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After several postponements, one of the promising gadgets set to come this year, the first version of Optimus mini three keyboard from Art Lebedev design studio was cancelled and instead of it the company said it would release a more mature version later during the year.
Last week Art Lebedev studio changed the “first lot” availability date for its Optimus mini three keypad for 15th of August. Even earlier it was reported that the company changed the shipment date for its Optimus mini three keypad from the 15th of May to the 15th of June, 2006 due to the fact that the product was in such a high demand that the first batch was due to go to those, who had pre-ordered it via the firm’s online store. But at this time it was said that the first version of the keypad would not be produced and different availability dates had been set.
“New timeframes were set for all countries. Worldwide launch is scheduled in mid-August, whereas Russian and CIS releases are scheduled in early September. The version 1.0 will be manufactured,” said Artemy Lebedev, the head of design studio.
Optimus mini three keyboard is a pad with three keys each of which incorporates 20mm x 20mm small OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) screens with 96x96 pixels resolution that can display different information, depending on the application. The main advantage the Optimus mini three has is that it can be reprogrammed to perform certain actions depending on the launched software using special configuration utility and reflect the changes in the actions to be performed on the OLED screens.
Art Lebedev studio is also developing a full-sized Optimus keyboard with OLED keys. The full-sized one also features keys with embedded small display that can be reprogrammed. The design studio is looking forward to laying their “hands on a sample before year-end” even despite of the Optimus mini three delay, according to the web-site of the studio.
Currently Art Lebedev is taking pre-orders on the Optimus mini three for $120 per unit, but starting from August 1, the product will cost $160 per unit.
