Logitech MX Keys Mini Review: Compact, Versatile and Seamless

April 4, 2022

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Logitech MX Keys Mini Review: Compact, Versatile and Seamless

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Logitech’s MX Keys keyboard is a solid offering, aimed primarily at creators as it lets you connect multiple devices to the same keyboard and even copy files across them. The newly launched MX Keys Mini brings all of those features in a compact form factor so that it’s small enough to fit in a backpack. Logitech’s MX Keys Mini also gets some new features that the older MX Keys doesn’t have, making it more appealing to younger audiences. While it is a unique device, it might be a bit overpriced for some, andit’s not perfect, as I discovered after using it for a few weeks.

Logitech MX Keys Mini price in India and contents

I received two units of the Logitech MX Keys Mini for review. The Rose finish is a light shade of pink and in my opinion, looks less flashy than the image on Logitech’s website, which is a good thing. The Graphite version looks just like the regular MX Keys keyboard, with a grey body and black keys. This Bluetooth keyboard is also available in Pale Gray (which has a silver body with white keys). The box includes the keyboard, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable for charging, and user documentation. At a sticker price of Rs. 12,995, I would have liked Logitech to have provided a sturdy, hard carrying case with it.

Logitech MX Keys Mini design

The Logitech MX Keys Mini keyboard looks similar to the older MX Keys keyboard, except for its smaller size and lower weight of 504g. It’s solid enough to stay in place while typing. Logitech also claims that parts of the MX Keys Mini are made using environmentally friendly material such as post-consumer recycled plastic, which is not the case with the regular MX Keys.

There are proximity sensors in the keyboard so the keys light up when your fingers approach them

The keycaps on the MX Keys Mini are concave, just like the regular MX Keys, which makes them comfortable to type on. The depression in each keycap makes the larger keys easier to identify. There are proximity sensors so the keys light up when your fingers approach them, which is a nice touch and helps prolong battery life.

Key labels should ideally be legible in all types of lighting conditions, but the backlight interfered with this, in my experience. When using the MX Keys Mini with more than 100 lux of lighting, such as outdoors in the daytime, the backlight brightness is supposed to adjust itself. However, it only turned off a few times during the entire review period in such conditions. While it’s clear that the system works, it just does not react quickly enough or in a timely manner, which means that the backlight stays on most of the time that your fingers are on the keyboard. Thankfully, there are manual controls, and I could adjust the brightness manually, with seven steps available.

It’s hard to read the characters on the Rose version’s keys in the daytime when the backlight is switched on

I work during the day and have a window near my desk, so, a decent amount of ambient light hits my work table. This turned out to be a problem for the keyboard’s sensors, and the backlight never turned off. It was not an issue with the Graphite version (which has black keys) but the greyish labels were hard to read on the pink keycaps due to low contrast. What made things worse was that the keyboard did not remember my previous brightness setting; it defaulted to medium every time I switched it on. Using the Rose version of the MX Keys Mini became annoying, as I had to go through a ritual of manually turning down the brightness every time I switched it on, just to be able to see the letters on the keycaps during the day.

Logitech MX Keys Mini performance

The scissor switches that the Logitech MX Keys Mini use are the same as on the larger MX Keys Bluetooth keyboard. The keys have good travel and produce a satisfying clicking sound when pressed, which isn’t too loud or distracting while typing. Very little force is needed to register key presses, no matter which part of the key you hit. The top of the keyboard’s frame is made of metal, while the bottom is plastic. There’s no flex when you press down on the keys.

The keyboard’s backlighting intensity does not change as intended

The compact form factor means that navigation keys, (Page Up, Page Down), editing keys, and a numeric keypad are missing. However, there are three new function keys, which came in handy. The Dictation key enables ‘talk-to-text’ in any selected text field. Having paired this keyboard with a MacBook Pro, things seemed to work seamlessly after setting the necessary permissions, and this was useful when I felt too lazy to type. The Emoji key offered a quick way to select emoji using the directional keys.

The third new key is a Mute key, which mutes and unmutes your system’s mic. The Screenshot key is a handy one-button solution, especially on Mac, as capturing a screenshot typically needs a three-button combination. The keyboard lets you switch between three devices by pressing the F1, F2 or F3 keys. The Easy Switch feature worked seamlessly between my MacBook Pro, a Windows laptop, and an iPhone. Longtime Logitech users will be familiar with Flow and this feature also makes it to the MX Keys Mini. It basically lets you copy and paste files between devices (Windows and macOS), provided you have the Logi Options app installed on each of them.

The new emoji, dictation and mic mute keys worked as intended and are quite useful

Since I own a Logitech MX Master 3 mouse, I already had the Logi Options app installed on my system. Setup was quick and easy using the Bluetooth pairing process via the Settings app on macOS. Indeed, there are a lot of customisation options available. You can assign an app to the F4-F12, Ins, and Del keys so it can be launched with a single press. However, you do lose the preassigned functionality of that particular key.

You can also bind different apps to open when you’re already running a particular program. For instance, you can program the F4 key in such a way that it opens the calculator app if you’re using Microsoft Excel and Twitter when you’re in Safari. Key combinations or macros cannot be assigned though, which would have been ideal for creators. There is also a battery status indicator in the app’s main menu but I would have preferred to know the exact percentage remaining instead of just having three notches to show the rough level.

The back of the keyboard is made of plastic

The Logitech MX Keys Mini can be charged via the USB Type-C port, but it takes a long time to charge when it’s completely drained. It took me about three hours to charge the keyboard using a 30W smartphone charger. Thankfully, the keyboard is functional when it’s charging. As for battery life, this mainly depends on how much you use the backlight. I managed over ten days on a single charge with the backlight on (8–10 hrs of use per day), and Logitech claims that the MX Keys Mini can last up to five months on one charge with the backlight switched off.

Verdict

The Logitech MX Keys Mini is a unique piece of kit. It is expensive, given that there are numerous Bluetooth keyboard options available online, from Logitech and other established brands. The three new keys on the MX Keys Mini are useful but they aren’t necessary.

The keyboard’s device-switching feature works well if you constantly need to use multiple devices side by side. The Flow feature makes a lot of sense for creators who often find themselves juggling between multiple systems on different platforms. Simply pressing Command + C to copy and Control + V to paste between macOS and Windows machines can be life-changing.

For most users, the MX Keys Mini will seem overpriced. There are enough options from Logitech that offer the basic functionality of a Bluetooth keyboard with the Easy Switch capability at much lower prices. The MX Keys Mini is mainly for those who need a compact travel keyboard that can be used across OS platforms, and those who would like a high level of customisation.

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