Work and phone with the Buffalo's Skype keyboard

The success of Skype gave manufacturers the go-ahead for an expansion of their products with some features made possible by this technology. One good example is the USB keyboard and Skype handset made by Buffalo, a North American subsidiary of the Japanese Melco group.

As its name suggest it is a standard 109 key keyboard that on the right side has a Skype phone integrated. The phone wire can be a little too short but if you do not plan to move away from the keyboard its length is acceptable.

Another thing that could get some time to get used is the position of the phone. Right handed people are used to control the mouse with the right hand so when talking on the phone if you need to use the mouse you should use the left and to hold the phone.

In this case however the cable may not be long enough to allow you a comfortable position to phone. So you hold the phone with you right and move the mouse on the left. Or you become ambidextrous.

Going back to the keyboard it uses the USB 2.0 standard to connect to the computer but is also backward compatible with USB 1.1. The keyboard has 13 programmable keys that allow the user to adjust volume or any other function that you may need and an external speaker. As for its size the keyboard is 498x205x28mm and weighs 855g.

The USB keyboard and Skype handset, named BKBU-SKJ109/SV by Buffalo, is already available and is priced at the equivalent of $59.