Logitech Craft With Dial Control Gives Extreme Multitasking Control To Creative Tasks
When the Logitech MX Mouse series debuted, hardcore multitasking enthusiasts unanimously praised its use of proprietary Flow software to seamlessly manage up to three computing rigs simultaneously with a single device. Although inarguably a remarkable achievement in streamlined juggling of congruent projects, the ingenious and ambitious accessories felt like a mere half of the unbalanced equation for an unprecedented multifaceted workstation to eclipse every nerdy wet dream this side of a water-cooled CPU kit.
After all, how much forward progress were we really making if we still had to leap hither and yon among three keyboards while constantly directing traffic with the mouse? The full-size wireless Logitech Craft Keyboard brings that daring vision into a less-cluttered balance by matching the MX Mouse’s overall skillfulness with a dazzlingly thoughtful design.
At last, you can slide back and forth from, say, rendering and editing video with one rig while perfecting overlay graphics on another and occasionally sliding over to a third when the next paragraph of your erotic Banjo-Kazooie fan fiction comes to you. Don’t worry about losing track of the Craft’s pairing, either. All the while, a trio of handy indicators will remind you just which computer your keyboard is currently serving. This nifty agility to swing from rig to rig is made possible by the user’s choice of either the Craft’s Bluetooth LE connectivity or combining the accompanying receiver with the Craft’s 2.4 GHz signal. Either connection offers a lengthy 33-foot range ideal for breaking any workspace’s flexible configuration options open as wide as you could possibly need them to be.
Although typically more durable, stable and responsive than their alternatives, mechanical keys are intrusively noisy. Instead, Logitech opted to employ whisper-quiet scissor switches that might lack the satisfying “clack-clack-clack” of fancier and pricier keyboards but provide a low-profile layout and an expected lifespan of 10 million to 30 million key presses. Every key presents a matte coating and recessed spherical contours that promote effortless, gliding keystrokes by naturally accommodating the shape of each fingertip. The Craft’s presentation also includes dual labels that appropriately outfit your keyboard for an equally user-friendly experience with Windows or Mac rigs. Meanwhile, dynamic backlighting optimizes both visibility and the Craft’s battery life by automatically brightening the keys only when a user’s hands hover over them and tailoring their brightness to suit the surrounding environment’s illumination. As soon as your fingers leave the keys, their lights switch off.
Finally, there’s that big black dial in the upper-left corner. Based on the Microsoft Surface’s own control, it’s a multipurpose interface that can simply manipulate sound volume or be adapted to manage granular control sliders and scales by either fluidly spinning or turning point-by-point to alter settings more precisely. Although users can also configure their own dial-based shortcuts for a variety of applications with limited customization options, please note that the Logitech Craft’s dial is currently officially compatible with only six apps, a combination of Microsoft Office’s Excel, Word and Powerpoint and the Adobe Creative Commons iterations of Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. The good news is, promised software updates should soon extend compatibility to numerous additional programs.
