Cool leaf buttonless keyboard, what you need to know

We see thousands of cool gadgets in the sci-fi movies, but how many of them have been able to make it to the mainstream or are actually feasible? Probably none or a very few of them. Now, let me introduce you to the next-generation "Cool Leaf Keyboard" which appears to be a device straight out of those sci-fi movies.

Cool Leaf buttonless keyboard

Announced way back in the earlier months of the year 2010, this futuristic keyboard is now a reality.

Designed by the prominent industrial designer Dr. Kazuo Kawazaki, the Cool Leaf Keyboard looks absolutely gorgeous and shiny. It has no keys, no marks nothing, just a plane black rectangle plank that holds a reflective surface in place. This reflective surface is your actual keyboard, sans the keys. Once you connect the plane shiny plank to your computer using the mini USB cable, the keys get illuminated showing you a fully operational QWERTY keyboard. Now who would have thought that the plank is actually a computer keyboard?

Pricing and availability

The wonder button less Cool Leaf Keyboard is available at a hefty price tag of $250 and unfortunately right now it's only available in Japan. The rest of us would have a bit longer for the futuristic keyboard.

What's great

Have you ever spilled bits of food or drink on your keyboard while working on your keyboard? If your answer is in affirmative or even if you disagree, you would be happy to know that sitting with food and drinks near Cool Leaf Keyboard is allowed. The coolest thing is that it doesn't get affected by any sort of spills and there are no spaces where the bits of food can go and hide. It's all flat so you can wipe out any spillage, food stuff or dust right away without a fight with your keyboard.

Some of the other cool attributes of the Cool Leaf Keyboard are it's minimalistic design, which would add a touch of sophistication to any work desk. As the keyboard is based on touch inputs, it allows up to 5-key multi-touch function so you wouldn't have to worry about using multiple key commands on your keyboard. It understands these commands quite nicely and gives almost negligible errors while typing.

What's not so great

Now it's time to talk about some of the features that have missed their mark. The first that comes to the mind is its lack of tactile response after you strike a key. While you are typing there's no way you would know if the key-strike has been registered on to the screen, so you would have to keep looking at the screen after each strike to make sure you haven't missed out the words. This issue although nothing major is a big concern for those who use the keyboard for long writing sessions. It would be a major put off for writers, programmers or whoever uses the keyboard quite exhaustively.

Another major concern is its highly reflective surface. This would make it very difficult to work on the keyboard where there is an excessive amount of light, in spite of the keyboard being backlit. And being highly reflective and glossy it also means that it attracts a lot of finger prints although it can be easily wiped out with the cloth provided.

The price of Cool Leaf Keyboard is very high and unless and until you have a penchant for collecting such cool gadgets you would not want to spend so much on a keyboard.

Things to watch out for

Although cool in every way, the Cool Leaf Keyboard is a major put off for the class who use the keyboard the most throughout the day such as the programmers and the writers. Typing for a great length of time without any feedback can be a bit difficult for them as they are not accustomed to it. However, a casual user would enjoy the new experience of buttonless keyboard beneath his hands.

Verdict

Cool Leaf Keyboard is an excellent example of futuristic yet practical keyboard. The fact that it's buttonless and can withstand the torture that we often put our keyboards to makes it really cool, just like the name says. However, it lacks the oomph factor that would have attracted the people who use the keyboard for the longest hours. And to top it all it's also a tad expensive. It's nice but probably needs more time for the people to move on to the buttonless world. The time is probably not right and for now the Cool Leaf Keyboard can merely be a gadget for show off at a geek's place.