Regardless of what you use as the main operating system on your smart TV, you likely have a problem: an on-screen keyboard experience that sucks. Fortunately, Logitech might have a fix.
One of the more frustrating parts about using a smart TV — any smart TV — is how they’ve built the system to handle typing in things on the on-screen keyboard.
QWERTY keyboards are great to use physically, but not always easy to adapt to on a TV screen, especially when the way to use that screen is often a clunky remote that forces you to navigate to each letter using a directional pad or a weird motion controlled gesture. Some smart TV platforms get it a little better, like how Apple TVs let you use a nearby iPhone or iPad to type things in directly, but it’s not like that for everyone.
Face it: using a keyboard on a TV is often a clunky experience that we try to force ourselves through as quickly as possible.
But it doesn’t have to be.
It doesn’t have to be an awkward expletive-laden experience, and can be just like using your laptop or desktop with a real keyboard, and that happens by using a real keyboard.
Logitech has this week released one such example, with a Bluetooth keyboard made for smart TVs, offering a portable form-factor, battery operation, and the same QWERTY keyboard we’ve all grown accustomed to using, plus a touchpad and directional pad if the main remote isn’t close at hand.
It’s called the Logitech K600 TV Keyboard, and we’re told that it should world with quite a few smart TVs out there, specifically those that have Bluetooth for accessories from the likes of Samsung, Sony, LG, Philips, and more, plus a few other operating systems. Logitech has a compatibility guide just in case you’re keen to check whether yours will work.
There’s also up to one year of battery life and a 15 metre wireless range, so you can keep on controlling the TV (kinda) when you’re not even in the room. A crazy way to mess with the kids, it seems.
Logitech’s K600 TV Keyboard sees release later this month at just under $100.
