Just when you thought you were safe from IoT on your keyboard Das Keyboard has come out with the 5Q, a smart keyboard that can send you notifications and change colors based on the app you’re using.
These kinds of keyboards aren’t particularly new – you can find gaming keyboards that light up all the colors of the rainbow. But the 5Q is almost completely programmable and you can connect to the automation services IFTTT or Zapier. This means you can do things like blink the Space Bar red when someone passes your Nest camera or blink the Tab key white when the outdoor temperature falls below 40 degrees.
You can also make a key blink when someone Tweets which could be helpful or frustrating:
The $249 keyboard is delightfully rugged and the switches – called Gamma Zulu and made by Das Keyboard – are nicely clicky but not too loud. The keys have a bit of softness to them at the half-way point so if you’re used to Cherry-style keyboards you might notice a difference here. That said the keys are rated for 100 million actuations, far more than any competing switch. The RGB LEDs in each key, as you can see below, are very bright and visible but when the keys lights are all off the keyboard is completely unreadable. This, depending on your desire to be Case from Neuromancer, is a feature or a bug. There is also a media control knob in the top right corner that brings up the Q app when pressed.
The entire package is nicely designed but the 5Q begs the question: do you really need a keyboard that can notify you when you get a new email? The Mac version of the software is also a bit buggy right now but they are updating it constantly and I was able to install it and run it without issue. Weird things sometimes happen, however. For example currently my Escape and F1 keys are now blinking red and I don’t know how to turn them off.
That said, Das Keyboard makes great keyboards. They’re my absolute favorite in terms of form factor and key quality and if you need a keyboard that can notify you when a cryptocurrency goes above a certain point or your Tesla stock is about to tank, look no further than the 5Q. It’s a keyboard for hackers by hackers and, as you can see below, the color transitions are truly mesmerizing.
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