Interacting with HTPCs: IOGEAR and SIIG Options Reviewed
by Ganesh T S on March 2, 2014 1:00 PM ESTSIIG JK-WR0412-S1 - Features & Usage Impressions
The SIIG JK-WR0412-S1 is a wireless mini multimedia trackball keyboard. Using 2x AA batteries, it operates in the 2.4 GHz range and has an advertised range of 33 ft. The trackball is on the top right. In truly ergonomic fashion, there is a left click button on the top side of the frame which makes it easy to move the trackball and perform a left click operation simultaneously with a single hand. For the 'typical' living room scenario usage with both hands, there are left and right click buttons on the top left (similar to the IOGEAR keyboard covered in the previous section). However, unlike the IOGEAR keyboard, the scroll wheel is not on the top panel, but on top side of the frame (on the left side, right above the two mouse buttons).
The trackball resolution is set to 800 dpi and is not configurable. The 2.4 GHz spectrum is pretty crowded, and, in order to prevent interference, the unit is capable of frequency hopping (with operation in 1 of 80 distinct channels). The unit has rubber soles for slip resistance. Unlike the IOGEAR unit, there is no explicit power switch (which is a drawback if you have a toddler active in your living room). However, for power saving purposes, the keyboard enters a sleep state after 8 minutes of inactivity. Only a keypress or mouse button click can bring it out of the sleep state. This is a bit frustrating in living room scenarios, where users tend to move the trackball first. The trackball itself is flimsier than the one on the IOGEAR unit. They main keys are also smaller than the standard size that we encountered on the other units. This might make fast typing difficult for those used to standard keyboards, though that is probably not the primary use case for this keyboard.
In terms of keyboard layout, the Fn key and Ctrl key on the bottom left are switched from the usual, which may result in the user inadvertently mistyping key combinations. Another unfortunate aspect of the keyboard layout is the fact that a numeric keypad is embedded in the main keypad, and it is controlled by the NumLock key. Most computers boot with the NumLock key turned on, resulting in the users typing in numbers instead of the intended letters. In case of passwords, the user might not even realize the mistake. It would be nice to have an indicator on the device for this purpose. That said, PCs usually have a BIOS setting to turn off this feature. The problem turned out to be bad enough for SIIG to issue an addendum [PDF] to the user manual [PDF].
The trackball has a red glow underneath when the unit is in the active state. This provides an easy way to identify whether a keypress or mouse click needs to be made, but might also be disconcerting in a dark room (a frequent HTPC usage scenario). The ergonomics and intuitiveness of the keyboard and the mouse buttons / scroll wheel layout, as well as the larger number of special keys, are the positives for the device.
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Aikouka - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
I use a Logitech MediaBoard Pro, which was originally designed for the PS3. It has a trackpad, physical on-off switch, and the best aspect for me is that it uses Bluetooth for connectivity. I use it on my NUC, which means I don't take up one of the valuable two rear USB ports on some wireless dongle. The only downside is that the keyboard lacks a Windows key since it was originally designed for the PS3.jensend - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
Why aren't there any Bluetooth Low Energy/ Bluetooth Smart keyboards? Somebody showed a paper-thin one last year as a tech demo, but that's it.I'd imagine that lower energy use would be worth going for in a keyboard. The connection latency is low enough you can leave it idling in an unconnected state when not typing and still get good responsiveness for the first keystroke. Bluetooth Smart may be 2.4GHz but its frequency hopping is much smarter than most non-standard RF peripherals. Gigabyte's BRIX systems come with BT4 built in, while it's cheap and easy to install it in the NUC, and not so hard to put it in any HTPC system.
Imaginer - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 - link
As much as the keyboards with built in trackballs are nice in having one periphery device (instead of two with a cordless keyboard and trackball), the ball on the built in all in one keyboards are small.Small so that there is still A LOT of work in manipulating the pointer on HTPCs. You can forget about gaming with it, since your thumb would be doing more work to position the ball (even accounting for speed settings).
The smallness of the ball, is to account for the compactness of the device. Great, if you occasionally point.
The trackpads, are more of a compact design in a three dimensional space (still space taking in the 2D plane). Basically, your TV and HTPC interfaced like a laptop.
I will say this as an HTPC user. The keyboard is great for searching for text entry. The HTPC CAN be great for a work environment (properly matching your seating distance, your TV viewing size aperture, and the TV's resolution and scaling of elements with all of the factors in balance). It is possibly my preferred method (keyboard in lap, my trackball to the side) with no harsh edges or even levitating my arms for a desk.
A Logitech K800 and a M570 is my setup. both arms and hands naturally rested and not gripping (like the built in trackballs on the right side on some of those keyboards) for prolonged input of pointing or typing. The downside, is that there are two devices to account for. Most of the time however, the M570 sees more use on an HTPC setup so it can be paired down to one device (especially with the virtual on screen keyboards of Windows 7 and 8 OS areas, more so with 8).
sergekarramazov - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
it seems that nobody heard about the new logitech Harmony Smart Keyboard. I saw many references about the k400 (that i personaly owned) but nothing about this Harmony keyboard. It's much more expensive than the k400 but with all the functions of an harmony remote : http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-smar...widescreen - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
I've been using the K400 for a while on an old HTPC using XBMCbuntu and it worked great. Now I just switched to a NUC i3 haswell running Openelec and the range is terrible. Like 3 ft max. In openelec or in the bios, same thing. Plugged it into my laptop running Win7 and range was fine.Haven't tried in windows on the NUC yet to check if it's software or hardware related.
rahnold - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 - link
Apple Wireless Keyboard + Apple Magic Trackpad + Twelve South MagicWand?mrdanno - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
GREAT article! I've been trying to replace my Dinovo Edge forever...left click died ages ago, right click a year after that...but it's still a slick, rechargeable, backlit wireless keyboard & touchpad combo. I cannot believe Logitech has nothing that replaces it properly...I'd like something to do plenty of typing, gaming too...just a full-sized keyboard, that can be backlit, and has some form of touchpad/trackball/etc... I can use a wireless mouse for gaming, as I do now, so the touchpad just needs to be for casual use. Basically I'd like a new Dinovo Edge for less than a king's ransom, why is that so hard to find??
JaLooNz - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
Why not review the Thinkpad Trackpoint Bluetooth keyboard? Seriously I feel that trackpoint is better than any touchpad.mikato - Friday, March 7, 2014 - link
Personally I love my Logitech K400. I got it for $15 refurb on newegg. It is just what the doctor ordered for couch-HTPC-surfing. I bought it even though we already have a really nice K800 keyboard and G-series gaming mouse for gaming wirelessly and it was a great purchase.coolhund - Monday, March 10, 2014 - link
Tried several of those, incl. the diNovo mini. All were very unreliable or far too huge and the diNovo even had some keys not getting recognized after a while amongst other glitches.Then I bought 2 Riitek ones: http://www.riitek.com/product_Info.asp?id=81 & http://www.riitek.com/product_Info.asp?id=77 and never looked back. They have been working for over 3 years now.