Lenovo’s Charming Little Multimedia Controller Impresses At CES

[scolaner]

At CES, there are often a couple of intriguing bits of new tech we see that fly under the radar. Such was the case this year with the Lenovo Multimedia Controller.


Lenovo’s Charming Little Multimedia Controller Impresses At CES : Read more

 

[hurnii]

Any idea which flavor(s) of WiFi are supported? (802.11g, n, ac ?)

And, are you sure it's really WiFi? The "10meter range" sounds more like Bluetooth.

 

[problematiq]

Any idea which flavor(s) of WiFi are supported? (802.11g, n, ac ?)

And, are you sure it's really WiFi? The "10meter range" sounds more like Bluetooth.

it's probably using a pre-paired USB wi-fi dongle.

 

[cryoburner]

You can unlock a number of additional buttons by pressing the Fn key, which is located on the lower right side of the controller.

Would that be your right, or my right? Judging by the images, I would usually refer to that right as "left". : D

 

[scolaner]

Any idea which flavor(s) of WiFi are supported? (802.11g, n, ac ?)

And, are you sure it's really WiFi? The "10meter range" sounds more like Bluetooth.

They were mum on any further details/specs, I'm afraid. But both Wi-Fi and BT have a much larger range than 10m. I'm sure that measurement is the furthest you can get while ensuring consistent performance. Also, 10m is pretty long range for what you'd use this for!

 

[scolaner]

You can unlock a number of additional buttons by pressing the Fn key, which is located on the lower right side of the controller.

Would that be your right, or my right? Judging by the images, I would usually refer to that right as "left". : D

Uhh, I was looking in a mirror? Would you accept that as an excuse? 😉 Fixed now, thanks--

 

[dstarr3]

$55 is slightly steep, considering Logitech's alternative is a full keyboard with a trackpad for about half that. Hopefully that MSRP translates to a more reasonabble $30 in stores. And I'm very eager to see what typing does to the cursor placement. I'm not interesting if typing bounces my cursor all over the screen.

 

[ET3D]

According to Lenovo it's called "Lenovo 500 Multimedia Controller".

Anyway, I like the idea and will be looking forward to its release.

 

[cryoburner]

$55 is slightly steep, considering Logitech's alternative is a full keyboard with a trackpad for about half that. Hopefully that MSRP translates to a more reasonabble $30 in stores. And I'm very eager to see what typing does to the cursor placement. I'm not interesting if typing bounces my cursor all over the screen.

Just as the MSRP of that particular wireless keyboard with touchpad from Logitech is actually $40, this device will probably drop in price before long as well. And that's not Logitech's only keyboard in that category, as they have a backlit rechargeable model with a $100 MSRP as well.

And neither of those actually really fit into the same category as this device, as they are nearly full-size keyboards with a touchpad to the side, over 14 inches across and weighing about a pound. Certainly, that will be better for extended typing, but for not really ideal for media center use. Most people probably won't want a full-size keyboard sitting on the arm of their couch, and picking something like that up just to click on something with the touchpad would be a bit cumbersome. A keyboard like this, being more comparable in size to a remote control, is probably a better fit for such a scenario.

There are, however, a number of low-priced off-brand wireless keyboards of this size available online. They tend to only have a tiny touchpad though, and this keyboard's biggest advantage over them is probably the huge touchpad covering the entire keyboard, assuming it actually works well.

 

[Guest]

Looks great.

 

[JakeWearingKhakis]

Would be very useful for Raspberry Pi Projects as well.

 

[lip008]

I have Lenovo's previous multimedia remotes. I really like them. No need to replace what works so well. IMO one of these paired up with a small PC/laptop using HDMI to TV will always be better than a Roku or whatever.

Amazon Prime has a lot of content that's almost impossible to find scrolling through a Fire TV Stick or whatever.

 

[majorlag]

Logitech diNovo mini (Hey sounds a whole lot like Lenovo)works great and is unifying reciever, more reliable then the diNovo Bluetooth version. Been using a diNovo for years on the HTPC. I can see Logitech coming out with an updated Windows 10 version similarly to Lenovo's

 

[robodan918]

an unsurprising transition from the Lenovo mini keyboard N5901 and N5902 predecessors

 

[adamboy64]

Oh neat, that technology of using the keyboard as a touchpad sounds pretty similiar to what Blackberry has been using recently. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[RBLevin]

Keyswitch?

 

[scolaner]

Keyswitch?

Dunno, they wouldn't say. But note that this is not a full keyboard with mechanical switches--it's a little handheld device. (Note the scale in the pictures and video.)

 

[bit_user]

it lacks the three Android buttons.

You mean the back, home, and switcher icons, at the bottom of the screen? Why is that a deal-breaker? Just use the trackpad functionality to click those.

I use PC-oriented USB & bluetooth keyboards & mice with Android tablets. It works perfectly fine.