The Dinovo Mini from Logitech joins a growing number of compact keyboards designed to free users from the constraints of a remote control when using a home theatre PC.

It is also compatible with the Sony PlayStation 3. The keyboard connects to the chosen device via Bluetooth. Logitech includes a custom USB Bluetooth dongle in the box, which aids instant connection to avoid the irritating scanning and pairing procedure.

Once the responsiveness of the touchpad has been tweaked and the shortcut key settings via the supplied Setpoint software have been customised, then it is all go. The keyboard offers a full qwerty layout and dedicated media keys, such as volume, play/pause, and track skip.

We had a few problems with usability that threaten to undermine the otherwise effective design. The touchpad is too small to operate comfortably and the circular clickpad can hardly be described as touch sensitive, since it requires a firm press to activate single or double clicks.

The Dinovo Mini has a good dose of style and is well built, but it is not as nice to use as we had hoped.

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