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 anything. Astrohaus sells a number of standalone writing units relying on the shape issue you are in search of, however apart from Postbox, a web-based software for organizing and downloading work you’ve got written on a Freewrite machine, 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 do exactly that by launching a wholly new product. It is known 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 date.

The Freewrite Wordrunner is the mechanical keyboard designed for writers

The tenkeyless design sports activities some distinctive expertise

At a look, the Freewrite Wordrunner most likely shares many similarities with the keyboard you may have already got in your desk. Every key swap 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 sort on, in response to Astrohaus, as all mechanical keyboards needs to be. It may connect with a number of totally different units over Bluetooth, and rapidly swap between them with a keystroke. It even has a built-in wrist relaxation to maintain typing snug, 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 area has boomed in the previous couple of 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 try this, constructing on Astrohaus’ expertise making keyboards for its standalone writing units.

So what does that really 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 mainly 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 most important distinction from the Maestro to the design immediately 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 group 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 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’ll be able to have an excellent cleaner and extra distraction-free interface to write down in, whether or not it is Scrivener, Craft, or Google Docs.

Butts wasn’t in a position to share if the Wordrunner’s distinctive perform keys like discover, substitute, undo, or redo would be capable to be reassigned to their authentic roles as soon as the keyboard launches, however the macro keys — Zap, Pow, and Bam — might be. That provides you much more flexibility when it comes to how you utilize the keyboard.

Worth, Kickstarter launch date, and availability

The Freewrite Wordrunner’s Kickstarter marketing campaign launches quickly

Freewrite / Pocket-lint

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 previously, however selected Kickstarter this go-around, partially, as a result of it wished to assist the keyboard get some further publicity at CES.

There isn’t any worth obtainable for the Wordrunner but, however backing the keyboard on Kickstarter (with its attendant dangers) will get you a cheaper price on the very least. In case you’d want to go the standard route, you can too make a $1 reservation on the Freewrite web site to lock in the most effective worth attainable when the Freewrite Wordrunner is out there to order straight from Astrohaus.

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