Logitech diNovo Mini - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Enjoy total control of your PC entertainment from your sofa. Palm-sized, cordless mini-keyboard fits in your hand and gives you optimal control and access of the PC entertainment you love, including browsing the Internet, watching TV, listening to music and playing PC games. Dedicated Windows Media Center controls optimize launch and navigation of Microsoft's popular entertainment platform. Integrated, dual-purpose ClickPad enhances control and access with innovative technology that can be used as a touch pad and a directional pad. Rechargeable Li-ion batteries give you up to one month of battery life. Bluetooth wireless technology provides long-range wireless control from up to 10 m (30 ft). Backlighting makes text entry effortless, even in low light.

Customer Reviews: Read 70 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Not recommended for PS3 control March 21, 2008
35 out of 43 found this review helpful

I have no doubt that the DiNovo Mini is brilliant with a PC. As soon as it arrived at my office, I had it up and running in XP without any more effort than plugging in the Bluetooth receiver. Mouse control, character entry, menu use, et cetera were all great.

Unfortunately, I bought this for my PS3.

I primarily wanted the DiNovo Mini for PS3 browser use. Browsing with a virtual keyboard is intensely annoying, so a keyboard is the only option for extended use. As a character entry and mouse control device, the Mini works great with the PS3. There are button mappings for the cross and circle buttons, allowing for basic selection and cancellation controls.

Where the Mini fails, however, is that it does not seem to have anything mapped to the triangle, square, and Start controls. Triangle is used to access menus all over the PS3 interface, including the PS3 browser menu. Want to access your bookmarks with the Mini? What you'll need to do is grab a PS3 controller to do it. Want to type in an URL? Pick up a PS3 controller, press Start, and then pick up the Mini and do your typing.

Outside of the browser, the Mini also fails as a Blu-Ray playback controller. To access menus during playback, one must use the square button. Again, not on the Mini so grab a controller to pull up that menu. Want to skip to the next chapter? The controls on the Mini do forward and reverse seek only when used with a PS3. Grab a controller and use L1/R2.

There are so many occasions when you're reaching for a controller that it makes the Mini near useless. For $150, I expected a lot more from a device that has a PS3 mode. I would have been better off buying a cheap little controller mounted keypad.

I think the keyboard itself is fantastic. Great form factor, loved the lighting schemes, and it controls a PC like a champ. But if your intended use is as an input for a PS3, do not buy it unless you're okay juggling both a controller and the Mini.

5 out of 5 stars

Stunning input device for HTPC's March 19, 2008
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Ever since I saw and used this device at CES I knew I had to have it.

Well, it just showed up today and while it's not for touchtyping or long emails I am writing this review with it from the couch.

Most of the mini keyboards on the market are still quite large and have terrible ergonomics with some awful excuse for an integrated pointing device. The DiNovo Mini is different. The keyboard is small enough to keep with your remotes without anyone knowing you have an HTPC setup. I'm so tired of having a full size DiNovo Edge with a Gyration Remote Mouse taking up a ton of room. It's great for typing a lot on but there's no where to put it, and it's awkward using a real mouse on the couch or always holding your hands in the air and flicking around to use the Gyration.

The DiNovo has excellent backlighting that only has one flaw. It makes it too hard to see the blue function keys like the ' and " but you can see all the shifted keys easily. It turns on only the trackpad backlighting when using the mouse, probably to save power but you can light up the keyboard by tapping the large function or shift keys.

The buttons are all pretty small and the media (Play,Next,etc) are a little awkward compared to using them on a Harmony remote but it's nice to have everything on one pad and not have to pick up a remote or a keyboard or a mouse to do everything.

You can alt tab, use windows keys, launch media center and 3 programmable buttons.. There's even a CTRL+ALT+DEL FN key. Now that's planning.

One other minor issue is there is no scroll wheel for internet use. it would be nice if holding FN while using the mouse did a scroll, but it just turns the mouse into a up and down, kind of like scroll but you have to hold FN the whole time or keep moving the function switch (for mouse or Dpad) back and forth all the time.

I won't lie, it's just like using a AT&T Tilt or other landscape slider smartphone keyboard. Cramped, pecking or using thumbs and writing this review has gotten to be a pain.

But for opening up your media center files, even full WMP11 or iTunes interface, browsing the web, sending short IM's and emails, and most of what you do on an HTPC it's great.

I will still keep the larger Edge connected for gaming, but the gyration is going in the closet.

