No time for a proper review, but I've had these both for 5 days now:
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Standard Advantage w/ browns, ANSI TE w/ reds.
They're both great boards!
Construction:
The Kinesis is surprisingly light for it's size, much lighter than a Filco tenkeyless, thought I am completely satisfied with it's build quality, fit, and finish. The TE is a tank, weighing a tad more than a Filco tenkeyless.
Keyfeel:
The TE feels just as one would expect a Leopold or Filco to feel, but the Kinesis surprised me. It feels noticeably smoother than a Filco/brown, and much more like an MX-11800. I thought the difference in feel between my old 11800 and a Filco/brown was mostly due heavily worn switches, but now believe it's mostly the plate vs PCB mounting, and I personally really like the softer, smoother PCB mounted feel.... I'm sure a Kinesis w/ reds feels fantastic, but I don't regret not having sprung for reds....
Layout:
The matrix/split layout of these boards is actually quite easy to get used to for general typing.
The alt keys in the TE are easier to reach than I expected, and I'm glad I didn't go for the 109, as I often use the knuckle of the (curled) little finger to press them rather than the fingertip. Alt-tab isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be on either board.
Thumb keys: the three closest (per thumb) keys on the Kinesis are very easy to hit, while the other three require a slight movement of the whole hand. I'm not sure that I prefer them to the pinkie modifiers on the TE, which are quite natural to me, already being used to pinky modifiers (plus thumbs for alt/alt-gr).
Function keys:
They are not nearly as bad as I feared on the Kinesis, and probably shouldn't rule out the board if it's otherwise your top choice. They are not nearly as good as they should be though. They feel like rocker switches unless you hit them dead center, which is not unpleasant, but because the stiffer center of the switch is what actually registers a keystroke, there is a chance an off-center press won't register. This rocking action is what is meant when they are described as "squishy", not that the key body deforms appreciably. The function keys on the Kinesis are easy to reach from the home row; on the TE they require more of a stretch than they look to.
Center column (TE):
Keys in the center column are quite easy and comfortable to hit with the index fingers while keeping the pinkies anchored on their home row position, provided that all fingers are splayed slightly during the reach over. If one insists on only flexing their index finger laterally, keeping the others fixed, then it is indeed quite an awkward and uncomfortable stretch.
Misc:
The locator nubs on the F/J keys on the TE are easy to miss as they are not very pronounced (much like on a Leopold). It's easy to type on the wrong columns on the TE, which is great if you insist on using WASD instead of ESDF for gaming, but sometimes inconvenient for typing. On the Kinesis, if you place your hand on the wrong columns, you know instantly, as the profile will not feel right at all.
I noticed that IJKL on the Kinesis actually doesn't work too well for old side scrollers, as I seem to sort of skip over the home row with the middle finger. Shifting down a row completely eliminates this problem, and feels very natural. I think traditional inverted T arrow clusters may be superior to those on the TE, as the middle finger is the longest and naturally rests half-way between the up and and keys, though the arrow clusters on the TE feel just fine.
The arrow keys on the Kinesis are surprisingly easy to get used to for general text editing, though diagonal movement+delete sequences are not very intuitive... I often find myself pressing arrow keys instead if the intended letter keys on the row above.
Both arrow clusters on the TE are of course more intuitive than their counterparts on the Kinesis.
Pronation, and contoured vs. flat boards:
I noticed that when I type on a flat board, my palms are always rotated in about 10-15 degrees from horizontal, such that my keystroke vector is at an angle to the keyswitch's vector, and my fingers curl slightly more or less to rest flat on the keyboard. Forcing my palms to be truly parallel to the ground is extremely awkward and uncomfortable. On the Kinesis, my wrists and arms are just slightly less pronated than on a flat board, but my keystoke vectors perfectly match the vector of the switches, and the contour provides a more neutral resting position.
Programmability:
The programmability of the Kinesis is pretty slick, and is truly OS independent, it's interface being embedded in the keyboard, unlike whatever TE may come up with at some point. I don't mind remapping in Linux, but this is a huge factor for many.
Layout:
I haven't done much coding yet on either board, but for non-technical use the TE is an easier adjustment other than the Shift location. You don't have to remap arrow keys in games, text navigation is more intuitive, one handed typing while eating/drinking is much easier, etc. I suspect that Kinesis's layout might be easier to program on. I absolutely approve of TE's shift placement, but it's quite an adjustment....
I'm using left space as backspace on the TE, both to match the Kinesis, and because frankly it's nice to easily correct the [more frequent] errors while adjusting to a new layout. I'm sure this will again prove it's value when I get back into Colemak/other.
More later....