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Written by [t0rc]
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Peripherals, especially the mouse and keyboard cannot be overlooked.
They can be modded, re-arranged, have different layouts, and look
pretty but without solid performance they are worth nothing and a
simple waste of space. Check out this review of another wireless set
from Okion, right here at The Moditory.
| Product: | Okion OfficeStyle Office Cordless Desktop Set | 
 | | Manufacturer: | Okion | | MSRP: | $82.99 USD | | Where to Buy: | Check Here for a Retailer | | Submitting Company: | Okion | | Features: | - 27MHz Carrier Frequency
- 256 of ID
- Working Distance of (Max)2.5 meters (Keyboard and mouse)
- Wireless
- Office functions
- Rechargable mouse
- Optical mouse
- 6 Keys mouse
- Scrolling wheel keyboard
- Multimedia keyboard
- Internet keyboard
- PS/2
- USB
- Scroll Wheel
| | Further Specifications: | - Keyboard Battery Life: over 300 hours on 2 AA
- Mouse Battery Life: Over 150 hours on 2 AA
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*Specifications found at the Okion OfficeStyleâ„¢ Office Cordless Desktop Set page.
We once again have a Okion product on our test bench, so here is some base info, a statement from their website, about Okion.
"With
unflinching commitment to quality product, our mobile computing
peripheral and consumer electronics products are designed and
manufactured by people who love innovation. Our Research and
developoment center with a team of senior technicians engaging in
product development and design of product exterior. With unlimited
creativities and ideas, they create innovative and value-added mobile
computing solutions for day to day life. Our extensive product line and
solutions enable consumers and businesses worldwide to enjoy computing
confortably without boundry limitation."
"With offices in London, Hong Kong, and San Fransico; OKION is targeting:
"To continue as a highly respected mobile computing solution company
To become a leader in the IT hardware industry
To always be a creative and dynamic company." "
"Our central philosophy is to put the customer at the heart of our
business. We aim to provide our customers the best quality mobile
computing peripheral and consumer electronics products and solutions at
a reasonable price. With any product from OKION, you can be certain
that you will receive full customer and technical support at all times.
This philosophy permeates everything we do, from product design and
development through sales, distribution, environmental preservation and
cultural support activities."
You can find these statements and more about Okion at their Company page.
The Okion OfficeStyleâ„¢ Office Cordless Desktop Set came courtesy of
our favorite and frequent visitor, Mr. Brown Box. It was packed with
the other keyboard we recently reviewed; the contents were properly
secured and packaged, resulting in no shipping damages whatsoever.
Inside the box we found the mouse, keyboard, dock/receiver, 4 AA
batteries (2 rechargeable for the mouse), drivers CD, and an AC Adapter
which allows you to charge the mouse without having your PC powered up.
The whole set looks fairly modern with it's implementation of rounded
corners, smooth curves, and an off/dirty-silver and black color scheme.
It would look a bit better if it was a true silver instead of the off
tone, but nontheless it's not an eyesore.. You can see the dock which
connects to both PS/2 ports and the AC Adapter. By using the AC adapter
the mouse is able to be recharged whether your PC is on or not, a
welcome addition. The scroll wheel on the mouse glows red when it's
charging.
Unfortunately when using this dock it flashes as you type or stays a
solid color when you move the mouse; an extreme annoyance, especially
if you're on the PC in the evening with minimal/no lighting and there
is a flashing light in your field of vision. With the keyboard, comes a
wrist rest, which this time around is beneficial to use. As is plainly
visible, there are many hot-keys on this keyboard. The top set of
hot-keys allow for launching of applications such as MS Word, Excel,
Outlook, and PowerPoint, along with the calculator and some internet
functions such as Favorites, Home, Forward, Back, Stop, and Refresh.
There's also the multimedia keys that control your media player such as
Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track, etc., and volume (up, down,
mute). I found them to be very useful. There are even more hot-keys
when using the alternate "F" function. The top row of keys (F1, F2,
etc., etc.) gain a different individual function when you hit the
function mode key. This was useful in some cases, but it got slightly
confusing until I realized that the light color on the dock corresponds
to which mode your in. If the light is green, you are in normal mode,
and if it is a peach/orange color the keyboard is in the function mode.
