Week in Keyboards #40

Thanks for the continued support. I appreciate all those who continue to read these.

Two things came out of nowhere this past week which were things I thought I’d never see.

HHKB Professional BT

The first one. I’m sure this hasn’t flown under the radar at all, but if you didn’t know, there is finally an official bluetooth HHKB. Ripster’s yearly keyboard predictions have always included the hope for a HHKB 3 and I’m not sure if this counts but, it is close.

Nearly everything seems good with this latest HHKB iteration. The only complaint I can think of is the bluetooth addition has ruined the aesthetic of the keyboard. I have always thought of the HHKB as meticulously designed and a very aesthetically pleasing product. As you can see from the images, the bluetooth addition culminates in a protruding monstrosity to put the batteries.

Important Information:

3 Months Battery Life with battery saving on. 1 to 1.5 with battery saving off (allegedly, but probably not a lie)

2 AA Batteries

Cross platform support (Mac & Windows but I would imagine you could get it to work on anything linux)

Any colour if it’s black

Available to Pre-order releasing 22nd of April

¥29,700 - £192 - $274

Differences from The Pro 2:

Uses a Micro USB on the keyboard for when bluetooth is not in use

Additional rubber bumpers beside the feet

Logo says “HHKB Professional BT”

Buying one is going to require living in Japan or a proxy.

The other option is hasu’s bt controller. The advantage with this controller is that it is not going to portrude from your HHKB. However, you will get significantly less battery life.

The Textblade

The second thing I thought I’d never see. The Textblade has been a keyboard in production for a long time. The short brief is that it is a small keyboard designed to be portable but retain some nice typing feeling. It has been notorious for not being shipped to those who pre-ordered it but at least some people are getting theirs. I am not entirely sure if this is a wide release or they are just being released to testers.

Typing Video:

I wouldn’t quite buy one of these just yet as I really want to know a bit more about how it is to type on.

More Specialeemade Sleeves

These seem to be some very nice hand made sleeves. I don’t have one myself but I think they look awesome.

Prices:

Fabric 60% sleeves with no vinyl - USD$25 + Shipping

Vinyl 40%, 60%, 65%, TKL pre-made sleeves - USD$30 + Shipping

Custom orders - USD$35 + Shipping

Specialeemade Web Store