KEYBOARD

Keyboard:

The Everun Note has a 73-key QWERTY keyboard with 16mm pitch (the Vaio P keyboard, in

comparison, has 82 keys and 16.5mm pitch).

The layout is non-standard, with most of the punctuation keys residing in the top row, so the out-of-box typing experience is slower and less accurate than it is after the layout is learned.

The biggest obstacle for me is the size of the comma and period keys, which are too small given how often they're used. It already feels foreign to have the enter key right next to the L key, especially when in full touch-typing hand position; reducing the size of the period key exacerbates that awkwardness and makes accidentally hitting the shift key too easy.

Having to be mindful of these keys really has an impact on typing speed and accuracy.


The punctuation key issues aren't as much of a problem when hunting-and-pecking or even thumb typing (lots of stretching involved), but it definitely gets in the way when touch typing. Yes, touch typing: both hands on the keyboard, not looking at your fingers while typing. Depending on the size of your hands, real touch typing is not only possible, it's pretty comfortable too.

After two weeks of daily practice, I'm now seeing typing speeds of 70 wpm, about 79% of my average typing speed on a full-size keyboard (see my mobile device keyboard typing speeds chart for more comparisons). Accuracy is still challenged, though not as much by the punctuation keys as by the responsiveness of the spacebar. I find that unless I tap it deliberately and more forcefully than is natural to me, the key press won't register and I'll end up with text that is smashedtogetherlikethis. Not good.

Even with those issues in mind, however, the Everun Note keyboard is still outstanding for its size. Please refer to my keyboard size comparison photos to see how it compares to other devices. This will not be true for everyone, but for me, this is the smallest keyboard that I can touch type on both comfortably and naturally.