You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/ultimate-hacking-keyboard-v2.2287/

Back in 2019 I took my first step into what I still consider to be an incredibly exciting world: the world of split mechanical keyboards. Despite being my first steps I was entirely enthralled out of the gate, praising the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard for its comfort, software, typing experience, and ease of use. Roll on 2023 and we’re back to look at its latest iteration, but just what have Ultimate Gadget Labs changed to make this one worth a second look?

Let’s Get the Basics Down

For those who missed my original review, allow me to get you up to speed on exactly what the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard is. The UHK is a split keyboard powered by open source software designed to be ergonomic and improve productivity. I praised it for the relative ease of adaptation, great software, and impressive customisation choices at checkout, and kicking off our look at the V2, I’m glad to see these things really haven’t changed.

Looking at the site, you get the choice between eight switches, eight layouts (these made up of different keycap sets for ISO and ANSI), and five case colours. That’s 320 different configurations to pick from depending on your needs if I’ve done my maths right, but that isn’t where it ends for the V2. Now featuring hot-swap sockets, you’re able to take your board further or just change your mind as to how you want to type on it down the line without having to disassemble the board and desolder the switches. While I enjoyed the Cherry MX Clear switches I had in my V1 board, I do wish I could’ve swapped these out after a year or so of use if only to refresh the board a little. With the V2 I decided to do this out of the box to create what I would consider my Ultimate UHK.

Starting with Box Red switches on a UK layout board with a white case, I went out of my way to get this looking and feeling as good as I possibly could. But there were a few things worth noting when I started this journey. First of all, the V2 board now features per-key RGB lighting. This pairs incredibly well with the included shine-through keycap set, but the keen-eyed among you will notice that these are north-facing RGBs. These do have their benefits in generally giving a better shine-through lighting effect, but this comes at the cost of keycap compatibility, with Cherry profile keycaps having a few issues. The RGB lighting is indeed really clear, and it is at least utilised well by the default keyboard configuration to justify its north-facing nature. For those new to the UHK experience, this lighting is a great asset in adjusting to the layout and the numerous layers function layers the keyboard has.

Unlike most keyboards that might just have a function layer, the UHK makes the absolute most of its 60% layout by coming with three: function, mod, and mouse. How this ties into the RGB is that keys that are mapped on each layer will light up differently while their appropriate key is being held, giving you meaningful visual feedback as you adjust. Most of these keys also show their default additional functions on the south side of the keycap, so you have that to fall back onto as well. Having used the V1 UHK on and off for more than three years now, I opted to forego the back-lighting and go so far as to replace the keycaps with something a bit brighter to match the white frame. For those curious, these are the DSA profile Magical Girl keycaps from Mintlodica in the Millennium colour scheme, and I have to admit I didn’t quite do enough research into the unique keycap sizes the UHK requires. With a good chunk of keycap profiles, you’ll find each row is angled a certain way, usually giving you a slight V shape from the side. Generally this isn’t an issue, but because the UHK has an unusually short 1.5U backspace key and 1.75U return key, you might struggle to find keycaps that fit both the row and width. On top of this you have two less common 1.75U keycaps required for the spacebar. In short, I got lucky. DSA as a profile is uniform. This means that any keycap will happily occupy any row of the keyboard without sticking out weirdly. Because of this profile, I also had ample 1.75U keys that could fill the spacebar slots, and every other key I could have needed to populate the board. It did take a little getting used to having concave spacebar keys, but it was a quick adaption. I really love how it turned out.

While I was uprooting the keycaps, I also made the decision to put in my own switches, opting for Gateron’s Ink Black V2s for a heavy linear keypress. I had already made this decision prior to the board arriving and had these at the ready, and installing them was as simple as using the included keycap and switch puller to remove, you guessed it, the keycaps and switches, and putting the new ones straight in. Thanks to the hot-swap nature of the board, this was an incredibly simple endeavour. I will admit I was quite surprised at how nice the Kailh Box Red switches were that came with the board though. While they were a little lighter than my general preference with a 50gf actuation force (vs 60gf for the Ink Black Vs2), they were smooth out of the box and genuinely a joy if you’re a linear fan. They’re currently sat in a box and I plan to put them into a cheaper custom build down the line.

