First Look: The Phantom Lapboard

If you've followed the PC gaming scene for a while, you'll no doubt
remember the vaporous Phantom console. It promised to bring PC gaming
to the living room, but the only thing we were excited about was the
killer lap-friendly keyboard-and-mouse controller that they'd rigged
up--the Lapboard.

The
Lapboard is basically a keyboard that you place on your lap; then you
incline the top part of the keyboard (including the key surface) to
reveal a space underneath suitable for mousing. It's designed for use
anywhere you don't have access to the flat surfaces that are typically
required to play first-person shooters with a mouse and keyboard. When
we first gave it a test spin at E3 2004, we were much more excited by
the awesome potential of the controller than we were by the
underpowered "console."

We've spent a few days playing
multiplayer shooters using the Lapboard, and we can say that the
keyboard rocks. The tilting/pivoting design is comfortable to use
during extended gaming sessions, works fine on your lap, and is even OK
in its standard position on a desktop. With the board pivoted up,
there's plenty of room underneath for mouse movement, and the hard,
black surface is similar to a high-end mousepad. The board uses a
laptop keyboard similar to one you'd find on a high-end desktop
replacement notebook, with good key action and a standard keyboard
layout. When you're ready to flatten the board, push a button on the
side and it collapses back to a normal state.

Because the
keyboard rotates a full 360 degrees, it works the same for both right-
and left-handed mousers, and hands down destroys the typical wireless
gamepad for playing PC games on the couch--when paired with the right
mouse. Unfortunately, the mouse that Phantom ships with the Lapboard
leaves much to be desired. While a bit smaller than we prefer, it isn't
uncomfortable. The problem is worse than a lack of comfort; we
experienced signal dropouts at a distance of about 24 inches from the
sensor, not acceptable. The mouse and keyboard would both be working
fine, then the mouse would drop out while the keyboard continued to
operate. We tested several other wireless mice with the same
configuration, and had no problems with them. A wireless mouse that
drops connections is an unforgivable sin, in our eyes.

The
other thing that left us deeply concerned is the wimpy click on the
left mouse button. The left button didn't rebound sufficiently from a
click to make it easily clickable again, a problem which didn't occur
with the right mouse button. We think this is a manufacturing defect,
but it's definitely a concern.

So
where does that leave the Phantom? We're waiting on the drivers to do a
full review, but even without fancy drivers, the keyboard is extremely
promising. The mouse is another story though, even if it worked
perfectly, we'd still prefer a mouse with more buttons and adjustable
sensitivity. The Phantom Lapboard is scheduled to be available in June
for $130 in limited quantities. The Lapboard would be virtually
guaranteed a Kick Ass award if it were sold by itself, but the included
mouse will almost certainly bring down the final verdict.