Product Review: Cideko Air Keyboard

The Cideko Air Keyboard is a keyboard and mouse that uses 3D motion sensors to translate keyboard movement into cursor movement for a full keyboard and sensor mouse that works great for HTPC or a secondary keyboard.

Ease of Use, Performance: 21/25

Look & Feel: 21/25

Features 22/25

How much I enjoy 22/25

Total: 86/100

The Cideko Air Keyboard model AVK-02b is a motion sensing keyboard and mouse but not in the separate peripheral you may be used to, the mouse is built into the keyboard. The Air Keyboard can be used like the motion sensing Wii controller or the PlayStation 3 Move to move the cursor on the screen of your computer or other USB controlled device.

The Cideko Air Keyboard works with Mac, Windows, Linux and even my Google Chrome CR-48 Chromebook so it has a pretty broad device support. The Air Keyboard is 5.5 by 3.5 inches and a little over an inch thick with a 2 inch long USB dongle that uses radio frequency or RF to connect the device to your computer.

The Air Keyboard has a full 80 key Qwerty that includes multimedia keys, a Windows key and some quick access keys for mail, internet, calculator, My Computer and zoom. The two top buttons are your left and right mouse buttons while the five keys in the upper left corner are for direction and the middle mouse button.

You have the four buttons for direction and the center button with the mouse symbol acts as the middle mouse button when you press on your scroll wheel for most mice. Moving the whole keyboard up and down or rolling the keyboard causes the cursor to move up and down on the screen.

When you rotate the keyboard while it is flat on a desk the cursor will move horizontally on your screen while the arrow button that is pointing at an upward angle turns the mouse cursor movement on and off. If you need to hold the cursor in position on screen you use the cursor hold button to hold the mouse so you can move the controller without the cursor moving.

The Air Keyboard will go to sleep after four minutes so to wake it up you just press a button or move the mouse and you can start working with your computer. The Air Keyboard works very well and makes a great companion peripheral to an HTPC or second keyboard for a computer.

The RF dongle that comes with the set connects without any kind of pairing and my Windows computers recognize the keyboard simply as a basic one. When you plug the dingle in your computer will load basic drivers and Windows recognizes the keyboard as HID compliant device.

The keys are a quarter inch square so the Air Keyboard does not make a good full time keyboard for typing but it makes an excellent keyboard mouse combination for computers like an HTPC. I have been using the Air Keyboard for my entertainment and secondary computer since receiving it and it works extremely well for a simple keyboard and mouse combination.

The Cideko Air Keyboard works well and for simple computer use like passwords and an occasional web search it’s easy to use but for some gaming or typing it is not that handy. I tried the Air Keyboard for real time strategy gaming and it worked alright but not as good as a regular keyboard and mouse.

The Air Keyboard does not work for first person shooters are any other games except of the more casual mages like card games or ones like Bejeweled. The Air Keyboard is not really designed for gaming, it works exceptionally well for an entertainment computer like ones you would use in a living room.

The use of the motion sensing for cursor movement does take a little getting used to but it is easy enough for anyone to pick up and start using right away. I highly recommend the Cideko Air Keyboard for a handy and convenient HTPC keyboard and mouse equivalent that works very well.

Cideko Website

Reference:

• www.cideko.com/pro_con.php?id=3#download