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Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

sonderdesign.com

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Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#221

Post by SonderDesign »

jacobolus wrote: post #138
SonderDesign wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, appreciate the feedback; I'm one of the engineers working on the project at Sonder. Our CEO actually has a Model M and an Apple Extended Keyboard II as reference designs in the office; they're probably the pinnacle of good keyboard design and construction however the product you're asking for (a mech switch display keyboard) already exists and it costs $1500. The reality is, that approach is not optimised for mas…

Neither the Model M nor the AEK II is a “pinnacle” of anything. The best keyboards were made earlier, in the 1970s. By the mid-1980s when the Model M debuted, or the early–mid 1990s of the AEK II, keyboards were already started along their downward cost-and-quality-cutting slide, albeit not yet to the final rubber dome ditch of the late 1990s through 2000s. If you can, try to find an Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116) o…

Thanks for the comment, you're very right; but these two were mass production units that still preserved much of what the earlier units great. We have a few earlier Apple alps kbs you mentioned, but I'll shoot the Model F to our slack channel.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#222

Post by SonderDesign »

jacobolus wrote: post #138
SonderDesign wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, appreciate the feedback; I'm one of the engineers working on the project at Sonder. Our CEO actually has a Model M and an Apple Extended Keyboard II as reference designs in the office; they're probably the pinnacle of good keyboard design and construction however the product you're asking for (a mech switch display keyboard) already exists and it costs $1500. The reality is, that approach is not optimised for mas…

Neither the Model M nor the AEK II is a “pinnacle” of anything. The best keyboards were made earlier, in the 1970s. By the mid-1980s when the Model M debuted, or the early–mid 1990s of the AEK II, keyboards were already started along their downward cost-and-quality-cutting slide, albeit not yet to the final rubber dome ditch of the late 1990s through 2000s. If you can, try to find an Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116) o…

Thanks for the comment, you're very right; but these two were mass production units that still preserved much of what the earlier units great. We have a few earlier Apple alps kbs you mentioned, but I'll shoot the Model F to our slack channel.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#223

Post by brokenmachine »

riprowan wrote: post #192
blisse wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely it's hard to remember keys. Trying to remember hotkeys when I switch between Visual Studio, Android Studio, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign is actually quite annoying. More so with Photoshop and InDesign. Anyways it's still nice to have.

But how will the Sonder keyboard help you to remember hotkeys? Maybe I'm missing something. I can understand how it can show me that option-shift-2 is the Euro symbol but how can it show me that command-G is "Paste Only MIDI Notes"?

I don't even see how it will show you that option-shift-2 is the Euro symbol. You'd have to already be holding down option-shift for it to show up, wouldn't you?

So you'd have to already know most of the shortcut.

This product seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#224

Post by SonderDesign »

sushid wrote: post #211
mclightning wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any chance you could bring price down to $99 to $120 range? Get it manufactured in China, Do some business investment magic, economy of scale things. I dont know :D It is really cool keyboard, but price is above of what most people are willing to pay for a keyboard. By the way, another use-case is using it with games with complex controls like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Kerbal Space Program.

Your comment seems too hand-wavy for the parent commenter to take seriously. First, they're partnered with Foxconn so it's very likely they're made in China. Second, you can't just "do economies of scale" without a slightly pricier v1 of the product; hey're not going to be selling hundreds of thousands of them. Third, many are more than willing to to pay over that amount for keyboard. Just take a look at custom mecha…

Great response, answered it for me already.

The MOQ is 300k units; we're at economies of scale but it's still a new technology. You're right on the made in China, Suzhou, Shenzhen etc. Bingo also on the third point.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#225

Post by [deleted] »

SonderDesign wrote: post #98
mmanfrin wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'cloud connected' stuff is an obnoxious gimmick, but Das's upcoming 5q is pretty close to what you're looking for: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1229573443/das-keyboard...

It's a small thing but a lot of editors who travel from studio to studio will have their own work process, it's very specific to power users; which this product is designed for. If the feature is a gimmick to you, it's fine; but others really appreciate it and in testing with video editors etc it's something we get a ton of feedback for including.

[deleted]

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#227

Post by Schwolop »

How have you found ATPi as an incubator/mentors?

For the HN audience, ATP-Innovations has one of the better track records as an incubator in Australia and works mostly with universities to commercialise research projects. This is one of the few examples I've seen where a student-led project (through Sydney University's Incubate) has progressed to this stage.

I'm hoping that's a sign of promising things to come!

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#228

Post by bartvk »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #26
anexprogrammer wrote: post #15

An interesting idea, but I just don't look at my keyboards. Even so, I can't help feeling this is a much better approach than replacing F-keys with the Mac Touchbar. The touchbar could have been a great idea if above the pre-existing keys. However, if it was a Model M chassis, sculpted full travel loud mechanical keys, E-Ink, and a modern selection of media keys and volume I'd probably buy one. Regardless of how sill…

I think it'd be cool for programming, I have RSI and find using the shift key + another key painful. I also rarely use the number keys above the letters (I used num pad) so changing all those keys to the shit_key equivalent would be neat. And rearranging some of other keys would be great. And don't get me started on games, oooooh, how often to I buy a new game and forget what 'm' does? Knife? Grenade? Pickaxe?

> so changing all those keys to the shit_key equivalent would be neat

An appropriate typo, because with this keyboard you can probably map the happy-poo emoji to your shit_key.

Re: Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

#230

Post by bartvk »

jmcdiesel wrote: post #124

$200 with no numpad - nope.

The Sonder commenter said: "The second unit is an attachable numpad that can be used as a standalone or connects magnetically"

I'm not sure what he/she means exactly, but there is apparently a numpad coming.

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