The Price of Making it Mine

I really appreciate how simple it was to make this keyboard my own, but it does go to highlight a missed opportunity for Ultimate Gadget Labs in their lack of a barebones kit for the UHK. For those like me who are going to be spending £100+ on a nice set of keycaps and a further £50 or so on switches, it’d be nice to have the option to save some money when buying the keyboard for parts we might not actually need. Unfortunately this isn’t something that’s going to change due to the switches being used to test the keyboards at the end of the assembly process, but it’s a shame all the same. At $320 this isn’t a cheap keyboard, and being able to knock even a little off that would naturally make it more appealing.

There is still more to talk about though, because $320 will only get you the keyboard. Like the original UHK you’re going to have to pay an additional $75 if you want the attachable beech wood palm rest, and I would call this an essential part of the keyboard if you’re planning to use it tented. While it does cost a chunk, I can at least vouch for its quality and comfort over extended periods of use. The palm rest I have for my V1 UHK has stood up well over time, and though it’s scratched a little, it’s still doing well.

The tented layout, if you weren’t familiar with the terminology, is having the keyboard raised in the centre. This is something that’s only really possible on a split board and allows for your hands to rest incredibly comfortably on it. Thanks to the easily-detachable feet though, you are able to swap between layouts really quite fast. If for example you decided you wanted to join the keyboard halves together and use a positive tilt (what you see on most standard keyboards with the back raised), it’s as simple as twisting the feet out, and twisting them into their new position. It takes a minute at most and is really seamless, especially when compared to the V1’s feet that required screwing in. This is a keyboard that gives you a really good number of options, with both positive and negative tilting possible if you’re not ready to try the tent just yet. These options go beyond the physical though, with the driver software only improving since we last looked at it.

The Software Behind the Keyboard

Much like in 2019 this driver software is completely optional, with any changes made saving onto the keyboard itself instead of requiring a background process. This is already a win in my books, but it’s only made better by how easy to use and powerful this software actually is. UHK Agent is the standard keyboard driver software should aspire to, and it elevates what the UHK itself is capable of immensely. You have all your basics presented cleanly and in a way that’s easy to use. You can create macros, you can swap out what keys do, you can update the firmware, and you can also configure the lighting. The board comes with a considerable 32 MB of internal storage, so you have a good degree of freedom to add lengthy macros or a huge number of keymaps to swap between as you see fit. With the default configuration of six full keymaps and three simple macros, you’re looking at about 4.5 MB of space being taken up. By clearing out unused keymaps (assuming you won’t be swapping between Qwerty and Colemak frequently) that goes down to just 0.9 MB, with your used space showing up in the Configuration page of the software.

While this is a 60% keyboard and is on paper lacking a number of keys you might find useful, UHK Agent gives you incredible power in just what you can map. I the three standard function layers earlier in the review: Fn, Mod, and Mouse. Put simply, Fn gives you media controls, Mod gives you your F row and a myriad of missing keys (arrow keys included here!), and Mouse allows you to control your mouse using the keyboard, with things like mouse speed again configurable in UHK Agent. You get a lot out of the box, but should you be craving more, UHK Agent will allow you to assign up to 11 total function layers within one keymap. I can’t fathom why anybody would need so many, but when it’s rare to see more than one in most pre-built offerings, it’s something definitely worth mentioning.

I really appreciate the simplicity in mapping modified keypresses too. Where, as mentioned, the Mod layer transforms the number keys into the F keys, I realised I didn’t really want F4. All I, and likely anybody else, uses F4 for is closing apps by holding Alt down at the same time. So I just changed that. Now Mod+4 is the same as me pressing Alt+F4. It’s as simple as adding a modifier to it and saving it to the board. The default layout is something I would recommend people stick to for the most part to learn the ropes, but once you’re comfortable you have so much power at your fingertips.

