Which keyboard/brand resembles mostly to the Nokia sturdiness?

[Nikelu]

I'd give my vote for KUL.They are the 3310 of the Keyboards imo.

[nubbinator]

IBM Model F AT or Cortron.  Either would chew up your Kul and spit it out.

[tp4tissue]

Nokia sturdiness.... Hmmmmm...

Very few keyboards can take drops like a Nokia, because they're all too heavy..  all that momentum.

[ideus]

Mechanical keyboards have multiple moving components, there is no way to relate them with a small solid state piece of electronics.

[Sygaldry]

Mechanical keyboards have multiple moving components, there is no way to relate them with a small solid state piece of electronics.

Not sure if the Nokia 3310 can be considered a solid state piece of electronics because it had buttons and switches too 

[jacobolus]

Model Ms are pretty indestructible, though I’m not sure if quite to Nokia candybar phone levels.

[Novus]

Some serious nokia nostalgia here.
Personally, I really don't think Kul is all that hefty though.

[Coreda]

Very few keyboards can take drops like a Nokia, because they're all too heavy..  all that momentum.

The pink elephant keyboard in the room.



Police boards would also fall into that category I'd imagine.

Couldn't say they're A+ grade quality though...

[nubbinator]

Model Ms are pretty indestructible, though I’m not sure if quite to Nokia candybar phone levels.

The indestructibility of Model Ms is vastly overstated.

[jacobolus]

The indestructibility of Model Ms is vastly overstated.

I’ve dropped them 1.5 meters onto concrete multiple times with no broken parts, and I know people who have spilled drinks on them and then taken them into the shower or put them through a whole dishwasher cycle, with the keyboard still working perfectly after drying out for a while.

I’m sure you could break one with a hammer if you tried, or by running over it with a steam roller, etc. You could probably also destroy a Nokia candybar phone if you really wanted.

Have you destroyed a bunch of Model Ms? How’d you do it?

[ideus]

Mechanical keyboards have multiple moving components, there is no way to relate them with a small solid state piece of electronics.

Not sure if the Nokia 3310 can be considered a solid state piece of electronics because it had buttons and switches too 

Right, but everything is well encased with the purpose to be portable, keyboards are not.

[JaccoW]

What makes an old Nokia indestructible?
- Low mass
- Flexible materials (aka no aluminum plates)
- Simple design
- Easy to (dis)assemble

So my guess would be a 60% board (low mass) with PCB-mounted switches (much sturdier) and either a polycarbonate or carbon fibre plate (again, low mass/high flex).
Think along the lines of the Smallfry Kit or the CF60 Ultra-light Carbon Fiber 60% Case but then with a CF plate on both sides.
Also, no LEDs, as extra solder points mean more points of failure.

Put in a high-quality double sided PCB and you are golden. Your most sensitive part would be the PCB if it cannot stand the flex.

Bonus points for SIP socket mounted switches.
It will completely explode when dropped but can be put together without issue time and time again.

That is assuming of course, that you care about dropping your board.
For general daily use on the go I would give my vote for the Leopold FC660 models or the police Déck/TG3 boards.

[stratokaster]

I used to own several Nokia phones. They all were rather sturdy, but developed multiple small problems during their lifetime. Also Nokia often used sub-par materials (like easily scratched or cracking plastics). I'd say Razer and Logitech are closest to Nokia in that regard: their products basically work after many years of use, but their condition may not be conducive to actually using them.

YMMV, of course.

[Oobly]

Poker X and original KBT Pure.

Small, light, tough. Good quality parts. Can take a beating.

[Nai_Calus]

My WASD Code was acquired second-hand and shipped from the east coast to the west coast completely unpadded in any way, crammed into a FedEx tube whose width was slightly less than the keyboard's everywhere but the unusable tiny corner and whose length was about double that of the actual keyboard, with the unfilled length arriving rather caved in.

Peeling it out of the tube revealed a keyboard that gave exactly zero ****s about its mistreatment and works perfectly. Not a scratch, not a crack, nothing. I am now convinced this thing could survive being at ground zero of a nuke, considering that I've had several things arrive via FedEx broken despite being properly packed and cushioned...

[ideus]

Following the reasoning provided, the light and well build keyboards may qualify to be on par with some Nokias. There are very few PCB mounted small keyboards, as far as I know, I can only think in Poker X and its sister the original Pure.

[JaccoW]

Following the reasoning provided, the light and well build keyboards may qualify to be on par with some Nokias. There are very few PCB mounted small keyboards, as far as I know, I can only think in Poker X and its sister the original Pure.

Not necessarily just PCB-mount boards but more like boards with PCB-mount switches. I say this because some Korean boards have a plate but the PCB is designed with the extra pins in mind for added sturdiness.

Left to right: Plate mount, PCB-mount and clipped PCB-mount.

(Pic courtesy of Sifo)

[nubbinator]

The indestructibility of Model Ms is vastly overstated.

I’ve dropped them 1.5 meters onto concrete multiple times with no broken parts, and I know people who have spilled drinks on them and then taken them into the shower or put them through a whole dishwasher cycle, with the keyboard still working perfectly after drying out for a while.

I’m sure you could break one with a hammer if you tried, or by running over it with a steam roller, etc. You could probably also destroy a Nokia candybar phone if you really wanted.

Have you destroyed a bunch of Model Ms? How’d you do it?

Considering that people always discuss using them as weapons as a metric of indestructibility, I still say it's overstated.

If you're going to talk about washing it and spilling on it, I think the board Coreda posted probably trumps the Model M.

[ideus]

Following the reasoning provided, the light and well build keyboards may qualify to be on par with some Nokias. There are very few PCB mounted small keyboards, as far as I know, I can only think in Poker X and its sister the original Pure.

Not necessarily just PCB-mount boards but more like boards with PCB-mount switches. I say this because some Korean boards have a plate but the PCB is designed with the extra pins in mind for added sturdiness.

Left to right: Plate mount, PCB-mount and clipped PCB-mount.

Show Image

(Pic courtesy of Sifo)

Could the GON Nerd60 be assembled with both, switch pins inside the PCB's holes plus a plate?

[Firebolt1914]

For sturdiness (not drop survivability), I would say IBM beam spring keyboards.

[choc]

cherry or ibm

[JaccoW]

Following the reasoning provided, the light and well build keyboards may qualify to be on par with some Nokias. There are very few PCB mounted small keyboards, as far as I know, I can only think in Poker X and its sister the original Pure.

Not necessarily just PCB-mount boards but more like boards with PCB-mount switches. I say this because some Korean boards have a plate but the PCB is designed with the extra pins in mind for added sturdiness.

Left to right: Plate mount, PCB-mount and clipped PCB-mount.

Show Image

(Pic courtesy of Sifo)

Could the GON Nerd60 be assembled with both, switch pins inside the PCB's holes plus a plate?

I wouldn't know why not? It has the pin holes on the PCB and Seedvd did it on his. (Minus the PCB-mount switches, but there seems to be plenty of room for that). As far as I know most Korean boards are designed with PCB-mount everything in mind so that shouldn't be a problem. :)

[Huxley2500]

Nokia still sells phones?   

[Findecanor]

The Nokia 3310 looks like a crappy Logitech from 2005.