RF Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad from SMK-Link

SMK-Link Wireless Keyboard

Despite the market flooding of headless servers, media servers and assorted devices to entertain you via your large, flat screen televisions… good wireless keyboards are few and far between. Here’s a new wireless keyboard from SMK-Link that provides a good balance between size and functionality.

First off, it’s diminutive. For some, perhaps too much so but at 5 x 4 inches it’s extremely portable. It uses two AA batteries (sadly, not rechargeable – but you can add your own). One battery goes into each side of the device to give it a more comfortable weighting when sitting on your lap.

Wireless is RF-based, which means it has an effective range of roughly 33 feet – far better than bluetooth in most cases. It uses a USB dongle to pair the device with your equipment. For most people, this should be a driverless and painless process. However, because of the lack of driver, you might not be able to use more advanced features that people have come to expect from their keyboards – such as one-button scripts and the ability to tap the touchpad to simulate a mouse click.

SMK-Link Keyboard closeup

Nevertheless, for a touchpad based, no-frills keyboard it has everything that most people need, including dedicated ‘joy-pad’ style buttons for media play, pause, fast-forward, rewind and page up & down. This allows you to use your thumbs to do most of the work.

It would have been nice if the keys lit up in the dark, considering that many people will be using this in their living rooms to watch videos. Otherwise, it’s a very clever little product at a good price.

Where to Buy:
Amazon USA

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Road Warrior

I travel the globe a great deal for work. My motto is "Travel Hard, Pack Light." I am constantly refining my travel gear to give me the lightest and most ultraportable footprint possible. Achieving a Zero Footprint is my ultimate goal and I approach it as would a Zen Master.

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