hitchface
01-16-2007, 06:31 PM
This is my review of the ZBoard. Like my Antec 900 review, I'll split it up into a few categories and give some final impressions.
The Idea:
What if you could create an all purpose keyboard that was optimized for navigation on the net, media usage, and games? Well, Ideazon set out to do that with this product. By producing sets of keys designed for specific games and apps, they could essentially make one keyboard have the functionality of however many applications there are in existence. With this board you have detachable "keysets" that allow you to swap as per the needs of an application. So if you wanted to play some games, switch out the current typing keyset for the gaming one. Cool, huh?
Looks:
First impressions usually last for a while, and in my case, the impression lay much more in the idea than the looks. It isn't bad to look at, and can be somewhat eye-catching if the right keyset is attached (more on that soon). It isn't, however, nearly as futuristic looking as you might expect it to be. My board came in straight black, though I have seen others with various colors. The features on the base include your usual extending feet at the rear and the wrist-rest, and it is loaded to the gills with media/internet shortcuts and functions. Like I said, the base isn't entirely exciting by itself.
The keysets on the other hand, have a cool look of their own. Well, one of them did. My box came with 2 sets, one for typing and another generic gaming one designed around the FPS genre. The FPS set replaces the entire A, S, D, and W side of the keyboard into a gaming console of sorts. It includes all buttons necessary for movement, reloading, running, crouching, changing weapons, and anything else you would normally use. There are of course keysets that are designed for specific games, like Doom 3 and so on. The difference is that all of these buttons are now laid out in a logical way, and while it takes a bit of time to get used to it, I found myself liking the ingenuity of the company in this design. So far I was impressed.
Usage - Setup:
Setting up the board is a breeze, though I know of a few issues the board had in its early days. The drivers installed and worked without issue, and the keysets could be hot-swapped, which was great. They did give me a bit of trouble sometimes when I tried to seat them, but after a jiggle or two, they usually went in just fine.
Usage - Word and various other basic programs:
When I used it during normal daily stuff, it wasn't that bad of a keyboard at all. The special function keys and shortcuts worked as ordered, though the media set of buttons refused to work unless the music program window was open (iTunes) which wasn't an issue with my older Logitech. If I have to open the window, I may as well mouse over and press pause myself. What I was noticing was that the keys, over a very short period of time, stuck more and more and became a lot squishier and mushy under the fingers. Typing experience degraded very quickly, and I started to dislike the layout more and more. Each keyset actually collapses into a small box, and thus must fold. Well, a consequence of that is a divided spacebar. Both will work, but my finger kept landing right on the divider line, which was frustrating. After some more time, the right hand portion of the spacebar failed. I quickly became unimpressed.
Usage - Call of Duty 2:
Using the board in CoD2 was a blast, though I had to press pause a few times just to make sure I knew where a particular button was. Because I thought it might take some getting used to, I tested it in single player mode so I could avoid the frustration of a 1:60 kill-to-death ratio. After an hour or two of gaming, I was becoming quite proficient with this nifty tool. This was the first game to get tested with this keyboard, and unfortunately was the last. Before too much longer, several keys had stopped working the way they should. The forward arrow would make me lean right, while the left lean key made me move forward. It was like the entire keyset had been one position off to the left. After re-seating the keyset a few times, the problem persisted, and I switched back to my trusty Logitech. Now I was very unimpressed.
Final Impressions:
Well, if you are used to your ASDW setup, stick with it for the time being. The learning curve can be frustrating for some. I was very excited about this keyboard when I first got it in the stocking and couldn't wait to get home and try it out. But after reading that other people had key failures as well, it didn't look like I got a lemon. Ideazon sure could fix some issues here, especially considering that the buttons (underneath the keys) are a very flexible rubber, and it doesn't surprise me that they failed and stuck. Overall? Flippin' brilliant idea, but the execution needs work. If you are a gamer and want to get serious, you can't be dealing with failing keys and finicky keyset switching.
