Product Reviews

The problem with 'ergonomic' keyboards has always been that their odd designs forced you to relearn the way you type. With its Cordless Desktop Wave, Logitech aims to change all that.

The beauty of the design is that the Wave doesn't look particularly different from a regular keyboard at first glance. It's not split in the middle, like Microsoft's ergonomic keyboards, and there's just a gentle 'smile' to it rather than a seriously wacky shape. Look closely, though, and you can see that the keys undulate across the board like a wave, hence the name.

This isn't just for effect, as the heights of the keys have been carefully designed for the different lengths of your fingers. Each key is also a unique size and shape. It's all the result of three years of design work, and they haven't been wasting their time. We were surprised just how comfortable the keyboard was to type on. The keys seemed to fall under our fingers in exactly the right places.

The Wave has feet underneath that can hold the keyboard at two

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different preset heights. However, Logitech recommends that the keyboard is placed flat on the desk. We weren't sure about this, as we've always found flat keyboards uncomfortable to use. Again, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we did prefer the keyboard lying down. It was more comfortable for our wrists wresting on the padded support, and made it easier for our fingers to reach the keys. With plenty of travel and feedback, we found it incredibly comfortable to type on.

As you'd expect from a modern keyboard, there's the usual range of shortcut keys to launch your browser and email applications and control playback functions. Logitech's software also provides an onscreen display that tells you what key you've just pushed. Pressing the volume control buttons pops up a bar so you can quickly see how loud your sound is. There are also Vista-specific keys to launch Media Center and to use the pretty, but not entirely useful, Flip 3D feature.

Logitech bundles a wireless mouse, which runs off two AAA batteries, like the keyboard. Unlike the keyboard, it's rather basic and ordinary, with four buttons and a scroll wheel. You'd probably want to consider this a freebie and upgrade to a better mouse later on.

The Wave is expensive for a keyboard, but we think it's worth the money. It is, without a doubt, the most comfortable keyboard we've typed on, and the first ergonomic keyboard that we've actually liked. If you do a lot of typing, it's a worthwhile investment that will let you use your PC more comfortably. Of course, it would be advisable to try it yourself before buying, if you can.