An rgbFilter Review: Playstation 3’s Wireless Keypad

It’s no secret that communicating via text chat during online play is an integral part of gaming, and that the hunt & peck method of text inputting is a massive pain in the ass. You COULD use a USB keyboard, but playing online with a full-sized QWERTY on your lap the whole time is impractical, at best. Microsoft recognized the need for a text input device back in May ’07 and gave us the 360 Chatpad, effectively solving all our online chatting needs. Never one to admit its been outdone, Sony has now followed suit with the Playstation 3 Wireless Keypad, and, while it does offer up a few new options that the Chatpad doesn’t, Sony’s answer to the TID dilemma is an offering so clumsy and awkward that the idea of keeping a cheap wireless keyboard handy isn’t such a bad one after all.

DESIGN

Unlike the 360’s Chatpad which sits below the button layout and is powered by the controller, the PS3WKP features a clip-on design that has the keypad floating above the controls. The keypad also has its own power supply, and does not draw its power from the controller. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view; the good is that your playtime will significantly increase between charges, but the bad is that you will find yourself running out of charge ports on your PS3 very quickly. I personally have 2 controllers, a Wireless USB keyboard, and the Keypad, and whichever controller I’m not using stays plugged in to the USB charger, meaning I have at least one device at all times that’s not getting charged. It’s quickly becoming edivent that the PS3’s 2 USB ports are not going to be sufficient and anyone interested in picking up accessories like the WKP will also likely want to invest in a multi-charger like this one.

The power problem is, however, the least of the WKP’s design flaws. While the WKP looks very slick, it becomes very quickly apparent that the up-top placement of the keypad is a huge mistake. In the case of the 360 Chatpad, the keys rest below the button layout and between the handgrips, or in other words, where your thumbs naturally rest. Texting on the Chatpad is very comfortable and intuitive, and you can keep a firm grip on the controller at all times. Not so with the WKP. Because it rests north of where your index fingers naturally rest, the pressure from your thumbs hitting the keys combined with the awkward angle at which you have to hit them makes holding the controller and typing a virtually impossible, and you’ll find yourself constantly letting go of the controller and traveling your hands up to hold on to the WKP instead. IF I were to do a simple 1-to-1 comparative sum up, I would say that the 360 chatpad makes ergonomic and practical sense, and the PS3WKP does the exact opposite of that.

This might not have been an issue had he designers chosen a slightly larger button with a slightly softer “push” to it, but, inexplicably, the WKP features tiny rounded shiny plastic buttons that take a good deal more pressure to activate than they should. The poor positioning of the “F” and “J” bump marks also means that it is near-impossible to operate the WKP blind, and you spend most of your time in a Mr. Burns-like-hunch tracking down your next key. This, of course, depends on your typing expertise, but I would guess that even the most seasoned typist would have trouble getting used to this device.

ALONE IN THE DARK

For those not in the know, the PS3 Six-Axis and Dual Shock 3 controllers are black, and the WKP has been designed to match. The device features a matte black finish, with shiny black plastic keys that offer up such glare that it’s very difficult sometime to read the gray letters printed on them. The option keys are dark blue or dark orange, which, combined with the tiny tiny size, makes for a very frustrating experience when trying to track down alt mode keys. Considering all this, I find it confounding that Sony would opt NOT to have the device be backlit. By contrast, the 360 Chatpad is a medium matte gray with light gray letters on keys over twice the size of the WKP’s, and even with their high visibility they would be completely unreadable in any med-to-low-light playing conditions had Microsoft not chosen to make them backlit. The omission on Sony’s part can’t be considered anything but a design flaw.

A COUPLE OF PERKS

Like I mentioned, there are a couple of interesting things the WKP brings to the table. For one, the keypad doubles as a trackpad. Press the centre button in the keypad console and suddenly the entire keypad works as a capacitive glidepoint touchpad similar to what you’d find on your laptop, allowing you to navigate the Playstation dashboard without using the gamepad’s analog sticks or D-pad. It works fairly well, but since the keypad is designed to be clamped to the controller, the actual practical use for such a feature remains to be seen. The device also features direct link buttons to your friends list and your message box, making sending and receiving mail significantly easier. By comparison, the 360 Chatpad’s only direct button is to MSN Messenger.

ROUNDUP

Generally, when inputting text during a game or chat session, having the Playstation Wireless Keypad will be more convenient than having nothing at all, but it is far from the easy-to-use, reliable, intuitive add-on that the 360 Chatpad is. Casual gamers will appreciate the relative benefits it has to offer, but Über-gamers will quickly become frustrated with its tiny keyboard, awkward ergonomics, and lack of backlighting. At $50, it’s just not worth the headaches it’s sure to cause, and it certainly doesn’t offer decent value for your dollar. If you’re in the market for a device that you can rely on long-term, ditch this and pick up the Logitech Wireless Mediaboard instead.

.