast as a normal keyboard, but it DOES seem to function properly. I still don’t see how it can detect any of those keystrokes if your fingers keep hovering over other keys, especially since it uses infrared.

Size-wise, the i-Tech virtual keyboard is as large as a disposable lighter - which makes it pretty small. Definitely the smallest Bluetooth keyboard out there, more so than the foldable Bluetooth keyboards which tend to be about 4 or 5 inches wide when collapsed.

The laser keyboard retails for $199. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), fleabay auctions for this product are fast and furious and end in the $110-$140 range.

Of course, you could always opt for a Nokia E70 phone or it’s poor cousin, the Nokia 6822 if you *really* need to have that keyboard.

You can find more information on the i-Tech virtual laser keyboard here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Nokia Phone Accessories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.