The Tech Report took a look at a prototype device which seems completely nonsensical at first glance, but by the end of the review may just capture your interest. The Aimpad R5 analogue keyboard uses Cherry MX mechanical switches just the same as you would find in most mechanical keyboards but it also has something unique under the keycaps, an IR LED and sensor. This means that the travel distance of your keypress can be measured and used as input, similar to a joystick or gamepad. This seemingly useless feature is quickly shown to be useful in their first game test, DayZ. A light press on the W key moves you forward at a walking pace, pressing slightly harder changes that to a run and bottoming the key out switches you to sprint; no other keypresses required. This can also be useful if flying, in a game such as ARMA which emulates control surfaces properly or in games like Battlefield which offer a more arcade like flying experience. Check out the full reivew to see what you think of the idea.
"Aimpad offered us a first look at the analog input technology it hopes will become commonplace in future mechanical keyboards. We've spent a lot of hands-on time with its analog secret sauce, and we're ready to say whether this technology is something every keyboard should have."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- G.Skill Ripjaws KM780 RGB Keyboard @ techPowerUp
- Roccat Skeltr Smart RGB Gaming Keyboard @ Kitguru
- Tt eSPORTS Ventus R Gaming Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews
- Tt eSports Black FP Gaming Mouse @ Kitguru
Would love to see a
Would love to see a full-fledged consumer mechanical keyboard with this feature built-in in the near future!
Maybe backspace too?
…changing character deletion speed when you are pressing harder?
Would be cool!
I wonder what the price will
I wonder what the price will be. First generation products like this usually have very high early adopter prices.
The Wooting One optical
The Wooting One optical keyboard with analogue input ships in Feb 2017 for €159.99. https://wooting.nl
While driverless is nice for something like a mouse, software really is needed here for the user to get the best customizations in terms of emulation. Furthermore it would be nice for a standard to be developed that games can directly ibteract with rather than emulating controllers.
Finaly!
This is the only one
Finaly!
This is the only one thing i missed while playing with mouse and keybord. I hope other brands will jump on this train.