Author Topic: [IC] KeyBoy Advance | Childhood Has Returned  (Read 334 times)

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Offline PromoType

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[IC] KeyBoy Advance | Childhood Has Returned
« on: Tue, 05 May 2026, 12:38:51 »
KeyBoy Advance




Intro

Greetings, this is PromoType, I'm Galo.
Today I would like to introduce our first project — KeyBoy Advance

It is inspired by GBA while bringing refined elements to a 50% keyboard and ensuring good typing feel, typing sound, and visual experience.

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Inspiration

The KeyBoy Advance is inspired by the Game Boy Advance, one of Nintendo's best-selling handheld consoles.


To capture the compact, portable essence of the GBA, I started with a small keyboard size.
GBA's wide aspect ratio, together with the inclusion of a number row, makes small keyboard more approachable for enthusiasts.
Ultimately, I settled on a 50% layout keyboard."

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Design Concept

The GBA's bold, irregular design makes direct copying unwise—it would break design principles and look odd.
So the focus is on capturing its spirit, not its shape, while keeping a keyboard's basic form.

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Top View


The front uses deconstructed design elements to evoke a handheld console, with an incised line extending to the back to mimic a battery cover.

The upper right retains the iconic power indicator LED; the upper left features an asymmetric light strip to balance the visual composition.
The lower right preserves the basic shape of the speaker module, with a recessed split design to create color separation and layered texture.

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Back & Side View


The bottom deconstructs and reshapes the GBA's complex form, creating distinctive upward-curving sides,
 which together with the upward micro-curve of the front bottom edge create a floating feel for the case.

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Structure

The KeyBoy Advance uses a Top mounting system with small Oring

And a pillar with Poron raised from the bottom case to eliminate resonance of the stepped spacebar.
For the shoulder buttons, we use micro switches to replicate the feel and function, with full customization via Vial.


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Layout

The 1.6mm black core PCB supports up to Tri-mode.

Available options:

• MX Wired Soldered
• MX Wired Hot-swap
• MX Dual-mode Hot-swap
• MX Tri-mode Hot-swap


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Color Options

Anodized Silver

Anodized Pale Gold

Anodized Teal

Coated Classic

Coated Purple

Coated Orange

PC Pure

PC Purple

PC Cyan

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Specifications

• Name: KeyBoy Advance
• Layout: 50% HHKB
• Typing Angle: 7°
• Front Height: 19mm
• EKH: 22.9mm
• Mounting: Top Oring
• Price: TBA

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Vendor Lists

• Canada: Unikeys
• Korea: GEON
• Singapore: iLumkb
• Vietnam:The Keebs Store

• More TBA

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Community

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Re: [IC] KeyBoy Advance | Childhood Has Returned
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 12 May 2026, 16:00:52 »
Do you have a US vendor in mind?