With Windows 8 being RTM’ed and a slew of new devices to be launched on October 26 (just a few weeks away) I can’t help but wonder where the new keyboards are.  Sure, Microsoft has announced some new keyboards and mice, but they’re not gesture enables and have no charm keys on them.  The keyboard is just a fairly standard keyboard with the new Windows logo on it.  Boring!

Windows 8 Bluetooth keyboards and mice announced

I was expecting something to be announced that supports the touch style gestures and the Windows 8 Charms. The Logitech K400 is has potential with it’s inbuilt touchpad but is still missing the key elements.

image

So, what do I want on my keyboard?

Firstly, I want the charms on my keyboard, mirroring what’s on screen.  Sure, I can press Win+C just like everyone else, but I’d rather a single key press. I’m lazy.

I also want a mini-display on my keyboard that mirrors my current display so I can do swipes, pinch and zoom, and so on simply by using gestures on the in-keyboard display instead of reaching out across my desk to touch the screen and looking like a fool. Plus too much of that and I’d get a tired arm.

I want something a little like this and I’m willing to pay for it:
SNAGHTML2ce30ce

Maybe something has already been announced, but if so I can’t find it.

UPDATE

I just came across the DeathStalker keyboard from Razer.  This looks really promising. Here’s the main thing that could make it work – the Switchblade UI.  I could definitely see the charm keys up along the top of the trackpad and the trackpad itself looks like it has the display and multitouch capabilities sorted already.  Looks like all we need is a Windows 8 app written for it.  Does anyone have some rock hard C++ skills? :-)

image