Esrille New Keyboard Review
The Esrille New Keyboard came out in 2013 or before.
Esrille New Keyboard is from Japan, designed by Shiki Okasaka, from his company Esrille.
Total Key Count
Total key count: 76.
Each side has 38 keys. 6 are function keys, 6 are thumb keys.
Two Sizes of Keyboard
Esrille comes in 2 sizes:
- Size L: Standard 18.8 mm key spacing.
- Size M: 17.5 mm key spacing.
The physical size of the whole keyboard is the same for both sizes.
Esrille New Keyboard Layouts
By default, the Esrille supports 3 English layouts: QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak. 〔►see Alternative Keyboard Layouts〕
Japanese Input Layout M-type, TRON, Stickney Next, JIS Standard
The design of Esrille New Keyboard is much influenced by Japan's M-Type keyboard and TRON keyboard.
Esrille also supports several Japanese input layouts, including M-type and TRON.
The M-type and TRON are interesting, because they are efficiency based, similar to the design principle of Dvorak, but for inputting Japanese. 〔►see Alternative Keyboard Layouts〕
M-type is designed mostly for using English alphabets to type Japanese.
TRON is typing Japanese phonetic alphabets directly.
Comparison and Alternatives
Esrille is among the many new keyboards invented after 2010. They have one feature in common: symmetric, many thumb keys, and mechanical keys.
Hands-On Review
Here's a review by jbm.
I have an Esrille NISSE and love it. I've been using it full time (6-10 hours a day, 5-6 days a week) since .
Side note: I believe I was actually the first person in the US to order one. It was before they were able to ship assembled boards internationally, so I ordered it as a kit and assembled it myself. I forget where I first saw it — maybe Xah Lee's blog - but the design was immediately appealing to me.
The other ergo boards I've used extensively are the Ergodox and Truly Ergonomic Keyboard. I like them all but the Esrille has been the best fit by a wide margin.
The things I like about all three are:
- Columnar layout
- More natural hand position
- Moving what would otherwise be pinky keys to instead be thumb or index finger keys
- Mechanical switches
What I like about the Esrille above the other two:
- More thumb keys than the TEK
- More usable (for me) thumb keys than the Ergodox
- Smart column spacing. I find it very comfortable and natural
- Built-in tenting. You can obviously tent an Ergodox, but the Esrille's shape works great for me as is, and I like not needing another piece. Also, I was surprised how expensive it is to have a tent printed, at least from the places I cheked.
- It looks great (and I say that as someone who normally my electronics and peripherals to be matte black)
Subjectively, I can tell you the Esrille is definitely the most comfortable for me. I used to experience some level of discomfort 1-3 out of most weeks, despite fairly good technique, regular exercise, breaks every couple hours, etc. I honestly don't remember the last time I experienced any discomfort typing since switching to the Esrille.
This is less important, since it's something you can always change, but I'll also mention that I've been very happy with the default layout on the Esrille, including the function layer. I fully expected to reconfigure things, just because I usually would, but in practice there hasn't been anything I've wanted to mess with.
As I'm sure you can tell, I'm a big fan, and would be very comfortable recommending it :)
Let me know if you have any questions about it — I'll be happy to answer any I can.
Where to Buy
http://www.esrille.com/keyboard/
