CeBIT 2008: Hands On with The Optimus Maximus OLED Keyboard

This year's CeBIT is full of surprises, as its numerous halls and booths are filled up with the most advanced technology available on the market to date. And one such surprise has been the Optimus Maximus, the famous OLED-based keyboard which has made so many people dream and drool since its announcement.

The keyboard has been announced quite a while ago, back in 2005, but numerous delays and some problems with the Philips controller made it unavailable for about three years. Its price was also hijacked: slated initially to sell for the equivalent of a high-end cell-phone, the final price is more of the equivalent of a high-end, fully-fledged computer.

Since I've been able to witness a live demo of the thing (courtesy of Mr. Marcus Knapper, the representative for the German-speaking space of Art Lebedev), I can tell you first hand that the device delivers pretty much everything one might expect from it, and more.

First of all, working with the Optimus Maximus is extremely easy. One needs just to connect it to a computer, power it and….start enjoying the OLED lights. Unfortunately, the brightness level is not exactly great (probably also due to the very bright lights above), but, nevertheless, is quite OK to use both during nighttime and daytime. Furthermore, the keyboard is accompanied by a tweezers-like plastic contraption, which allows users to change the OLED displays whenever they see fit.

Moreover, changing the contents of one particular OLED display can be carried out in a very fast and easy manner, vi a the included software (a few clicks and the micro-display immediately changes its contents).

All in all, this thing is quite an awesome device, which could actually prove to be extremely popular, if it weren't for the very high price. Oh, and a very good news for all of you who've pre-ordered the Optimus Maximus: every order placed in 2007 will be delivered by Friday, so yours is also coming.



Live report by Bogdan Popa and Alex Vochin from CeBIT 2008 Hannover, Germany.