Living my Best Modular Life

There is yet more to talk about however with the long-awaited release of modules. For those with great memories (or who decided to read my V1 review prior to this one), you’ll remember my excitement for these all the way back in 2019. Each keyboard half features a rail and set of pogo pins, and it’s on these you can mount one of the unique UHK modules. On the left half you can add a cluster of three keys, while on the right half you can pick between a trackpad, trackball, or trackpoint. Put simply, these are everything I hoped they’d be, with the trackpoint being my module of choice to provide an incredibly intuitive and easy to reach mouse from the comforts of the keyboard. Much like the rest of the keys, you’re able to customise both the key cluster keys and the functionality of the mouse clicks via UHK Agent should you wish to change it. The mouse modules also allow for both vertical and horizontal scrolling by holding the Mod key while using them. Coming from a trackball mouse anyway, I didn’t really feel a learning curve with these and have really had a blast using them. It’s worth adding too that these modules are entirely compatible with the V1 UHKs, which is really good to see for those who might have bought that module on the promise of them. My only real fault with them is that they don’t come in colours to match the casing options, but after using the keyboard for a month or so now I’ve come to like the contrast of the black more than I had originally expected to. These modules, much like the rest of the keyboard, aren’t cheap. At $65 apiece you’re adding a lot of money to an already-expensive board, but I would recommend picking up one of the mouse modules all the same if this board does interest you. It’s been a huge part of what makes this keyboard stand out from its predecessor to me.

Moving onto a few more rapid-fire upgrades from the V1, we now have a new braided cable to connect the keyboard halves, a white light on the layer text window on the top of the left half, and a USB C connector as opposed to the V1’s Mini USB. You’re also covered pretty well if you lose or break a part of the keyboard with Ultimate Gadget Labs selling replacement feet, switches, keycaps, cases, cables, and even plates. It seems the only thing they aren’t selling is a new covering for the display, which I may have mistook for a screen protector and peeled off slightly. Live and learn!

Closing Thoughts

To cut to the chase, do I think the second iteration of the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard is worth buying? 100%. Do I think this is going to be a keyboard for everybody? No. Split keyboards in themselves are a niche, but for those already deep into the mechanical keyboard world and wanting a unique and powerful split option, I honestly cannot imagine something topping this, especially if like me you enjoy the standard staggered keyboard layout over something more touch typing-oriented.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/leadjoy-m1b-ios-gaming-grip.2282/

On the surface the M1B borrows a lot from the Backbone One. Both are telescopic grips that will attach to your iPhone using the standard Lightning connector, and both come with an attachable bit of rubber to allow a fairly wide range of phones to better fit the grip. They both share analogue triggers and a pass-through Lightning port to charge your phone while playing, and they both share a fairly standard Xbox layout. There really are a lot of similarities, with the only notable omission being the 3.5mm headphone jack that’s on the Backbone and unfortunately absent here. Aesthetically the M1B does fall slightly behind with its embossed face buttons looking a little cheap due to being completely black but that in itself isn’t a deal-breaker.

The asymmetrical analogue sticks are both Joy Con-style ones, complete with R3 functionality. While I do prefer the larger analogue sticks you can find on some grips, the Joy Con sticks have become somewhat of a de facto in these lower profile controllers, and they do get the job done. If nothing else you’ll likely know what to expect and know whether you’ll like them before buying. The face buttons I feel may be more divisive than the analogue sticks though, with each of them having next to no travel distance before a defined click. While they do manage to feel incredibly responsive, I’m really not a fan of the instant actuation or the click itself. The buttons work fine, but my preference is more of a muted bump like what you might find on the Switch Pro controller or the other major console players. It’s something PowerA have done well on things like their MOGA XP7-X, though that unfortunately hasn’t seen an iOS release to date.

This instant clicky feel extends beyond the buttons and onto the D-Pad. I get on with this more than the buttons, with it feeling a bit like a budget PS Vita D-Pad. It’s easy to roll between the four directions, and I didn’t experience any phantom up or down inputs while trying to hit left and right in platforming games.

