What Is The CharaChorder And Why Is It Banned From Typing Competitions?

But, What Is It?

Keyboards have matured over the years, from the oddly shaped ergonomic designs of the ’90s and ’00s to the plethora of models sporting a wide variety of mechanical and optical switches that have come to rule the market over the past handful of years.  The basic design has not really changed over the decades though, a keyboard of today would be recognizable to a typist from 100 years ago.  There have been a few new keyboard layouts and a few new keys but overall you are still just bashing keys.

The CharaChorder, on the other hand, is a totally different beast that bears no resemblance to any other keyboard, and apparently it is quite effectively designed as the CEO posted a 500 WPM score to a website that offers typing challenges, and was flagged for cheating.  TechPowerUp saw it in action and when they dictated their name and affiliations the CharaChoder rep easily kept up at over 200 WPM. 

It is hard to conceive just how it works from just the short video and cheat sheet on the website, but it does seem that with a bit of practice you will be able to type ‘at the speed of thought’.  The design is ambidextrous and there are also chording techniques which offer over 17 billion combinations, in concert with the optional software which extends the capabilities of the CharaCorder.   You can preorder a dev kit for $100, or preorder the actual finished product for $250, well within the price range of other high end keyboards.