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Showing 1 of 1 conversations about:
Rymek Retro Bluetooth/USB Mechanical Keyboard
By
KnewKey
keybers
194
Dec 28, 2018
This is extremely interesting, but there are a number of questions that need to be asked, and most probably a need to wait for a next iteration of the product based on these questions and existing drawbacks.
An existing drawback: Bluetooth v. 3.0. Needs to have at least 4.0 for better power consumption.
Questions:
1) Is the case easily disassembled, and is the battery relatively easily replaceable? Is this a 18650 perchance, so that one could replace the battery once the one the keeb ships with dies?
2) Why is Cherry Brown not available for the InDemand perks on Indiegogo?
3) Is the stent that holds the phone/tablet made of stainless steel or aluminum? Conflicting information in the Indiegogo campaign text and the pictures.
Most importantly (for me), different languages. I'm not that experienced with Bluetooth keyboards (that is, I have zero experience with them), and while I DON'T need a keyboard that has a physically different layout or different-language letters on the keys, I do need the keeb to not limit my phone/tablet typing to just English. I use a US-bought Macbook Pro with a US-layout keyboard to type several other languages (a couple of Cyrillic-based ones, Hebrew, and German), and I don't even use letter stickers, because I can do blind typing. However, I'm not sure that with a phone or a tablet OS, the typing options won't be limited to the one enforced by the keyboard.
I would also love to see it be under 33 cm long (so under the width dimension of a 13-inch MBP). The rightmost vertical row of buttons needs to go. "Home", "End", "PgUp" and "PgDown" buttons are eminently superfluous (Cmd + up and down arrows for "Home" and "End", and I totally don't understand why anyone would need PgUp and PgDown; my MBP doesn't have them and I can't imagine what one would use them for; but anyway, "fn"+arrows deals with that). And the remaining "fn" and "on switch" could be dealt with in a different fashion. A difference in portability would totally overweigh any (highly questionable) usefulness of these rightmost buttons. Why does one need right "cmd" and "shift" keys? Disposing of them would make place for "fn" to the right of the space bar or to the right of the arrow set (which would move to the left). And what it is that one is supposed to switch on/off with the right topmost switch if you use your cool analog turning knob for on/off? Seriously, if all of the above is addressed, then, if it's 33 cm wide, I'd buy it in a heartbeat (for $179 with shipping included, as currently on Indiegogo :) ). With 36, I would seriously vacillate because many use cases for BT keebs really hinge on portability, so if it doesn't fit where my MBP fits sideways, given that your keeb is 1.3 kg, at some point I ask myself why don't I just carry my MBP if I need to do some serious typing. Because if I use my phone for that, aside from the screen size considerations, this additional function of using my phone as a typing machine means more battery drain—because I use it for more things, and because BT needs to be on—so I really also _need_ to carry a powerbank. So it's 1300g for your keyboard PLUS, say, 300g for a powerbank, and then we are REALLY approaching the weight of an MBP and going ABOVE an MBP in terms of at least one dimension. See, when you think about product design you need to not only look at your direct competitors, the keyboards, but also at what other device configurations your potential users could go for once you spring some limits here and there (size; weight; power usage, etc.).
I hope that you are successful with your first production run and ironing out any quirks that may arise. And that you then can work with Massdrop to offer your product with the above changes/clarificactions (and options for Cherry brown for those of us who don't want to clack away at the expense of the sanity of people surrounding us).
(Edited)
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