slaingod

I’m really looking forward to the new Logitech DiNovo Mini.  It looks absolutely awesome, perfect for media center usage, as well as light usage for surfing, or when ‘one-hand surfing’ is necessary.  While reading the reviews for it, I saw some references to not so stellar reviews for the Logitech DiNovo Edge. It isn’t perfect, but it is by far the best keyboard I’ve ever used, so I wanted to throw in my $0.02.

What I love about it:

• Style: It looks freakin’ gorgeous, especially when you turn it on or press the [FN] function key.
• Volume Control: The built-in slider volume control is easy to use and very stylish as well.  There are some complaints about the range of the volume control, but you can typical fix this with something like AutoIt if it really bothers you too much.  Note, there is an issue in Windows XP that prevented it from working as intended, but it works great in Vista (even x64).  The issue with XP is probably related to my use of SPDIF out, where the Edge’s Volume Bar only affect the Master Volume or Wave volume, I can’t remember which.
• Touchpad: The touchpad is one of the best I’ve used.  I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the touchpad, so I wanted to point out a few things.  No it isn’t a ‘multitouch’ touchpad, like you have on a MacBook, but to be honest, this is my least favorite feature of MacBooks.  I have RSS (repetitive stress syndrome) in my wrists, which prevents me from using a mouse, so touchpad is the only way to go for me. 
  

I’ve used Cirque touchpad products in the past, and while they general make a nice touch area, the rest of it is garbage.  The drivers have typically been terrible, locking up the mouse, etc. across numerous devices.  My last USB Cirque they finally got right in the driver arena, but the physical pad itself was the cheapest thing ever, when before the hardware had always been the one saving grace.  This thing had sharp edges, horrible button layout, and generally required me to use a dremel and adhesive-backed foam to make it anywhere approaching comfortable.

Where the Edge really shines is in scrolling.  I haven’t seen much mention of this, but basically you just start stroking (hehe) your thumb in a circular motion clockwise and you start scrolling down, and you can keep doing this indefintely.  You can pause scrolling and, without lifting your finger, continue, or start going the other way, no matter where on the pad your finger happens to be at that time.  With other ‘side scroll areas’ on other devices, you have to lift up your finger at a certain point and start scrolling again, etc.  And don’t get me start on how much better this is than the MacBook’s two finger scrolling. OK, fine, now you’ve got me started…1) it takes 2 fingers! 2) It takes many strokes to get where you need to be in a large document, 3) TWO FREAKING FINGERS! Twirling a single thumb kicks two fingers ass (insert ‘bowling’/’pink-stink’ joke here).

I’ve seen complaints about the Edge having a ‘useless’ touchpad which makes it larger than it needs to be for a ‘compact’-type keyboard, and lack of numeric pad.  Apparently, they weren’t aware that there was a specific DiNovo product designed for them: diNovo™ Media Desktop® Laser. I’ve also seen complaints about not being able to get the cursor to move far enough.  If you set acceleration to at least ‘low’ in the SetPoint software you shouldn’t have any issues with getting the cursor to go across a 1920x1080 screen in one swipe.  It would be nice if it worked without acceleration, but it does take 2-3 swipes if acceleration is turned off.  

• Built-in CAPSLOCK disable.  I’m simply not a touch-typist, and CAPSLOCK is my bane.
• Lithium-ion Rechargeable battery built-in.  For heavy users like me, the charge only lasts 5-7 days on average, but gives plenty of warning before going out, and you can just toss it on the stand for 10 minutes and use it for another few hours if needed.
• Key action is very nice.
  

There is room for improvement:

• The charger is nice, but it would be more functional to be able to have a way to charge it that wasn’t vertical, so you could use it while it was charging.  Not a huge deal, since you can charge it for like 10 minutes and get a few more hours out of it.
• The SetPoint software could use some more customization options, with setting buttons, etc., or setting the Volume Bar to a different mixer channel, for instance. The software looks like it was designed by a kindergartner.
• It would nice to have more easily accessible multimedia keys without having to press [FN].  But this is a flaw in Windows Media Center as well, not being able to set keys, etc.  The fact that space bar isn’t pause/play is ridiculous.
• It’s a little heavy the way I use it.  I have sort of an unorthodox work environment, namely my bed, so it can get a little heavy trying to hold it at times when I’m moving around trying to get comfortable, which is one reason I’m looking forward to the Mini as a second keyboard.
  
• It seems like there was a little bit of a settling in period for me, where the keyboard would stop responding, etc. when I first got it.  But after the first couple of days,  I had very few issues.
• Slightly odd key placement  for delete, home and end keys.  I want Home and End to be on top of each other, but they aren’t here. 
  
• OMG it gets fingerprints on the finish…who cares?
  

 So all in all, the Edge is really a solid all around keyboard, and utterly stylish. Its $160ish street price is a little hefty, but if you are looking for the best keyboard touchpad combo out there, then look no further. I’d given up on wireless keyboards before the Edge, due to battery frustrations, but the Edge has brought me back with a vengence.