Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re an avid Android user, you’re probably using a third-party keyboard app of some kind. It’s not that the stock keyboard sucks, but it’s just that there’s other keyboard options that are a lot better. For most users, it’s a fight between SwiftKey and Swype. Both are very different from each other, but face stiff competition. However, SwiftKey is looking to offer the best of both worlds with SwiftKey Flow.

From looking at the image, you would think you were looking at a handset with Swype on it, but that’s actually SwiftKey’s new Flow keyboard. Obviously, it’s a lot like Swype where you glide your finger across the keyboard to each appropriate key in order to type out a word, and there’s even a way to quickly enable and disable the feature right from the keyboard.

However, Flow isn’t just a nifty swiping keyboard like Swype. It comes with all the awesome features of the normal SwiftKey keyboard, like word prediction (including next-word prediction which guesses the next word in a sentence before you even type it), along with all of the awesome themes and support for over 40 languages.

Here comes the bad news. SwiftKey says their new keyboard is still in its testing phases, and they’re only offering it as a private beta to their VIP members. However, they’re accepting beta testers as we speak on their website. All you have to do is enter in your email address and they’ll contact you if you made it in.

[via Android Community]

SwiftKey Flow announced, looks to take on Swype is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sometimes it seems like gaming keyboards are a dime a dozen. They are all pretty much the same; you can count on anti-ghosting technology and backlighting along with the ability to record macros on many keyboards. Mad Catz has a new gaming keyboard called the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 that’s welcomingly different.

The keyboard has a modular design with five different components that can be assembled depending on your game playing desires. The central keyboard section has your tactile QWERTY layout and backlighting with 16 million colors to choose from. The number pad section of the keyboard is removable and has a number of macro keys that allow you to program multiple keystrokes to one key. It also comes with two lengths of cable allowing you to have it closer or further from the main section of the keyboard.

The keyboard also has a Control Module with a tiny OLED display and extra macro recording keys for shortcuts, as well as media controls. The S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 also has a three-part active palm rest and two wrist rests for comfortable use. The palm rest has its own thumb wheel and an action button giving even more control over your game.

The Mad Catz S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard can be pre-ordered right now for $199.99 (USD), and is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8.

There are keyboards, and then there are Mad Catz keyboards… and now, the company’s constructed a new pro peripheral to rest your wrists on — the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5. Just like the other mission control center we saw a few months ago, it features a modular design allowing various layouts, high-performance keys with customized backlighting, and 21 programmable macro buttons. The main difference here is the touchscreen component of the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 has been substituted for the “E.Y.E. OLED Command Module,” which is used for easy access to keyboard functions, quick-launch triggers, and can display respawn timers for coordinating those second-specific attacks. Cash-strapped pros will be pleased to hear the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 is cheaper than its predecessor, and you can head to the source link to sacrifice $200 on a pre-order now. Mad Catz won’t tell us what alien race is supplying the keyboards, nor an exact shipping date — all we know is that they’re expected “very soon.”

Continue reading Mad Catz announces the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard for pro gamers, pre-order now for $200

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Mad Catz announces the S.T.R.I.K.E. 5 keyboard for pro gamers, pre-order now for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FAVI has unveiled a new and very small keyboard that uses Bluetooth to connect to a bunch of different gadgets that are on the market right now. The company says that the keyboard is designed with familiar Android buttons and is perfect for connecting to your favorite Tablet such as the Kindle Fire and others that support Bluetooth keyboards. The keyboard also has integrated media control keys.

The keyboard is sized to hold in your palm and supports thumb typing. It also has a track pad on the right side allowing you to control a pointer, and it has buttons on the left side for left and right mouse clicks. This might be the perfect HTPC keyboard for connecting to your little Android mini PC that plugs into the HDMI port of your TV, assuming it has integrated Bluetooth.

If you want to use the keyboard with a device that doesn’t have integrated Bluetooth, you can still do that thanks to the included USB Bluetooth receiver. The only caveat is that your device has to have a full-sized USB port. FAVI specifically calls out support for the Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus 7, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, as well as numerous PCs and Mac computers.

The little keyboard features backlit keys for easy use in the dark. The little track pad also supports tap to click and page scrolling. The track pad end of the keyboard has an integrated red laser pointer and the keyboard has PowerPoint slide buttons. The Bluetooth keyboard has a range of 50 feet and is available now for $49.99.

FAVI launches palm-size Bluetooth keyboard with integrated track pad is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Another day, another Logitech peripheral, and today’s is the Logitech Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard K810, which as the name suggests shines some light while taking your typing wireless. Promising support for pairing with up to three devices simultaneously via Bluetooth, the K810 keyboard supports not only Windows 8 – with the shortcuts you’d expect – but iOS and Android devices, in case you want to quickly batter out an email on your iPad.

The chassis is brushed aluminum – Logitech is particularly pleased by the fact that it’s real metal, not plastic made to look like metal – and the key backlighting is dynamically adjusted based on the ambient light in the room. We’ve seen that before, but Logitech also throws in a sensor that tracks whether your hands are nearby and shuts off the backlight so as to save power when you’re not actually typing.

Recharging is via USB, and the keyboard can be used while plugged in. Logitech says it will run for around ten days of average use on a single charge.

The Logitech Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard K810 is set to go on sale in the US this month, and in Europe come November. It will be priced at $99.99 and €99.99 receptively.

Logitech Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard K810 supports Windows, iOS and Android is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.