Wooting One Keyboard?

Just saw this over at Tech Report.  Looks like the mechanical keyboard sphere in general is starting to move beyond digital key presses.  Last year, Topre demoed a pressure sensitive Topre switch that can function like an analog device.  Looks like Wooting is building a mechanical switch with the same concept.

The keyboard itself is a standard ten keyless (TKL) design with fairly understated and not overly flashy design, but checked all the right boxes such as RGB LED lighting, interchangeable top plate, Cherry MX compatible key caps, etc....  Upon first glance, this seems to be a bit run of the mill.  However, the keyword or phrase that I found is “not just a red switch”.  It does sound like a reimaged Cherry MX red switch from the infographics Wooting presented thus far.  Wooting probably came up with a novel way to measure distances, using strain gauge perhaps.  Now, a linear switch for analog device makes perfect sense since there’s no need to indicate an on/off point.  Another interesting thing about this is the software support.  Now, analog device and control is likely a bit more complicated than a typical mechanical on/off switch like almost all of the mechanical keyboard switch and devices.

So, I think the software is going to make or break this device, like Topre’s pressure sensitive version.  The host computer will probably be doing most of the heavy lifting while the keyboard just function as a multi-channel DAC for the switches.  I could be wrong tho as the detail is fairly thin at this point.  Because its mostly software driven, I won’t be too surprised that this will come with some fancy remapping, macro features somewhere down the road.  Another application is obviously gaming where some graded input is a plus, such as speed or directional control.  Again, this is where the software magic is supposed to take place.  Wooting wisely chose the open source route.  So, I am kind of excited to see what the open source community can come up with.

Now, I don’t know if the analog function is present in all the keys or just a few select keys such as WASD and the arrow keys, but let’s see what Wooting and the software team brings to the table.  This may put some pressure on Topre to really come with something cool to do with their pressure sensitive switch as well.  Exciting times.

Steelseries introduce yet another gaming oriented mechanical keyboard

A few days ago, Steelseries, a well-known European brand that focuses almost exclusively on the PC gaming peripherals announced a new mechanical keyboard targeting at the ever popular PC gaming demographic.  Again, this is probably another mechanical keyboard announcement, but when one start to string a few of them together, perhaps some patterns might emerge that’s worth taking a closer look.

The Apex M800 checks all the right boxes, just as many of their competitors have.  In my previous blog, I speculated that some vendors may start to change the layout or come up with a better key cap design.  Yeah, Steelseries enlarged the space bar and comes up with a cool tilt profile.  Yet interestingly, Steelseries went a little bit further still by making a new switch and deviated further away from the traditional Cherry MX design than say Metadot did.  They took many of the great Cherry design concepts and works with a big Cherry MX cloner, Kailh.  The result is a relatively new switch design named QS1.  From some reports, the keyboard switch functions and feels almost like the Cherry MX Red, yet the chiclet like key cap design, shorter profile, the smaller travel distance and a centered LED position makes it more like the Romer-G than a Cherry MX.  Moving away from the industry standard MX key cap is a gutsy move as there is a rather large aftermarket MX key cap demand.  Perhaps Steelseries saw that it didn’t really affected Logitech or any other keyboard makers much.  So, why not take this opportunity to fix lighting issues that plagued the MX design?  After all, Steelseries’ core clients are gamers and good LED lighting seems to be important enough.

There’s a larger pattern still I think that’s worth looking at, the trend away from Cherry MX hegemony.  Cherry MX has been the industry standard, but the new blood is thirsting for the throne.  Some keyboard manufacturers took baby steps away by changing some switch characteristics to cater a specific crowd.  However, rarely does one swims out of lane, dumps the cherished Cherry history and market a new switch design that is incompatible with Cherry MX.  Now, I can understand Logitech doing so with Romer-G because they can.  They are Godzilla in this space and Godzilla will do what it wants, whether Cherry like it or not.  On the other hand, we are beginning to see some closer collaboration with Cherry MX cloners such as Kailh from some long time clients such as Metadot.  I think that’s much more troublesome for Cherry.  Maybe those timed exclusive deals with Corsair are coming back to haunt Cherry.  Now, I don’t think Cherry is going to go out of business anytime soon.  In fact, I think it’s going to remain the dominant force for a good few years if not more.  On the other hand, I don’t think Cherry can keep the crown by sitting around and not innovating anymore because these external pressure points.  If Cherry doesn’t, companies like Kailh, Gateron or other will gladly step in.  I view this as good news because it foster improvement, new designs and creativity.  Indeed it’s going to be fun time observing in this market arena.  Let’s see where this trend takes us.