Oddly the only buttons that have the kind of bump I was really wanting were the two bumper buttons. Frankly they feel great, if not slightly out of place for being the only things on the controller not to click. The triggers are also a fairly standard affair for this kind of grip feeling a little flatter than I’d like with a short travel distance. The whole controller comes together in a way that I’d definitely describe as functional, but also not quite to my taste. It feels cheaper than I’d have liked, and considering this sits only $30 cheaper than the Backbone One it takes inspiration from at $70, I expect something that feels a bit more premium. At something closer to $40 I could see this being a good pick, but for the extra $30 I’d probably go with the more established Backbone if you’re looking at these controllers in isolation.

The M1B does have one more trick up its sleeve, though it’s not one I view in a particularly positive light: Egg-3DS. Sound familiar? Much like GameSir’s X2 Android controller, the M1B grants the owner access to an exclusive emulator, this time a 3DS emulator for iOS. On paper this is really cool. With iOS not having as accessible routes to emulation as Android with somewhat tedious sideloading usually required, I can see how this might be appealing to some. Making use of Apple’s TestFlight system, LeadJoy allow you to download the emulator with no real restrictions. The app works fine, and on my iPhone 13 Pro Max I was able to play Fire Emblem Awakening and Ocarina of Time 3D fairly well. It supports up to 3x resolution scaling, custom emulation speed up to 1000% (though I doubt much will be hitting that somehow), and a few different screen layouts. It’s all fine, but it’s somewhat because of this app that I’d really advise steering clear of this controller. The app functions fine, but you’re ultimately left paying a premium for a mediocre controller and access to closed source app that more than likely “borrows” from Citra. It’s all incredibly shady, and really not something I would want to support. With iOS 17 rumoured to bring simpler sideloading and apps like EmuThreeDS rapidly developing, you’re much better off waiting and putting a little more money down to support a better product.

Can I recommend the M1B? The honest answer is no. Were it just a mediocre controller priced a little too highly I might recommend picking it up on sale, but that isn’t the case here. These kinds of closed source peripheral-locked emulators are nothing but harm for the larger homebrew community, and shouldn’t be encouraged. Your money is better spent elsewhere.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/remarkable-2-type-folio.2277/

It’s no secret that I love the reMarkable 2. Reviewing the tablet back at the start of 2021, I praised it for for doing one thing and doing it well. This was the tablet that was always in my bag, and was always my go-to for taking notes. Since my original review though, the reMarkable team have been committed to the device in releasing a fair number of updates, with some of these being incredibly impactful on how you use the can tablet and integrate it into your workflow. Before looking at the Type Folio itself, I thought it’d be a good idea to get you up to speed on what’s changed in these past two years, and how that impacts the usability of the tablet. If you’re not interested in this and want to skip straight to the Type Folio, you can scroll down to the second heading.

Let’s Get Up to Date

The updates prior to July of 2021 this were generally minor improvements throughout the system, but 2.9 stands out as your first major addition since my initial coverage. The standout here is the ability to share your reMarkable screen with the desktop app wirelessly. It’s a surprisingly seamless implementation with less input delay than I would’ve thought. Though the main use for this is sharing notes in a meeting or something stoic along those lines, the black and white nature of the reMarkable sets this up really well for some fun on streaming software like OBS. It was a simple task to set the white background to be transparent and then switch the black ink up to any colour I wanted, doodling over my screen as I streamed.

The updates following screen sharing kept up the momentum well, doing a great job in adding to the larger flexibility of the device by adding support for Google Drive and Dropbox (2.10), and later OneDrive (2.11). While I never had an issue with reMarkable’s own cloud solution, this did a great job of expanding the device’s limited memory. Instead of having to use a PC to move my random sudoku books and epubs that I might have wanted on the reMarkable, I could now keep them in my OneDrive and pull from that when needed. It’s not exactly seamless with you needing to copy files to the system memory before being able to open and not syncing without you manually uploading them. Having said that, it’s a feature that’s still appreciated, and the reMarkable has no issues opening things like spreadsheets, which is neat. The screen sharing of 2.9 also saw an update in 2.10 to enable sharing via USB, which is again a welcome addition.