This product was in hand for roughly a month. www.ideazon.com
The Idea:
What if you could create an all purpose keyboard that was optimized for navigation on the net, media usage, and games? Well, Ideazon set out to do that with this product. By producing sets of keys designed for specific games and apps, they could essentially make one keyboard have the functionality of however many applications there are in existence. With this board you have detachable "keysets" that allow you to swap as per the needs of an application. So if you wanted to play some games, switch out the current typing keyset for the gaming one. Cool, huh?
Looks:
First impressions usually last for a while, and in my case, the impression lay much more in the idea than the looks. It isn't bad to look at, and can be somewhat eye-catching if the right keyset is attached (more on that soon). It isn't, however, nearly as futuristic looking as you might expect it to be. My board came in straight black, though I have seen others with various colors. The features on the base include your usual extending feet at the rear and the wrist-rest, and it is loaded to the gills with media/internet shortcuts and functions. Like I said, the base isn't entirely exciting by itself.
The keysets on the other hand, have a cool look of their own. Well, one of them did. My box came with 2 sets, one for typing and another generic gaming one designed around the FPS genre. The FPS set replaces the entire A, S, D, and W side of the keyboard into a gaming console of sorts. It includes all buttons necessary for movement, reloading, running, crouching, changing weapons, and anything else you would normally use. There are of course keysets that are designed for specific games, like Doom 3 and so on. The difference is that all of these buttons are now laid out in a logical way, and while it takes a bit of time to get used to it, I found myself liking the ingenuity of the company in this design. So far I was impressed.
Usage - Setup:
Setting up the board is a breeze, though I know of a few issues the board had in its early days. The drivers installed and worked without issue, and the keysets could be hot-swapped, which was great. They did give me a bit of trouble sometimes when I tried to seat them, but after a jiggle or two, they usually went in just fine.
Usage - Word and various other basic programs:
When I used it during normal daily stuff, it wasn't that bad of a keyboard at all. The special function keys and shortcuts worked as ordered, though the media set of buttons refused to work unless the music program window was open (iTunes) which wasn't an issue with my older Logitech. If I have to open the window, I may as well mouse over and press pause myself. What I was noticing was that the keys, over a very short period of time, stuck more and more and became a lot squishier and mushy under the fingers. Typing experience degraded very quickly, and I started to dislike the layout more and more. Each keyset actually collapses into a small box, and thus must fold. Well, a consequence of that is a divided spacebar. Both will work, but my finger kept landing right on the divider line, which was frustrating. After some more time, the right hand portion of the spacebar failed. I quickly became unimpressed.
Usage - Call of Duty 2:
Using the board in CoD2 was a blast, though I had to press pause a few times just to make sure I knew where a particular button was. Because I thought it might take some getting used to, I tested it in single player mode so I could avoid the frustration of a 1:60 kill-to-death ratio. After an hour or two of gaming, I was becoming quite proficient with this nifty tool. This was the first game to get tested with this keyboard, and unfortunately was the last. Before too much longer, several keys had stopped working the way they should. The forward arrow would make me lean right, while the left lean key made me move forward. It was like the entire keyset had been one position off to the left. After re-seating the keyset a few times, the problem persisted, and I switched back to my trusty Logitech. Now I was very unimpressed.
Final Impressions:
Well, if you are used to your ASDW setup, stick with it for the time being. The learning curve can be frustrating for some. I was very excited about this keyboard when I first got it in the stocking and couldn't wait to get home and try it out. But after reading that other people had key failures as well, it didn't look like I got a lemon. Ideazon sure could fix some issues here, especially considering that the buttons (underneath the keys) are a very flexible rubber, and it doesn't surprise me that they failed and stuck. Overall? Flippin' brilliant idea, but the execution needs work. If you are a gamer and want to get serious, you can't be dealing with failing keys and finicky keyset switching.
This product was in hand for roughly a month. www.ideazon.com