Review of AlphaGrip AG-5 keyboard.
The keyboard looks awesome. A+
The keyboard is highly innovative. A+++++
The keyboard is very reasonably priced imho at $150.00 A
Ohno. I have found a fatal flaw in this otherwise wonderful keyboard.
It is missing some vital keys!
The following keys are missing:
RIGHT CTRL
RIGHT ALT
RIGHT OS
So it is impossible to type many many key combinations. Key combos you need to type every day.
> Why is it impossible?
Because your LEFT thumb would have to exist in 2 completely different locations at once.
You can't use your right thumb to ALT, CTRL or OSkey your way into shortcuts, typing those groovy European Characters and other useful things because the RIGHT ALT, CTRL, OSKeys are missing.
If you look in the instruction manual you will see a very clear picture of the keyboard that shows the problem. A picture is worth a thousand words.
http://www.alphagrips.com/AlphagripAG5UsersManual.pdfThere is also no HELP key. (Used as the MENU key on Microsoft Windows)
This keyboard has 4 layers.
1. The normal layer which is filled up with functions.
2. The Red Shift Layer aka The Numeric Layer which has some empty slots.
3. The Green Shift Layer which has several empty slots.
4. The Function Key layer which has many many empty slots.
So they could have included the missing keys.
Furthermore, keyboards are supposed to have F13-F24 keys. And any keyboard with layers should generate these keycodes. Its really easy to implement if you have a function layer anyway. But nope. These keys are not included either. The function key layer is nearly empty. A complete ghost town.
Total Number of Missing Keys: 16
Total Number of Empty Keyboard Positions: A huge amount more than 16.
Final Grade: F (dealbreaker, sorry)
If anyone knows any tricks for fixing things with AutoHotKey or whatever then I can revise my review accordingly.