*** Volvodriver Rating - 9 ***

Finally, for the hoards of keyboard warriors out there Logitech has delivered the ultimate weapon. The diNovo Edge. Rechargable, bluetooth, builtin in mouse pad, incredibly slim, beautiful lines, illuminated information displays, fantastic keys, this is all you need to know about this keyboard. Go get one.... now. I have a PC hooked up to my LCD TV in my lounge, using it wasn't exactly the best experience, the cordless keyboard and mouse combination was cumbersome, they keyboard was ok, sitting on your lap, but the mouse, on the couch or the table didn't exactly make for a loungy PC using experience. I decided something had to be done. Thinking about how cool it would be to have a keyboard that had a touchpad on it, I was wondering if one such a device existed, it had to, after all pretty much every notebook has one, why not have it on a standalone keyboard too? The very next day I stumbled upon the diNovo Edge at my local computer shop. I couldn't believe it, it looked like it had a touchpad on it, it was slim, super slim, and it was bluetooth!

Needless to say I parted with the AUD$220 and brought this beauty home. Installation was incredibly easy, I already had bluetooth on the PC, so the supplied USB dongle they give you was unnecessary and was duly ignored. I setup the recharging station, turned the keyboard on, and using my existing wireless keyboard and mouse, I paired the diNovo to the PC. I pressed the touchpad in the hope of seeing the cursor fly across the screen, as soon as my finger hit the pad the orange ring of light ever so gently powered up and glowed, and of course the cursor moved, however after seeing the cool glowing orange ring of the touchpad light up the fact that the cursor moved seemed quite unimportant and secondary now. I started typing and as expected it worked. I quickly disconnected my existing keyboard and mouse and sat down to start using the keyboard. First thing that impressed me was how good the range was, that of course is a benefit of bluetooth rather than something about this particular keyboard. The second thing that I liked was how nice the keys felt, obviously an important part of a keyboard is having keys that feel good to press, but you'd be surprised just how many keyboards feel quite ordinary in this basic department.

With the keyboard sitting comfortably on my lap I was happily browsing away, typing in URL's clicking on links and checking out the cool lights that came on as you pressed different things. The function key for example, when pressed, lights up all the features of the F1 to the Print Screen key just above the keys, as mentioned the touchpad lights up when you touch it, and the volume control, just above the touchpad, had multiple LED's that light up in a mesmerising way as you move your finger up and down the bar. The whole general feel of the keyboard is excellent, its so light but is really sturdy, it has clean sharp lines that feel very futuristic, and did I mention its thin? As you can see the keyboard lacks a numeric keypad, which I think is perfect, as this keyboard is not aiming to be your run of the mill standard desktop keyboard, it's clearly meant for the multimedia PC that's hooked up to a big screen and the user sitting on a couch. Additional buttons on the keyboard are a windows key and a mute button on the right next to the volume control and on the far left there's one to put the PC to sleep, there's some magnifying ones and another one with a mouse cursor on it, which brings me to the only thing that bugs me about this keyboard, the software, strangely all the software that comes with logitech keyboards and mice seems to have problems, as soon as I installed it I had an error and well it doesn't start, I haven't bothered with it as the keyboard does everything I want it to so anyway... and this explains why I can't really tell you what the buttons on the far left do. If the software loaded, I reckon this device woulda scored a fat double digit 10 rating.

Lastly The charging is FAST, in an 'emergency' you can charge it for five minutes to get roughly 3 hours use, amazingly useful and very cool. The charging base is neat and clean, and looks quite the part amongst all the hi-tech equipment that may fill your entertainment unit. One question though for the designer - The entire back of this keyboard is orange, Why? In conclusion, if you have a PC setup to your TV and you use it from a couch or other comfy sitting position and you lack the space to place a stable keyboard and mouse, then this keyboard is for you. Simple, neat, purposeful and great looking. It's a bit pricey but in my opinion it's worth it