The left side hot-keys are perhaps the more useful ones. They include
more common functions such as Copy, Cut, Paste, Close Current Window,
and a few others. With 31 hot-keys, not counting the function mode
hot-keys, this keyboard is an application launching hub.
When typing the keyboard is quite quiet; not silent, but very quiet.
It's shape is inviting and the overall layout is well done. In the top
left region of the keyboard there is also a scroll wheel, making it
very easy to navigate documents and websites without taking your hands
from the keyboard; indeed a handy feature. Near the scroll wheel is
another good item to have on a wireless keyboard, a battery charge
warning light. I did find one thing that I disliked about the keyboard.
When you're inserting the batteries, they seem to be possessed in the
fact that they jump out of their place at any chance they get. I'd get
the batteries in, reach for the cover, and they'd come flying out. This
is a minor nuisance. I went ahead and dropped the keyboard onto my desk
and the result was one of the prongs (the side that only has one prong
on it) that held the battery cover on, broke. It snapped off and I feel
that it's a combination of the prong being too thin and under extra
stress from the batteries trying to escape. For this reason alone, I
wouldn't recommend it to any gamer who thinks they may slam the
keyboard down. Of course this keyboard is made with the office in mind,
hence the name, but if the keyboard is knocked off a desk or wherever
it's perched and the prong/tab breaks, you're short a keyboard and
gluing the minute yet mandatory prong on is easier said than done.
Either the battery enclosure needs to be re-designed to keep the
batteries from trying to force their way out or the prongs on the cover
need to be thickened or there should be more of them. If both of these
issues were fixed, the set's score would undoubtedly increase
significantly.
The mouse is a battleground for the heavily-weighted fight of
Aesthetics vs. Functionality. In short, the mouse looks great but can't
function in a gaming environment; office use, as is it's primary
purpose, is not affected.
A very attractive design, the mouse makes good use of black and silver.
The mouse has six buttons, 5 which are customizable. You have a button
on each side, which allows for you to use either hand on the mouse. The
left and right click buttons, the middle mouse button (press scroll
wheel), and then the small button you see behind the mouse scroll
wheel. This button is not customizable. It's sole function is to bring
up a quick launch menu in Windows. This quick launch menu is helpful
and when your using windows does help. I found this button to be not
only unecessary, as the keyboard has hotkeys that do nearly everything
on the menu that is brought up, but also hard to click without moving
your whole hand back on the mouse. The suggested charge time for the
first charge is 12 hours, which you can do while you use the computer
if you just plug the dock into a wall outlet and put the mouse in the
dock. When not in use, the mouse will shut off to the extent that in
order to "wake it up" you have to click with one of the mouse buttons.
This feature is great because if the mouse falls off the dock, or gets
bumped, it won't waste battery life. With 800 DPI, this mouse is in the
middle range of sensitivity. It's more than enough for office use and
for some gaming but not an extreme gamer who craves the highest degree
of DPI possible. The issue with games is that the mouse 3, mouse 4, and
mouse 5 buttons register as the same button when assigning them in a
game. When I ran through a few rounds of Onslaught in UT2K4, I was
trying to get into a vehicle it would jump in and out real quick. This
successfully disables three buttons in the gaming arena. However, when
functioning in windows, the buttons do not have this issue.
Even though the bottom of the mouse suggests use at home and in the
office, I wouldn't recommend this in either situation if it involves
gaming.
In summation, the Okion OfficeStyleâ„¢ Office Cordless Desktop Set is a
very good office keyboard, providing both functionality and a modern
look for almost any office. With that said, it's not a gaming set by
any stretch of the imagination. In either environment, the flashing
dock light, the battery cover, and enclosure issues need to be dealt
with before this keyboard warrants any award past a low silver and a
78% rating.
Thanks to Okion for sponsoring this review.
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