Hiding between 2.10 and 2.11 is one of the more controversial updates to the device, with the addition of a paid subscription service called Connect. Though owners of the reMarkable 2 prior to the launch of this got a free lifetime subscription, a lot of really good features ended up being paywalled, and I personally think the subscription model as it was presented here was a bad move. Remember that screen sharing? Cloud integrations? You’ve got to pay for those now, and at $8 a month for the full featureset, it isn’t what I would call cheap. You even lost out on the handwriting conversion that I praised in my original review. I can understand a subscription model to some extent, and I really don’t think I would have minded it if it meant the price of entry for the device was lowered to reflect that people who really enjoy the device would continue paying a subscription. This wasn’t the case though, and locking the non-reMarkable cloud services behind a paywall never sat right with me.

I will jump ahead and say they did thankfully reevaluate this subscription model, with external cloud serve integration now being standard, as well as screen sharing and the handwriting conversion. It’s now a $3 per month service that gives you unlimited cloud storage on reMarkable’s servers, access to mobile and desktop note taking (we’ll come back to this shortly), what’s basically an extended warranty, and some discounts in the store. While the price of the reMarkable remains the same, I can get behind this kind of subscription. It subsidises the server costs for those who want to use them, it’s priced low enough where you’ll probably not notice it, and the offers are really quite meaningful for those invested in the ecosystem. There’s only been one offer so far, but it’s a fairly good $50 discount on the Type Folio we’re reviewing here if you were already subscribed to Connect. That’s more than a year’s worth of subscription money, so it really could turn out to be good value if reMarkable release future accessories or extend these discounts to things you might be reordering like marker tips.

The latest major update was 3.0, which released around October of 2022, and this is the one that really sets the stage for the Type Folio, though it’s obviously been around half a year since then for that to really come to fruition. The first part of this update is the continuous page, and looking back it’s a feature I can’t believe the reMarkable 2 didn’t have sooner. Instead of each page in the notebook being the size of the screen, you can now scroll down (seemingly) infinitely, and a bit to the right. On top of this, you’re now able to formally rotate your display, which will also rotate the templates you’re using.

What update 3.0 really introduced though was the desktop and mobile note taking apps. These apps aren’t the best if I’m being blunt. You aren’t getting parity with things like OneNote or Notion, but it does go a long way in adding to the ease of use and fostering a really fluid way of working. More options are rarely a bad thing, and I’m happy to see the company not shackling themselves to their focused writing ethos where that might hold them back from releasing interesting features. I’m hoping the PC and mobile side of things continue to receive updates. Though they work fine, they are missing fairly simple things like being able to move written text around a page. On top of that, it’d really benefit from something as simple as having the text snap to lines if they’re present in the template (though it should be noted text isn’t snapped to lines on the reMarkable itself either). Small things like this really do go a long way in building a premium experience, and this is more important here with these apps only being available to Connect subscribers.

As a bit of a smaller improvement, they also added an option to have converted handwriting be put onto a new page instead of forcing you to email it out. This is a great feature, and being able to do this on-device makes using the Type Folio more more seamless when moving between that and hand writing.

Since 3.0 we’ve seen a few minor updates come through but we’re pretty much up to date on what the reMarkable can do. It’s not been entirely positive for the device since we first covered it, but it’s good to see the company taking notes as they’ve gone along and walking back on things that haven’t been so successful. Even without the Type Folio, I think the reMarkable 2 is in a stronger position than in 2021, and I can recommend it again based on my extensive use of it over the past two years. It is in my mind still priced too highly, but based on what I’ve seen, it has both the longevity and support to be worth that if you’re a heavy writer. And it’s after all of this we’ll get to the actual subject of this review: the Type Folio.

This is something I’ve wanted for a while now, but having missed the pins on the side of the device after putting it straight into the case, I was fully expecting a reMarkable 3 instead of a new folio. I was expecting a device with maybe a little more memory, perhaps utilising some of the improvements we’ve seen to e-ink recently with a few colours, and Bluetooth to give you access to keyboards and other accessories. On one hand I’m a little disappointed to still be working in black and white (really, just having red and blue would be life-changing), but it is good to see they’re continuing to support the device in genuinely meaningful ways after three years. I didn’t want the reMarkable 2 for typing, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been eying up a Pomera device for just this purpose.

