If you’ve ever longed for the feeling of your typewriter when you use a more standard keyboard, we have good news for you: Qwerkytoys announced that Qwerkywriter, its typewriter keyboard for tablets, is now available for pre-order.
Originally funded through Kickstarter back in 2014, Qwerkywriter sets itself apart from other keyboards by looking and feeling like a typewriter. Don’t let the looks fool you, however, as it’s filled with modern technologies, such as Bluetooth connectivity, which lets you connect not only to your tablet, but to your smartphone and desktop computer as well.
The Qwerkywriter does feature a built-in tablet stand, so long as your tablet of choice is 0.625 inches thick or less, as well as a lithium ion battery capable of giving the keyboard three months of battery life. Thankfully, the battery is rechargeable through a standard Micro USB cable, so there’s no need to hold onto a proprietary cable for dear life.
Interestingly enough, the micro return key doubles as an enter key by default, though its functionality can be changed to render up to five characters, a feature that the writers among us will surely appreciate.
As previously alluded to, Qwerkytoys launched the Kickstarter campaign for the Qwerkywriter back in June of 2014, with an initial goal of $90,000. By the time the campaign ended in July of that year, 469 backers threw $129,164 at their monitors, and they will be rewarded with a Qwerkywriter of their own sometime in October or November of this year. The same goes for anyone who pre-orders the Qwerkywriter through the company website.
Unfortunately, this is where the biggest barrier of entry comes in: the $330 price tag, which goes up to $400 once the pre-order period wraps up. It’s a hefty price to pay for what essentially amounts to a Bluetooth keyboard, but the Qwerkywriter is practically in a league of its own, since it’s the only Bluetooth keyboard of its kind that feels like a typewriter.
Whether that’s enough to drop three Benjamins, a Jackson, and a Lincoln will, of course, depend on who you are. If you are someone who just wants a functional keyboard and doesn’t care much about the experience, then you might look elsewhere. However, if you’re someone who wants a functional showpiece that kicks the nostalgia factor past 10 or a writer who beckons for the typewriters of yore, then the Qwerkywriter should be right up your alley.
After all, it’s not called the Normalwriter.
