A review in three parts

Part 1: Technology

Pros:

• The F1 to F12 keys are the default functions of the top row; the extra functions such as volume control are accessed using the Fn key.
• All special-function keys send standard keycodes and work as intended in Linux.
• The keyboard has large arrow keys, even in the German keyboard layout.
• The backlight can be adjusted to two brightness levels using Fn+Tab.
• After approximately 14 seconds of inactivity, the backlight switches off.
• A Micro-USB cable for the charging dock is included.
• There is an on/off switch on the underside.
• A small, separate USB dongle is provided for the wireless connection.
• The touchpad gestures: In Linux (Fedora 20 in my case), the gestures produce useful keyboard events; some already have sensible mappings, while others still need a little work:
  • Two-finger scrolling in all four directions: Button 4, 5, 6, and 7 events, as with other four-way mouse scroll wheels
  • Two-finger zoom: Button 4 or 5 events, but with a different state (0x814 and 0x1014 instead of 0x810 and 0x1010; this corresponds exactly to normal two-finger scrolling up/down while holding the Control_L key)
  • Three-finger swipe up: left Windows key (also known as Super_L)
  • Three-finger swipe down: Super_L+d key combination
  • Three-finger swipe right or left: Button 8 and 9 events, corresponding to the thumb buttons found on some mice; in Firefox, these enable navigating back and forward through previously visited pages by default.
  • Four-finger swipe down: Super_L+M
  • Four-finger swipe up: Super_L+Shift+M
  • Four-finger swipes right and left are not available here.
  • Swipe in from the top: Control_L+Super_L+XF86TouchpadOff (XF86TouchpadOff corresponds to 0x2c3 or keycode 201)
  • Swipe in from the right: Alt_L+Super_L+XF86TouchpadOff
  • Swipe in from the left: Control_L+Super_L+Backspace
  • A swipe in from the bottom is not a gesture; the bottom one and a half centimetres correspond to the right and left mouse buttons. They are not physically clickable, but are specially marked touch areas.
  • Tapping with two or three fingers without moving produces a right-click or middle-click, respectively.
  • Tapping, releasing, then tapping and holding works like on many touchpads: it holds down the left mouse button for drag-and-drop or selecting text. The same works pleasantly when the thumb is used to touch the left mouse-button area.

Cons:

• The touchpad is acceptable, but not good. Like many touchpads, it is inaccurate for very small movements or does not respond at all, so it is not suitable for pixel-perfect work.
• Wireless charging produces a faint whine, similar to that of some phone chargers (try putting your ear very close to one). If the room is otherwise quiet or relatively quiet, it is genuinely annoying, especially because the pitch constantly changes. You can always charge it when you are not in the room, though.
• Looking at the keyboard obliquely from the front, you can see an annoying bright line beneath every key.
• Sometimes, when pressing the Enter key with the little finger, you touch the touchpad and trigger an unintended click.
• There is no separate charging socket on the keyboard; the charging dock is the only way to charge it.
• Two USB ports are required, one for the wireless module and one for charging the keyboard.

Part 2: Typing feel

I will wait another week or two before making my final assessment, until I have become fully accustomed to the keyboard. Normal touch typing already works very well and quickly, even at this early stage. However, the arrangement of the Shift and up-arrow keys on this keyboard is exactly the reverse of that on my laptop keyboard, so instead of a colon I initially accidentally type a period on the line above. I think this should improve after a certain adjustment period. I also usually fail to use the special characters on the top row because the right Shift key is unusually short.

Part 3: Suitability for programming

.. will also become clear over the next few weeks. For an initial test, I will count the typos in the following lines:

int* main(char[] argv, int argn) {
println(argv[1]);
}

3 typos, two of them caused by the Shift key.

∎

Comments