And Onto the Folio!

I think we’ve had enough preamble anyway. Let’s start looking at what’s on offer. There are two parts to this story: the hardware, and the software supporting it. Starting with the hardware, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for the standard Book Folio at a glance. It’s largely the same design, coming in the same two black and brown colours. One small change is that the reMarkable logo on the front is debossed in oppose to embossed, and naturally the case is a bit thicker and a bit heavier to fit the keyboard. Neither the thickness or weight have had an impact on my usage of the reMarkable 2, with it still fitting in the same bag space it previously did, and still being plenty holdable in terms of weight.

Opening it up is where we start to see a few changes. Before looking at the keyboard and its mechanism, I’ll just mention that the inner material does appear to be different from the Book Folio, feeling a little more plasticky and smooth. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is different. The reMarkable 2 fits into the Type Folio the same way as it did the Book Folio, and the case still works well here.

The reMarkable 2 features four bumps on the back that can be used to guide the device into the correct position, with it all being held in place using magnets in the middle and near the spine. The tablet connects to the keyboard really quite cleanly using a set of pogo pins, meaning use of the keyboard is quite seamless with no additional charging and the like required. From a bit of Googling, it appears people have been able to jerry rig a keyboard connection to the device for a few years now with it being fairly standard USB OTG, but it’s obviously only recently that’s been useful with the typing-oriented updates.

With the keyboard sitting under the tablet, it’s really easy to just use this as you always have: as a notebook. When you don’t need the keyboard, it’s entirely hidden and out of the way, which is exactly what you’d want. When you do want it though, it’s a fairly simple move to bring it into view and have the tablet propped up. This all works using magnets, both holding the tablet in place over the keyboard, and identifying when the keyboard is being used. The magnets that hold the display up when typing are particularly impressive, which came as quite a shock to me. I figured this would be a Surface-esque setup where you could only really do typing at a desk, but it’s sturdy enough where I’ve been plenty comfortable with it on my lap. If you are at a desk though and wanted a more reclined viewing angle, you’re able to move between what my eyes would say are around a 45 degree angle and a 60 to 70 degree angle. This more reclined angle is particularly good if you wanted to annotate as you write, making the screen far more pen-accessible.

I really do think the reMarkable team hit this one out of the park in terms of delivering a great feeling keyboard in a form factor that doesn’t compromise on the key use case for the device. It feels purely additive, with the only real compromise being that of weight. Going by my kitchen scales, the reMarkable 2 with Type Folio comes in at 879g. Comparatively, it’s 420g with no case and 646g with the Book Folio. As a fairly typical noodle-armed person, I haven’t had any issues holding the reMarkable with Type Folio case for note taking or document reading. I can’t speak for everybody here though, and your experience will naturally vary.

Your Digital Notebook as a Digital Typewriter

Moving on from the hardware, the software is a mixed bag. As mentioned at the start of this review, we’ve seen a flurry of updates delivered over the past two years, with the most recent of these adding the core functionality required to get this keyboard going. It’s not quite a complete experience yet, but it is clear they’re moving closer to that ideal. April’s update released to add the option for bold and italic text, and while these are basics you would have hoped were in from the start, I’m glad to have them.

Your reMarkable 2 word processing features aren’t much more advanced than Notepad on your Windows PC. You have a very select number of options available to you in being able to pick between three text sizes, as well as make bullet point lists. Each of these different formats are bound to Ctrl + 1 through 4, which is quite nice. You can also annotate your typing with the pen as usual, and highlight text cleanly. That’s pretty much it though, and frankly it is lacking. I don’t feel it should be a huge ask to have something like a spell checker or a dictionary on something like this. Even the option to underline text is absent outside of grabbing your pen and doing it physically. To me personally these aren’t dealbreakers since the reMarkable 2 is my way of writing a first draft, with the text moving into an app like Scrivener for checking and further processing. Despite that, I want to see more from this device. It’s capable of more while sticking to reMarkable’s distraction-free ethos, and I hope the team use the money from selling these Type Folios to continue with meaningful updates. With the regular almost-monthly updates, I’m hopeful for this, but you should always buy a device for what it is, not what it could be.

