LG has announced an innovative new physical keyboard that fits in your pocket.
The appropriately named LG Rolly starts out life as a small stick that can fit inside a bag or pocket, but unfurls to reveal a full-size keyboard for tablets and smartphones.
What’s more, when it’s unfolded, the LG Rolly’s 17mm key pitch is almost on a par with the 18mm of most normal desktop keyboards. Yes, these are physical keys rather than those disconcertingly vague silicone examples found in many tablet keyboards.
In keeping with the LG Rolly’s intended purpose, it comes with two fold-out arms for propping up a tablet or smartphone.
There’s also a neat auto-pairing function that kicks off whenever you unfold the Rolly. This will allow it to quickly connect to up to two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth 3.0. You can then switch between the two devices (a phone and a tablet, say) with the press of a dedicated button on the keyboard.
The LG Rolly is powered by a single AAA battery, which LG says should last up to three months of average use.
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“The goal was to create a product that could add more value to LG smartphones and tablets at the same time offering a unique design proposition that hadn’t been explored before,” says LG’s Seo Young-jae.
LG will be showing off its neat fold-out keyboard at IFA 2015, which kicks off next Friday. It will be made available in the US from September, followed by “key markets” in Europe, Latin America and Asia during the fourth quarter. Pricing details will be revealed locally at the time of launch.
Find out what we thought of the LG G4 in our vide review:
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
