Keyboards designed for use with home theatre computers, such as Media Center PCs, are certainly nothing new - but the Trust Thinity caught our attention with its slimline design.

It's an attractive piece of kit, with a charcoal-grey chassis and low-profile keys. Measuring just 122mm tall, 305mm wide and 10mm deep, it's a truly portable wireless keyboard that will sit quite happily on a small coffee table. What's more, the inclusion of a touchpad to the right-hand side of the keyboard means there's no need for a separate mouse.

The Thinity is powered by a built-in (and non-removable) lithium ion cell. Trust supplies a small charging cradle, which the keyboard slots into vertically. A small power switch on the right-hand side of the keyboard allows you to save battery power when the device is not in use. An auto power-saving feature kicks in after prolonged periods of inactivity, so forgetting to switch it off won't completely drain the battery.

Connection to the PC is made using 2.4GHz wireless, with a small USB receiver included in the pack. There's no need to install any software: simply plug in the USB receiver, and you're away. And as well as connecting to a PC, the Thinity is equally adept at providing keyboard functionality to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games consoles.

As you might expect given its size, the Thinity isn't the easiest keyboard to type on. With very little space between its low-profile keys, you need a very precise touch when typing. During testing, we found the limited travel in the keys meant a light typing style was required.

The space bar has some issues as well - most notably that it's a little shorter than average. This meant we frequently pressed the Alt Gr button to its right by accident. It's also too easy to bash your thumb against the bottom edge of the keyboard when pressing the space bar. Or any other key on the bottom row, for that matter.

What's more, Trust has seen fit to slap a Fn key where you'd usually expect to find the left-hand Ctrl key, which takes a bit of getting used to. The Fn key does perform a useful function, though, and when pressed it lights up a series of LEDs above the F1 to F10 keys, providing each of them with a secondary function. Press the Fn key a second time, and these lights go out, returning the function keys to their original state.

The touchpad is small, but just about usable, and supports two-fingered scrolling. The left and right buttons sit just above the touchpad, which makes them a little awkward to use. Placing them underneath, as on most laptops, would have been a better option. Volume controls, including a mute button, are also located just above the touchpad.

Perhaps the Thinity's biggest drawback is its price. At just under £50 it's an expensive piece of kit, and you're really paying a premium for its compact design.

Verdict
As Media Center keyboards go, the Trust Thinity is a decent effort. Its compact design means that sacrifices have had to be made in terms of usability, but it's fine for bashing in the odd email, browsing your media library or sending instant messages. We'd like to see it a bit cheaper, though - and those troublesome Fn and Ctrl keys could do with being swapped around.

Company: Trust

Contact: 0845 609 0036

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