No joke, another day, another gaming keyboard announced. Make that two…

About a week or so ago, Asus, one of the biggest Taiwanese PC related manufacturer just announced a new gaming keyboard that is part of the Republic of Gamer line.  Right after, Razer, another big gamer’s brand based in Taiwan as well, also announced a refresh of their gaming mechanical keyboards line.  As one might have guessed, the mechanical gaming keyboard market is getting really crowded.  Just about everybody has at least one or two offering by now.  Upon closer examination, Asus and Razer each took a different approach to differentiate their products from the rest of the group.

Let’s take a look at Asus’ first.  Upon a quick glance, Asus’s offering really is nothing new, but iteration of what we have in the market.  Asus emphasizes a better microcontroller, better macro capability, clever software control and perhaps more colors.  What’s striking is likely the look since there’s isn’t much one can do beyond the standard Cherry MX RGB switches.  Asus went with fancy CNC aluminum face plates and accents.  Maybe their internal research shows that the look is what is going to help them stand out.  Maybe, maybe not.  I tend to think that the gamer is busy looking at the screen and rather than looking at the keyboard.  So, maybe the rainbow color pulsating across the keyboard and crazy blinking light pattern is a distraction tactics for the opponents of some sort.  Then again, I am going to assume that the opponents are online and nowhere near by or they are also too busy to pay attention.  One of these days, I will have to get educated on this.  Maybe it really is all about the looks for the spectators.  In that case, Asus proves again to be the genius and not me.

On the other hand, Razer, long have declared independence from Cherry by going with Kailh shows another path to stand out.  Instead, they chose to compete against Cherry MX switches by reiterating a “better” switch.  Building on the established Cherry MX technology, Razer worked with Kailh to make optimized switches for gamers.  They have one that is kind of like MX blue and another like MX brown.  They colored them green (after Razer’s logo color) and orange respectively.  Instead of RGB lighting and fancy looks, Razer shifts the emphasis toward faster reaction time and thus implying better performance.  No wonder Razer is one of the premier gaming peripheral brands.  Now, if I am a gamer, that’s what I want to hear whether such claim is true or not.  I don’t know if human fingers can reliably take advantage of sub millimeter differences in key presses, no one knows for certain without a good study.  Then again, any edge is welcomed in a competition I suppose. If travel distance is the only metric, then scissor switches should be the best possible gaming keyboard switches.  Well…

In any case, both Logitech and Metadot seem to combine both approaches hoping to make their product stand out even more in this increasingly crowded space.  As I noted in another blog, a lot of the keyboard makers are now moving upstream and compete in the high price bracket and leaving the lower tiers to smaller keyboard makers.  I am beginning to wonder if an attrition will begin shortly if the market doesn't continue to expand.  However, I don't know where attrition may begin if it does.  I believe the lower end will give us the first clue to the tilt and leaning of the market.  The forecast is that while PC sales will continue to contract because of a longer life cycle, the PC gaming side of things is booming.  So, I am hoping that this is the incoming high tide that will float all boasts higher because I can't wait to see what innovations come along the benefit everyone.  Maybe some new improvement comes later are better key cap designs and more ergonomic keyboard layout, for example....

Microsoft Sculpted Natural keyboard Impression, part 3

The Sculpted Natural Keyboard is the spiritual successor of the popular ergonomic Natural Keyboard line.  Microsoft has scored a homerun when the first iteration was introduced back in 90s.  Now, after so many revisions, different interfaces, layout experiment, we are now here at this juncture.  Even though this is not a mechanical keyboard, I am a fan of the Natural Keyboard family line, I can’t stay away and not trying it out.

