Arnt Gulbrandsen
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Typing on an outsourced keyboard

I'll need to test something with a bluetooth keyboard. I really like the Nexus 7 tablet, so off to Amazon: nexus 7 2012 keyboard. Ah, hm, since I don't like QWERTZ keyboards, best try amazon.­co.uk too: nexus 7 2012 keyboard. There were many contenders, including what I bought and will return:

Invent­caseBest­dealUKJammy LizardKooler­tronIVSO

Striking similarity. It almost looks as if these five companies didn't design and produce it themselves, doesn't it? A sixth reseller sells the same keyboard without any brand name, and is honest enough to publish a high-resolution photo where you can see the keyboard's problem:

The edge on front of the keys sticks up quite a few mm, and the clip in front of the space bar sticks up even more, perhaps 1cm in total. I cannot possibly hit the space bar with the side of my thumb. So what is this? A keyboard made by a designer who can't type, produced by a keyboard factory where noone tried to type on it, sold by at least five keyboard vendors who silkscreened their name onto it but never did more than hunt and peck with the product? The reviewers on Amazon don't seem to have noticed either (well, with one exception).

I'm not sure what to think of all this.

Perhaps keyboard input isn't very important, even to keyboarders, and I need not spend much time on testing.