[danmanx]

Highly intriguing! Didn't even know that this type of stickers were available. Hmm...interesting....

[soccer6x]

Originally Posted by danmanx

Highly intriguing! Didn't even know that this type of stickers were available. Hmm...interesting....

Anything can be found with GOOGLE /sorry I just had to.

[chicknlil]

I finally received notification that my stickers were being shipped (from Ireland). I'd guess that I'll have them within 2 weeks, so I'll update back at that point.

[chicknlil]

The stickers arrived today and I've been working on putting them on the keyboard.

Early impressions: There were no stickers for keys like Enter, Shift, Backspace, etc. I guess they figured users know where those keys are by default? A surprise, but not a deal breaker.

Because of the way the Mini 9 keyboard is laid out (I have the US, not US-Int'l keyboard), I've had to trim several stickers so that the alternate image is still visible.

I turned off the lights to see how they looked, and was immediately able to tell which keys had the stickers and which didn't (I'm still working on the home line due to the trimming). I'm not sure if they "glow" necessarily, but they do make the letters/numbers more visible.

Another plus: If you do a good job installing (using their applicator helps), it's hard to tell even close up that these are stickers on the keys. That was one thing I didn't like about the ones that were shown in the photographs on the first page: it was obvious there was a product on the keyboard.

I've attached two poor quality images from my (crappy) cell phone. One is off the stickers as they came out of the package, another is a closeup of the first few keys applied. If I can find my good camera, I'll try and take more (and better!) photos.

Anyways, for the TL : DR crowd...I'd recommend these stickers.

[smithwarren1201]

I also ordered some items from Latkey. Hope they are pretty decent and useful. I will be able to post my review hopefully soon. I'm so excited to receive my package.

[NCLivingBrit]

These are likely the same material as the non-tritium gunsight dots you can buy. They work like those glow-in-the-dark shirts by absorbing light from the room and using it to charge a (weak) flourescent material.

You might find they work best if you give them a quick charge with a good LED flashlight. I had a set of the chargeable dots on a handgun and they look crap from ambient room light, but burned like little green suns when I gave them a dose from a Surefire G2 (upgraded to 120 lumens). Actually if you have the screen ALMOST closed with a bright white background, that would serve for a quick charge, but not as well as the flashlight.

[Sbahk]

Any follow-up? Do these work well?

I'm particularly curious as to how they work when the mini is in a dark environment and "open wide" for an extended period of time (e.g., using it while lying in bed), rather than when it is either at a nearly 90-degree angle (so lots of display light hits the keyboard) or used right after having bright light shine on the keyboard.

Still wish there were a backlit keyboard.

[rrfranczak3]

I personally think that those stickers would look very cheesy...sooner or later they will start to peel on the corners and cheapen the look of the whole Mini.....wouldnt waste my money

[kuoh]

Having other laptops with backlit keyboards and often working in dim environments, my preference would be for function over form. Besides, the images don't look half bad. I'm just waiting for a better price before trying a set.

KuoH

Originally Posted by rrfranczak3

I personally think that those stickers would look very cheesy...

[Sbahk]

I got some of these (from http://www.myglowkeys.com/), and they do indeed help. They're a minor pain to install and not nearly as nice to use as a backlit keyboard, but they do, for me and my Dell Mini 10v, just barely eliminate the need to use an external light or temporarily tip the screen down to better illuminate the keyboard--they offer an effect that is at once very small but very significant.

My recommendation for the company, though would be two-fold: make all the letters on the stickers (1) white, rather than "day-glow" yellow, since the day-glow effect requires sunlight (the only white part on the stickers is the company logo on the space bar, and perversely that is the definitely easiest thing to see in dim light) and (2) boldfaced, or double bold, rather than normal/thin. Both of these especially apply to the fine punctuation marks which are still quite difficult to see when using only the wide-open LCD display for light.

Of course, keyboard manufacturers should really be the ones doing this. Probably cheaper to use ultra-white ink and bold-faced text than to make a backlit keyboard, and it may be good enough to be optimal (cost-wise) for netbooks.