A strange device, this. It's essentially a moulded sheet of silicone rubber with the layout of a standard desktop keyboard. This provides two main advantages, which the manufacturers of this and similar devices are quick to push: firstly, it can withstand spillages, grit and all the other nasty ... Read review
The flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard is made from high-quality silicone and contains no ... more
hard plastic, this makes it completely silent.It can resist acids and alkali's, and be used in dust and damp environments, even in shallow water, and can be cleaned...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard is made from high-quality silicone and contains no ... more
hard plastic, this makes it completely silent.It can resist acids and alkali's, and be used in dust and damp environments, even in shallow water, and can be cleaned...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Virtually indestructable Disadvantages: Difficult and uncomfortable to use
...is of limited application: the keyboard really needs a flat surface to be used effectively, as placed on the lap it will just drape uselessly, so unless you are moving between desks there's very little use in taking it with you. The former, however, is tremendously useful, especially for laptop users like me who risk frying their entire machine if they knock a glass over in the wrong direction. (There is something deeply satisfying, I discovered ... ...by the downsides of the keyboard design. Because the keys are flexible, it is very easy to press them down without actually activating the sensor beneath, and so typing with this board produces frequent missed letters. The keys themselves, meanwhile, are smaller than on a standard board, leaving a large gap between keys that is very easy to hit instead of the key itself. Perhaps worse still in the long run, the keyboard is very flat and, because ... more
A strange device, this. It's essentially a moulded sheet of silicone rubber with the layout of a standard desktop keyboard. This provides two main advantages, which the manufacturers of this and similar devices are quick to push: firstly, it can withstand spillages, grit and all the other nasty things that tend to finish off regular keyboards (and, for laptop users, sometimes entire computers) because the electronics are entirely sealed off, and secondly, it can be rolled up for extra portability. This latter option is of limited application: the keyboard really needs a flat surface to be used effectively, as placed on the lap it will just drape uselessly, so unless you are moving between desks there's very little use in taking it with you. The former, however, is tremendously useful, especially for laptop users like me who risk frying their entire machine if they knock a glass over in the wrong direction. (There is something deeply satisfying, I discovered soon after acquiring this keyboard, about seeing it sitting in a small puddle of spilled tea and knowing that it will keep working even if you don't stop to clean it up.)
Unless you consider yourself particularly clumsy or work in unusually harsh environments, however, this main advantage is probably outweighed by the downsides of the keyboard design. Because the keys are flexible, it is very easy to press them down without actually activating the sensor beneath, and so typing with this board produces frequent missed letters. The keys themselves, meanwhile, are smaller than on a standard board, leaving a large gap between keys that is very easy to hit instead of the key itself. Perhaps worse still in the long run, the keyboard is very flat and, because it is flexible, cannot be easily angled in the way most desktop keyboards can, so that typing for extended periods can become extremely uncomfortable, a problem that is exacerbated by the need to type with much more care and precision to make up for the board's unresponsiveness.
This, then, is a keyboard only for those who really need its special features. For everyone else, a standard rigid keyboard is almost certainly more suitable - and even if the occasional careless soft-drink incident forces you to replace it occasionally, the increased comfort and precision mean that it will probably be worth it in the long run.
DNMark 30.04.2007 (30.04.2007)
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Review of Keyboard Company Flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard KBC-50086 - keyboard
Advantages: Flexible, Spillages Do not matter any more Disadvantages: Difficult to type quickly
I first saw this keyboard on the internet after my laptop keyboard stopped working and I couldn't get a replacement for at least a month. This meant that I couldn't do work of anything else so I needed a cheap keyboard to get me through. That's why I thought I would by the flexible keyboard, im a bit of a gadget freak and this seemed to be something different that I haven't seen before. By the Way I did not get it for the price shown below, I actually ... ...time. For me the flexible keyboard needed a very hard impact on each key for it to register. It was very frustrating when I was typing because this would mean that it would not register all the letters and lots of spelling mistakes would occur. Either this or I would have to slow myself down which is also very annoying. I tried everything to improve it, raise it up, put it flat, put something hard underneath the keyboard, putting something soft under ...
m.kerby 10.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Keyboard Company Flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard KBC-50086 - keyboard
Advantages: Flexible, spill resistant Disadvantages: Need flat surface, may stop working
I bought this keyboard because I thought it would be ideal to carry around to connect to terminals and machines without a decent keyboard, like servers and laptops. I also used it for my Xbox 360 to speed up typing things in. It served me very well for quite a while. Although it takes up more room than you might imagine once rolled up, infact a normal mini keyboard might fit in things like bags better because it's flat.
I found it very useful that ... ...on your lap etc... this keyboard is extremely difficult to use.
It's not easy to break however, at least by snapping etc.. that's the benefit of it being flexible of course. Although after a few months (about 6) half of the keyboard just stopped working. I'm not sure why this happened, I know it doesn't like heavy objects on it but I don't remember it being stood on or underneath any dictionaries at all.
The novelty factor won me over to buy this ...
Skisy 13.07.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Keyboard Company Flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard KBC-50086 - keyboard
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Manufacturer's product description
The flexible mini (roll-up) keyboard is made from high-quality silicone and contains no hard plastic, this makes it completely silent. It can resist acids and alkali's, and be used in dust and damp environments, even in shallow water, and can be cleaned with alcohol or disinfectant.
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