Seeing this title, I have to bring up this pair of mysterious, exquisite little pieces of junk I paid a premium for from Japan. What is this thing? I wonder if you can guess. This is something I bought on a whim from Japan last year for 2,000 yen. The way you use it is so abstract that it’s been sitting in my drawer gathering dust for a long time.

I’m not really sure why I bought this keyboard. Probably because it looks good. I kept seeing it pop up in videos and it just looked so nice. Add in the durable PBT keycaps, the low-profile feel that’s completely different from the Keychron K3 series, and the 618 discount, and I couldn’t resist anymore—ended up buying it with interest-free installments. After less than half a day with it, I already felt this keyboard was way better than the Keychron K3 I’d been using. The feel, the overall build quality, and most importantly the connection stability—all much better. NuPhy keyboards also support firmware updates. The latest firmware on the official site claims to fix compatibility issues with Linux, but weirdly, mine worked fine with Linux even without updating. Maybe mine already shipped with the new version.

I needed a keyboard, backed by various bullshit excuses. Requirements: Portable, small Bluetooth, multi-device support At least 84 keys; I’ve had enough of life without an F-row and arrow keys Good build quality In the end I settled on the Keychron K3 — which is also the 京造 K3 version. This keyboard stirs up a lot of controversy online: opinions are extremely polarized. Most KOLs give it the usual praise, and looking at it I couldn’t find any obvious problems; the specs are fine too. Sure, it’s low-profile, but I don’t see what’s wrong with low-profile switches. The funny thing is most negative reviews online just call it “garbage” without explaining where the garbage is. The positive reviews, on the other hand, are very detailed. That struck me as bizarre. Is the marketing just too strong, drowning out genuine impressions? Or is this thing really that good?

My workplace moved recently, and my old keyboard had developed double-press issues across half its keys. I soldered that one myself, so I figured it was time to buy a new one. But I’m too broke for a real budget, so I bought the cheapest thing I could find: this Dareu EK861 Bluetooth keyboard. 61 keys, Bluetooth 5.0, a big battery, PBT keycaps, under 300 yuan. What more could you ask for? I’ve been using it on and off for almost a month now, and I’ve got some pros and cons. Let me keep it short: