Amazon Product Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UNFVK4/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

Manufacturer Link:
http://bit.ly/9KRokh

Reason for Purchase:
Wireless Keyboard with Multi-touch Gesture Touchpad for HTPC usage

Mini-Review

To start, I want to say that the gesture recognition was very nice. Being able to zoom, rotate, scroll, switch windows, open apps, and numerous other actions with a few fingers was exciting.

That said, I wish they would have spent a little more time on design and quality. I completely realize the price of this puts it in the very low priced area for what it does but I must say that I would have spent double the price if they had made a few changes. I had been looking at several other models, but the side located touchpad and multi-touch gesture recognition convinced me to try this one.

The touchpad regions are nice, but was there no way to use higher quality materials and/or make the texture similar to that of a normal touchpad? The pad felt cheap from the first time I swiped my fingers across it. Taps on the touchpad were often missed which was very aggravating. I’m unsure if that was a result of the quality or not.

The left and right click mouse buttons have to be the cheapest feeling ones that I have ever had the displeasure to use.

The shortcut media/functional buttons were nice and abundant; however they, as with many of the other parts, emphasize their use of cheap materials.

Lastly, the keyboard….ugh…I realize there will be some misses at some point due to interference, especially in such a low cost solution. But seriously? I am not exaggerating when I say that I was required to correct at least every 5th word due to missed letters. And that was while sitting 7 feet from the receiver. I tried reconnecting and reducing interference but this continued. At one point while typing, I nearly threw it across the room out of frustration.

The mouse buttons and touchpad quality can be overlooked (again, at this pricepoint) but if you are using this to work on an HTPC located 6+ feet from it, then this keyboard WILL have you checking the Return Policy within an hour.

I have since tried the IOGear Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel, 2.4GHz Wireless GKM561R. It did not originally appeal to me due to the trackball but at least the keyboard works. I haven’t noticed any missed strokes from the same 7 foot distance.

Note: When using this on Windows7 64bit, the drivers included do not work. However, once installed Win7 will find a driver via Windows Update. Use that one and everything should work.