5.0

Celluon Magic Cube
Project Keyboard with Multi-Touch Mouse

The future is almost here... and Celluon have created a rather impressive device called the Magic Cube which creates a projection keyboard and multi-touch mouse via a laser system. The device feels like it is straight out of science fiction like something from the film Minority Report which projects this invisible keyboard on your desk. It also comes in four colours that include red (reviewed), black, white & silver.

The device itself is tiny and measures at 7.4mm x 2.6mm x 3.6mm and is almost non-existence in weight. To connect it to your Bluetooth enabled device, you simply just search for the keyboard on your Smart Device (e.g. iPhone) and then type in a number on the keyboard (e.g. 5123) which will then pair your device.

Any typing that you do on the keyboard will then be produced on your Smart Device. The device is charged via your USB connection and it comes with a 700mAH lithium-polymer battery. Once you connected, you are then ready to use the wireless laser projected keyboard.

The Celluon Magic Cube vs. the traditional keyboard.

Unfortunately for now, a traditional keyboard is far superior than the Celluon Magic Cube. The accuracy is unfortunately just not there and there is some lag between the cube and your Smart Device. Does it work? Yes, the keyboard does work but unfortunately you cannot get the same speeds as a normal keyboard or even the touch screen of something like an iPad. 

The developers state the detection rate is 350 characters per minute which it may very well be but unfortunately it needs the accuracy of a traditional keyboard. One thing that we did notice that through practice, our typing speeds and accuracy did improve but overall, a traditional keyboard still wins out.

Another issue with the keyboard is that I had problems with the pairing on my iPhone and every now and then I had to turn off the Magic Cube and then re-pair it on my iPhone. This problem seemed to vanish after 5 or so times. However when working, the projected laser keyboard looked damn cool on the desktop. The keyboard also worked better at nights and one sunny day in our office, it was a little hard to use. You can also increase and decrease the brightness of the keyboard as well. 

How do you know when you're typing?

Sound! Even though this frustrated some of my colleagues, the keyboard does make a beeping noise when typing to let you know when you are pushing a key. This can be turned down or disabled if need to be.

Final Thoughts?

It does take some time getting use to the faux keyboard but overall, this technology seems a little unrefined at the moment. On a PC, the virtual mouse was actually quite good but unfortunately the keyboard itself was an issue.  It's a wonderful piece of technology but at the moment, it definitely needs some tweaking and the price is quite expensive as well. This is definitely the future however!