I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to use an HTPC in the living room, or actually uses their PS3 as a browser. It is not for desktop PC's at all, you will probably be better served with a much cheaper remote or something like the DiNovo Edge with it's media pad.

The bluetooth range is decent but not like Gyration's 100ft so it's not really a professional presentation tool, but could be used at short (15-20) feet distances reliably. It really does make a nice powerpoint tool since you can draw on slides and have full mouse and keyboard control in presentations while standing up. Just be careful about the range.

Thanks and hope this helps :)

4 out of 5 stars

Handy controller, but a little slow for games March 27, 2008
11 out of 14 found this review helpful

When I first pulled this product out of the box I wasn't so sure of it. The buttons looked small and close together. I thought that I was going to have problems typing with it. Luckily, that was not the case.

After a simple installation of the software, which also synch'd up with my G5 mouse, I was off and running. I am not a Media Center user. Most of my multimedia needs are met with Nero or various Adobe products. I must say though, with the ease of control of this device I may start using Media Center more. The diNovo Mini is very intuitive to any user who knows their way around a keyboard. Most of you typical buttons are where you would expect them.

I like the fact I can start Media Center with just a push of pre-programmed button. However, this button is also a gripe for me. When you are done with Media Center and you press the button again, I would have expected Media Center to close and XP to start up again. Instead the controller sent a shut down command to my PC. In order to close Media Center I had to use my mouse (minor annoyance).

The keyboard felt comfortable and is usable outside Media Center. I liked that I could relax in my chair type emails without being hunched over my desk.

The wireless connection works well. I used the USB transmitter they provided in order to get the best results. This worked fine while I was doing tasks like reading email. But for games I found the keyboard to be un-responsive at times. Several times I would have to hit the keypad more than once in order to get the keyboard to respond. And I know distance was not an issue because I was 3 feet away from the machine and had an unobstructed view of the transmitter.

All in all, this is a great little device. Especially for someone looking for a smaller alternative to a wireless keyboard.

4 out of 5 stars

Nice device, Does work with Mac March 21, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

As someone else said, this DOES work with Macs. I set it up last night on my MacBook Pro (10.5.2) as a bluetooth keyboard and everything seems to work. Key mappings need to be worked on, but the trackpad works very well.

3 out of 5 stars

Mixed feelings - works ok in Vista, not at all in Linux so far July 9, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

I have mixed feelings about this product, so I'll break it down into first impressions on what works and what doesn't.

Out of the box the product form factor is a LIKE. It fits nicely into my hand, the top flips up and the backlight automatically comes on in a pleasing amber colour. The keys are far enough apart that large fingers will have no problem pushing them without hitting keys next to them. The touchpad is comfortable with a rubbery grip. Ergonomically well designed.

The underside flap opens to reveal the USB 2 receiving device, the sync button, and the battery. This starts off as an UNLIKE. The receiving device does NOT work on a USB 1.1 port. It will only work on USB 2.0, so you will have to use this product on a newer computer, or one that you've added USB 2.0 to. This is not a huge deal, but I wanted to use this on an older computer that does not have USB 2.0, so it was a no-go there. According to the minimal instruction guide (UNLIKE), you can use built-in bluetooth on your computer if you have it - I don't, so was unable to test this.

Once I found a computer with native USB 2.0 (Vista laptop), I plugged in the included receiver and the computer saw it immediately. Installed the software on the included CD with no issues. The diNovo immediately connected and was able to manipulate the keyboard and the mouse with no issues. Immediate connection was a LIKE.

The keys then became a little "sticky" after use. UNLIKE. The key to start the Windows Media Centre worked fine, but then there was no way to easily close it without using the laptop keyboard. The mouse pad is nothing like a real mouse so you will have to be a little tolerant getting used to it, but it does function.

Now to the biggest UNLIKE for me. This product did not work with linux out of the box. I tried three flavours of linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva), and none of them recognized the Logitech USB 2.0 receiver device. They recognized an older USB 1.1 bluetooth device, but not the one included with the diNovo. My media pc in the living room is linux, so this was a no-go for me and the diNovo. I found numerous sites online referring to kernel mods/fixes to get it to see the device, but all of them mention that only the keyboard will work, not the pointer. That's a showstopper for me and this product.

Finally, this product will also work with your PS3. Under the back cover is a switch to change from PC connection to PS3 connection. I can only assume it will work, as I don't have a PS3 so you'll need to check other reviews to see if that feature will work for you.

Overall it gets a 50/50 from me. Works well with Vista with minor learning curve but immediate connectivity. Does not work with any of my Linux systems, which bothers me. This device should be OS agnostic.

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