Love them or hate them, this keyboard sports the ever present Chiclet style key caps with a scissor switch mechanism.  Therefore, one can easily guess its personality just by knowing this bit of data.  However, the wrinkle in this game is that Microsoft has reshaped the keyboard plane in the image Natural Keyboard.  It features the split hands partition, the tenting, the curvature and a built-in palm rest.  It really is a new interpretation of the Natural Keyboard line and no one will question its heritage.  As a nod to the TKL (ten keyless) design, the number pad is now a separate entity.  One could easily mistaken the pad as a calculator, however.  Therefore the user can now center the keyboard without having to worry about being off center.  Oh, one more thing, did I mention that this is an all wireless setup?  Microsoft has emulated Logitech’s clever nano-receiver design and incorporated it into the product.

Upon first impression and after using it for a while, this is still a chiclet keyboard, albeit a quality one.  So, I think if someone likes Chiclet style keyboards, one should seriously consider this one especially if he or she is looking for an ergonomic type.  Anyway, I want to like the keyboard, but I am getting some wireless transmission type issue when I am using the keyboard in a desktop environment, but no so in a laptop setup.  So, I will investigate further and will keep you posted.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Clip art image by http://downloadclipart.org/

To my friends and dear readers all over the world who celebrate the lunar new year, happy new year.  It's a wonderful time to mark the end of winter, spend time with family, being thankful and look forward to spring.  It's also a time of well deserved rest.  If you do any business in Asia, you know exactly what I mean.  So, enjoy and send me some red envelopes.  :)  Happy New Year and many blessings.

More Topre switch silence keyboard coming to North America

Aside from Mechanical Keybords' (MKBC) Topre Realforce with silent switches offering from Ducky Channel, looks like Elitekeyboards.com (EK) is joining the fun as well.  Perhaps silent Topre switches are the rage these days.   EK is a well known Topre Realforce dealer in the US.  So, this isn't a shop that just setup overnight.  Anyway, EK is carrying the Realforce 104U (XF01TS) and 104UB (XF11TS) with variable key weights outfitted with silent Topre  switches.  So, the main differences between Ducky Channel's and these are mainly color scheme patterns and uniform weights or variable weight kind  Theses are all full 104 ANSI layout, BTW.

So, if you fancy a Topre Realforce with silent switches, you now have many choices now.  If you want one with variable weights, then EK got you covered with two different color schemes.  If you prefer one with uniform weights, then MKBC has Ducky Channel's Realforce with 30g or 45g key wieghts.  So, it's a great time for Topre switch fans with deep pockets, especially if you like those hard to find silent ones.

Logitech introduces G810 Orion Spectrum mechanical gaming keyboard

Another day, another gaming keyboard announcement.  However, like Metadot's announcement that was covered previously, this one is a little different and deserve some attention.  Having the launched the G910 Orion Spark and its TKL version, G410 Altas Spectrum, Logitech or Logi (I think they went back to Logitech for the time being and then will phase to Logi entirely) cuts down some of the more gamer centered look, feel and pivots the keyboard appeal toward mainstream and perhaps have the no-nonsense and the minimalist crowd to take another look.  The result: G810 Orion Spectrum.  It retains many of the gamer centric aspects such as Romer-G key switches, macro keys, custom RGB key lighting and neat media controls buttons and volume level roller.  It is now available for pre-order, priced at around $160 USD.

However, one key aspects of the G910 was discarded in favor of a more traditional design, the key caps.  The word on the street is that while gamers love the radical 3 walled edge key cap design, the more traditional typist can't stand them.  Logitech is wise enough to offer key cap replacement for those who wants the classical cylindrical key caps.  However, one will have to pay $39 or so for the privilege.  The default G810 key caps are the cylindrical key caps rather than the one found on G910 or G410.  It removed the built-in palm rest and smart phone holder in favor of a more traditional layout and feel.  G810 also took out the dedicated macro keys and pressed the function keys into double duty.  So, Logitech trimmed down the look without removing what makes the G810 interesting and compelling to gamers.

So, two major, established vendors in the mechanical keyboard space go in somewhat opposite directions.  While Metadot is going all in with the gamer's market with Division Zero product line, Logitech seems to be thinking about expanding the market to the more traditional arena using technologies that are borrowed from the gamer's side.  G810 perhaps Logi represents dipping its toes in the water while not hurting the mainstream consumer/business K line of products.  Let's see if Logitech will go all in here by introducing a K labeled keyboard targeting business and consumers with Romer-G switch.  Now, the thing would have come full circle.  :)