Logitech’s latest keyboard, The Craft, adds a smart knob called The Crown

Smart knobs have a short and not very illustrious history, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t
cool. That, at least, appears to be the thinking at Logitech, which has just added a smart
knob (or dial if you’d rather) to its newest wireless keyboard. The Crown, they call it — and
the keyboard it sits on is The Craft. Well, they don’t capitalize it that way, but I do.

Now, to be honest, comparisons to Microsoft’s Surface Dial aren’t really warranted. That one
 is context-sensitive based on where you place it as well as what app you’re in. It’s meant
 to turn the Surface Studio into a sort of cyborg creation engine as you wield the pen in one
 hand and dial in the other.Basically the Crown lets you control a variety of settings or
 interface elements depending on the app: Zoom in Photoshop, exposure compensation in
Lightroom, column in Excel, and so on. We’ve seen things like this here and there, and
Logitech’s is a respectable specimen: understated in design and compatible with major app
s out of the box.

The Crown is more like someone wrote a script that mapped the volume dial on a keyboard
to identify as a human interface device input when you open certain apps. Not exactly
groundbreaking, but if you’re buying a wireless keyboard, why not get one with a sweet knob?

The Craft and the Crown, which sounds like a bar that’s too expensive for me to drink at,
will cost $199 when it hits stores in October.