Today for review I’ve got another keyboard from Koribo called the Leira. It’s a wireless keyboard that features a laptop style touchpad and a full set of multi-media keys. It’s made to be used with an HTPC, but you can use it for your desktop computer of course, but with an HTPC is where it shines surely. With the Leira you’ve got full control of your computer from a distance and quick access to all of the multi-media functions right at your fingertips.

The packaging is nice, there’s pictures of the features on the back.

Inside the box was just the keyboard, batteries and wireless USB receiver.

The keyboard itself features a touchpad like you would find on a laptop on the right side. There are mouse keys below it just like a touchpad.  The Leira is plastic of course, most everything is these days, but it feels solidly made and it’s fairly lightweight.

Above the keyboard you’ll find keys for Media Center, Close, Home, My TV, My Video, My Picture, My Music and Live TV.

On the left side of the keyboard you’ll find two more mouse buttons, scroll wheel and multi-media controls.

The back has four rubber feet, the battery cover and indentations for your legs I would think.

Specifications:

Koribo – Leira

This cutting edge RF 2.4GHz wireless keyboard is one of the best HTPC control boards in the market today.
Leira is equipped with a “state of the art” touch-pad that allows multi-touch capabilities for easier control of mouse buttons. It allows an amazing operating range of 10m/30ft no matter where the receiver is placed – no line of sight is required!
Easily use it on the table/desk with the non-skid rubber pads or enjoy handheld operation and effortless typing. Leira allows you to breeze through your emails and favorite web pages.
And last but not least, Leira is capable of controlling your media center application with all the right buttons and hot keys for a single click access – no need to look for the button on the screen, one click and you’re done!
For those of you who seek a single wireless control board with multi-touch-pad mouse – Leira is your best option!

Technical Details:

Working Range: 10 meter effective working range including transmission through walls – 15m / 50ft in open space.
Batteries: Requires 2 x AA batteries for approx. 3 months use.
-Sleep feature extends battery life.
-Low battery light indicator.

Media Center and Other Hot Keys:
Media Center Launch, Close, WWW, My TV, My Video, My Picture, My Music, Live TV, Channel Up, Channel Down, Volume Up, Volume Down, Mute, Pre-Track, Next-Track (Skip), Play, Record, Pause, Stop, Fast Forward (FWD), Fast Backward.

Mouse:
Multi-touch Touchpad, 400 DPI – same as in most laptops.
Cursor control at your finger tips:
* Tap 1 finger: Left button click
* Tap 2 fingers: Middle button click (great for scrolling pages, just like with Mac)
* Tap 3 fingers: Right button click

Also, two sets of built-in mouse and scroll keys on both sides.

Supported OS:
Built-in Media Center hot key for use with Vista Media Center and Windows 7 Media Center. Supports Windows 2000 and later. Other operating systems may be supported as well as HID (Human Interface Device).
Linux (except for Windows hot keys).

Technology:
2.4 GHz radio frequency, 4 Channels with 16 bits, 65536 IDs per channel.
10,000,000 cycles per key with less than 10msec bounce time.

No issue with installation at all, just plug it in and Windows recognized it and installed the drivers automatically.

The keyboard is configured like most others but the shift keys are much smaller than I’m accustomed to. The key presses are short and sort of springy. The space bar isn’t as sensitive as I’d like it to be, I’m accustomed to clicky style keyboards myself.

I used the Leira with my HTPC as it’s designed for and I enjoyed it. The touchpad works fine for controlling the cursor, it’s just like using a laptop really. Personally I don’t care for touchpads, but one this type of keyboard I don’t mind them as much. I think it’s because I always hit the touchpad on a laptop with my hands. Here of course the touchpad is off to the side and out of the way so it works well. I found the second set of mouse keys on the left side works the best while holding the keyboard. navigate with the touchpad and them with your other hand you click the buttons, and then the scroll wheel is right below those buttons.  The touchpad also has a scroll on the left side of it as well, just slide your finger and you’ll scroll. The touchpad is simple to use and it’s very accurate with no skips or jumps.

The multimedia cluster of buttons is great really, they’re all right there for you while you’re watching movies or listening to music.

The range on the Leira is fine for my uses, I easily controlled my HTPC from across the room, just sit on the couch and control the computer. Works great.

Actually typing on the keyboard does take a lot to get accustomed to though, I like mine up at a higher angle and the Leira is a bit low for my tastes.

For gaming it’s not bad, there doesn’t seem to be much lag, or at least that I noticed really.

Conclusion:
I think the Leira is a decent HTPC keyboard myself, it’s got pretty much everything one would want in one anyway.   The touchpad works very well, it’s accurate and quick.

It’s full size so it won’t take much getting accustomed to except for the keys like the shift ones are just too small for my tastes. The keys also have short key presses and some might not care for that. The angle is also too low for my tastes.

Pros:
+Touchpad works very well
+Great HTPC keyboard overall
+Nice bunch of multimedia keys
+Nicely made

Cons:
-Small shift keys
-Short key presses
-Low angle

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance

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