The first (supposed) ‘out in the open’ shot of the Optimus Maximus. Some have claimed it’s a mock-up or a render, I’m not so convinced this time. Aside from the christmas-tree colour scheme, it looks like the real deal. For those of you who aren’t in the know, or who’ve been busy with other things for the past six and a half years, the Optimus Maximus is a $1,600 OLED keyboard.

I also managed to grab a few ‘in action’ shots of the keyboard. Take a look yourself…

Notice the difference? Capital letters and a arrow-keypad in shot number one, and then lower-case letters and a numberpad in the second shot. You just hit the shift button and the letters… Well. Shift. In realtime. Same applies to num-lock, caps-lock, etc. The fancy thing with such dynamic design, is that potentially, the keyboard could support any number of languages, key settings. I could (at the touch of a button) turn my keyboard into a photoshop colour palet. Change my English (UK) layout to an American layout. Maybe even just hotswap to Chinese for a quick moment whilst I sort out an office feud. Truly versatile, and the possibilities are incredible.

These new photos though, whilst not much to look at in themselves, are enough to make the majority of us drewl. If not, take a look at this glossy, high-res shot. Tomorrow, expect a product review and (w00t!) a special coupon code. No, not for the optimus, but for a good ol’ ______. Stay tuned!