When we covered Tokyo-based Minebea’s so-called COOL LEAF keyboard in March last year, we said that Minebea was “considering” to commercialize the beautiful flat input device at some point in the future. Fast forward 13 months, and we have a press release (in English) in which the company says the keyboard will actually be rolled out in Japan on May 13.
The COOL LEAF is an entirely flat mirror-like touch panel, comes with 108 keys (Japanese) and can be connected to Windows machines via USB. Minebea says that a layout version for English, German, French, and Italian is to follow in July (and a Mac version “soon”).
The device is sized at 383×128×17mm and weighs 620g.
Minebea plans to sell the COOL LEAF for around $245. Ask online stores like the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U if you’d like to import one.
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
