CES 2010: Asus Eee Keyboard hands-on photos

Devices with integrated touchscreens have been a pretty big deal at CES this year - just ask Samsung.

The Eee Keyboard was unveiled as a concept at CES last year and it was all very exciting - a home entertainment PC within a keyboard you say? This year it's been unveiled as a veritable product that we will hopefully be seeing on the shelves as soon as February.



The Eee keyboard is essentially a good looking keyboard on the outside, complete with a 5-inch touchscreen and a PC on the inside. It can be used as a stand alone unit for browsing the web and for undertaking other simple tasks - you can even enjoy watching video on it thanks to its built in speakers. We had a quick visit to YouTube and are happy to report the screen responded well and was easy to use, although you will need to make of the stylus for more intricate touchscreen activity (especially if you have chunky digits). Alternatively, the Eee keyboard can be used in conjunction with another device. For example, you can hook it up to your TV to stream movies and enjoy 720p content on your HDTV.



It's specs haven't changed much and still sound rather netbook-esque - running Windows XP on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU (upgraded from Atom 450 in concept model), 1GB RAM and a choice of either a 16 or 32GB SSD. There's also WiFi with Ultrawideband HDMI connectivity (for both audio and HD video) as well as Bluetooth 2.0. You'll find a familiar set of video, audio and USB ports around the back too. And at 1kg, it's nice and portable.



So, it's had a few cosmetic and specification changes but overall the concept has remained the same. And with a battery life of up to 4 hours, there's plenty to get out of this interactive little keyboard.



It's fair to say the Eee Keyboard is a very niche product. Something tells us it'll be the early adopters and gadget enthusiasts who'll be first to snap this clever keyboard up in Feb. However, considering how long Asus' wonder-keyboard has been 'in production', we're taking the February release date with a pinch of salt.

[by Lucy Hedges]