The Freewrite Wordrunner is a brand new mechanical keyboard for writers

For all its charms, the Freewrite Alpha works finest as a primary draft machine greater than the rest. Astrohaus sells a number of standalone writing units relying on the shape issue you are in search of, however moreover Postbox, a web based instrument for organizing and downloading work you have written on a Freewrite gadget, it hasn’t actually tried to the touch the revision a part of the writing course of.

At CES 2025, the corporate is partnering with Kickstarter to just do that by launching a wholly new product. It is referred to as the Freewrite Wordrunner, and it is a mechanical keyboard made with writers in thoughts and designed to work with desktop computer systems, tablets, and telephones. The keyboard is launching on Kickstart this yr, however this is what we all know concerning the Freewrite Wordrunner to this point.

The Freewrite Wordrunner is the mechanical keyboard designed for writers

The tenkeyless design sports activities some distinctive expertise

At a look, the Freewrite Wordrunner in all probability shares many similarities with the keyboard you may have already got in your desk. Every key change on the tenkeyless (with a perform row however and not using a quantity pad) aluminum design is backlit and purpose-built to be satisfying to kind on, in line with Astrohaus, as all mechanical keyboards ought to be. It may well connect with a number of completely different units over Bluetooth, and shortly change between them with a keystroke. It even has a built-in wrist relaxation to maintain typing comfy, and ideally a bit extra ergonomic.

The large distinction between the Wordrunner and the Keychron keyboard I am utilizing proper now’s every part else it has, primarily based on what Astrohaus sees as an untapped a part of the keyboard market. As the corporate explains in its product announcement, the mechanical keyboard house has boomed in the previous few years, however even with all of those new great keyboards, there hasn’t been one which caters to writers particularly. The Wordrunner is an try to do this, constructing on Astrohaus’ expertise making keyboards for its standalone writing units.

So what does that truly imply? Among the many Wordrunner’s distinctive options are a redesigned perform row, new macro keys, a pink joystick for controlling media playback, a built-in timer for monitoring writing sprints and one thing Astrohaus has dubbed the “wordometer,” which is principally a mechanical phrase counter. The corporate initially tried to launch the Maestro, its tackle a mechanical keyboard, just a few years in the past, however with out a few of these distinctive options. “The largest distinction from the Maestro to the design at the moment is that there is an onboard counter for phrases and for the timers,” Colin Butts, Astrohaus’ Head of Advertising, shared with me in a briefing. Butts says Astrohaus thought-about utilizing a display for a few of these options — the crew is a fan of Work Louder’s Nomad [E] keyboard — however as soon as the concept of a “Wordometer” got here up in a gathering, it was too charming to disregard.

Freewrite / Pocket-lint

Phrase rely on the Wordometer is persistent except reset, however the entire thing seems to be deliciously tactile primarily based on the renders Astrohaus shared. The imaginative and prescient right here, if this all works, is that by offloading a few of these utilities onto your keyboard, you possibly can have a fair cleaner and extra distraction-free interface to write down in, whether or not it is Scrivener, Craft, or Google Docs.

Butts wasn’t capable of share if the Wordrunner’s distinctive perform keys like discover, change, undo, or redo would have the ability to be reassigned to their authentic roles as soon as the keyboard launches, however the macro keys — Zap, Pow, and Bam — will likely be. That provides you much more flexibility when it comes to how you employ the keyboard.

Value, Kickstarter launch date, and availability

The Freewrite Wordrunner’s Kickstarter marketing campaign launches quickly

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The Freewrite Wordrunner is launching on Kickstart in February and hopes to ship the ultimate model of the keyboard to backers by the top of the yr. Astrohaus has labored with each Kickstarter and Indiegogo to launch merchandise prior to now, however selected Kickstarter this go-around, partly, as a result of it needed to assist the keyboard get some additional publicity at CES.

There is no value out there for the Wordrunner but, however backing the keyboard on Kickstarter (with its attendant dangers) will get you a lower cost on the very least. If you happen to’d choose to go the normal route, you can even make a $1 reservation on the Freewrite web site to lock in one of the best value doable when the Freewrite Wordrunner is out there to order immediately from Astrohaus.

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