Closing Thoughts

So one burning question remains: is the Type Folio worth the £179 ($199) reMarkable are asking for it? I really don’t have an answer to that, at least not one that’ll satisfy everybody. As somebody who already owned the reMarkable 2 tablet, that additional money is a worthwhile investment for how much I enjoy typing, and how much I’ve wanted an e-ink typewriter of sorts for years. I do however understand that I am a niche case. What the reMarkable team have come up with is no doubt a premium and well-built solution, and if the price doesn’t put you off, I feel it can be worthwhile. It only enhances what was already a great experience; much like the tablet it finds itself attached to, it does one thing and it does it well.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/rog-flow-z13-acrnm-rmt02.2275/

I’m not exactly quiet when it comes to my love of portable gaming. Moving from traditional handheld consoles to Nintendo’s hybrid Switch, and later into the portable PC world, there’s just something to love about being able to game on the go. Perhaps the most curious of this portable gaming market is the niche of gaming tablets. With ASUS really being the only players in this form factor and power profile, just how much are they stepping up their game from the Flow Z13 we previously looked at?

An Upgrade on Paper

So before going any further, let’s get some key specs out of the way. We have a 13th generation i9 CPU in the 13900H paired with an RTX 4070 Laptop series GPU and 32 GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Add to this a 165 Hz 1600p screen, that being 1440p in the 16:10 aspect ratio, and you really have a device that steps up its game in every way from my old 2022 Z13. It’s genuinely impressive how much they’ve managed to fit into this form factor even if there have been a few compromises along the way, but we’ll touch on those later.

Much like the 2022 Z13 tablet we get a 1 TB 2230 M.2 SSD that’s incredibly easy to access with a single screw under the kickstand and swap out. Again following on from its predecessor though, we see non-upgradable RAM, and a non-trivial time if you want to open it up to attempt to fix anything should it break.

Looking to IO we have the exact same layout as before. You have your XG Mobile external graphics interface (that itself features a USB 3.2 Type C if you’re not using an XG Mobile) alongside a more traditional Thunderbolt 4 USB C port. On the opposite side you have a USB 3.2 Type A port, 3.5mm combo jack, physical volume rocker, and a power button. And finally, hidden under the stand we have a UHS II Micro SD card slot. On paper very little has changed, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s not pushing any boundaries with its IO but it’s certainly enough to cover most bases. While some kind of video output would be appreciated, most people will be covered by the USB C ports supporting DisplayPort, or the XG Mobile interface should the budget allow it. One small tweak comes from the power button, with it no longer being a fingerprint sensor. I quite liked this in the 2022 Z13, with it grabbing your fingerprint on turning the device on and carrying it through to the Windows home screen, something we’re actually seeing again with the ROG Ally. It has been replaced with Windows Hello and it does work fine, but it could be seen as a regression all the same.

One last thing worth mentioning in the box is the inclusion of a slightly stylised stylus for use with the tablet. Functionally I believe it’s identical to the ASUS Pen, meaning it’s lightweight and charges pretty quickly using a USB C port hidden towards the top of the pen. It’s about as responsive as you’d expect from a Windows stylus and has two buttons on the side. I had good fun using this for some lighter games like Bloons TD6, Luck be a Landlord, and naturally some DS emulation.

Benchmarks and Performance

In terms of what you can expect from performance, it’s good. It’s almost certainly the best in its form factor, but you should taper your expectations a little. While the RMT02 does pack a 4070 Laptop GPU, it’s operating at power levels far below what the card itself is capable of. The card being rated to run at between 35 and 115W, the 50W (plus 15W from dynamic boost) of the RMT02 sits pretty much in the middle. What this means is that while it does stand as a notable step up from the 3050 Ti in the 2022 Z13, and assumedly the 4060 in the 2023 Z13 that I unfortunately don’t have to hand, it will fall short of 4070s in larger gaming laptops. In this kind of form factor, it’s a delicate balance between performance and heat, but I think they struck it well.

