Optimus Popularis gets first prototype view
updated 05:00 pm EDT, Fri May 30, 2008
Optimus Popularis Proto
Art Lebedev Studio's founder on Friday revealed an early 3D prototype of his Optimus Popularis keyboard that sheds new light on the device. Despite saying that the keyboard won't use the OLED displays of the Maximus, Lebedev's rendering confirms that the keyboard will still have at least some keys whose symbols will change based on the relevant app. The design is already known to be smaller than the Maximus and support both Mac OS X and Windows systems.
Launch information is still distant for the Popularis outside of its intended sub-$1,000 price tag, though the apparently more limited feature set could push the keyboard below the $462 price of the Russian company's current keyboard.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
$462 is misleading
That is the minimal Optimus Maximus keyboard configuration with only a few keys with OLED displays and the rest are "normal". It is well over $1000 (around $1500 last I looked) for the full all keys light up version.
If this is a "real" keyboard in the photo I'd say that all the keys on it are display based. Or at least the alpha numeric ones. They look like the Optimus Maximus keys ...