For the benchmarks below, I ran the 2022 Z13 and the RMT02 through Geekbench and Cinebench on the CPU side. For the GPU I decided to use Geekbench again, as well as a few in-game benchmarks in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Hitman 3. It should be noted that for both of these games I’m looking at the highest available settings with DLSS disabled, and that you can naturally get higher framerates by tweaking the settings. With Hitman 3, I also looked at the average FPS with and without ray tracing, again set to its highest configuration. Alongside the tablets, I also decided to include my 2022 Z13 when docked to the RTX 3080 Laptop XG Mobile. For those who have been looking at XG Mobile units with the coming ROG Ally release, this is comparable to the RX 6850M XT card that’s soon to be available, albeit slightly slower in newer games thanks in part to be being the oldest XG Mobile (released in 2021 vs the 6850M XT releasing in 2022).

The results shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. While the 4070 isn’t running at its best, it’s still 65 to 70% better than the 3050 Ti on Geekbench scoring, and doubling the framerate in the 1080p game tests. I did also include the average framerate when running at the device’s native 1600p, and it really does perform well. I’m glad ASUS decided to stick with 1600p this time around instead of overreaching on a 4K screen that really won’t be utilised to its fullest. At 1600p you will be able to utilise the higher framerates the screen is capable of, though you’ll likely have to drop your settings to something closer to medium to really reach the heights of 165 Hz.

It also probably shouldn’t be a surprise to see the XG Mobile beat out the internal 4070. With gains between 10 and 20% in framerate, you’re seeing the full 150W capabilities of the 3080. It’s nice to see this dock still stands up being the oldest in the range, but I don’t think that power uplift is really worth the price of entry here. You’re only likely to get significant gains by investing in 2023’s XG Mobile that comes packing a Laptop 4090 GPU, and when that alone costs £2000, I’d probably recommend bumping your game’s graphics down if you find it running poorly.

The CPU also sees a nice generational increase in performance, coming out about 10% higher in single core performance across both benchmarks, with multicore performance being boosted by 10% in Geekbench and a more impressive 40% in Cinebench. Having used the RMT02 for around a month now, there’s not been anything from my library it wasn’t capable of handling, and it coming with three months of Game Pass Ultimate means you’ll have plenty to try after turning it on.

The Acronym Factor

Here though there’s more to talk about than just its performance. After all, this isn’t just an ASUS ROG device. This is an Acronym device. For those who don’t know, myself being among you until recently, Acronym are a pretty big name in tech apparel. That is to say tech-oriented clothing. They have some interesting design philosophies, and while I don’t think they’ll gel well with everybody, I do feel there’s a lot to like.

Having previously partnered with ASUS in 2020 to release a custom Zephyrus G14, they came together again to design something significantly more bold. Much like their clothing, I don’t think this design will be for everybody, but to me it is stunning. Gone are the days of plastic. Here we have a full aluminium body with thick flat edges. Each corner has a notch that I assume would mitigate the impact of a drop (I didn’t want to test this), but also serve to elevate the screen a little. This is something I appreciate as somebody who uses these devices with their included keyboards detached most of the time. The back of the tablet has a really funky machined aluminium design, and I think they did a spectacular job in making it easy to grip from all sides. The kickstand also sees some improvement and can now comfortably hold the tablet in both portrait and landscape orientations.

The keyboard is thicker and more rugged, featuring a unique font and some accented keys to fit with the Acronym brand. It all comes together really cohesively, and tied up with the notches mentioned earlier also functioning as mounting points for an included harness. Clothing is Acronym’s domain, so making the tablet wearable isn’t as out of character as you’d expect. It functions well, and in an ideal world I could see myself using this a lot. Reality however is a little different, and walking around with something like this exposed seems more likely to make me a target than anything. Wearing it with the keyboard side facing outwards is lower profile than I would’ve expected, but it’s just a lot of money to be leaving on-show.

Despite the additional ruggedness of the keyboard, I will note here that I did somehow manage to break it. The trackpad at least. Everything else is completely functional and there’s no visible damage, it just doesn’t work, and it doesn’t appear to be a software issue either. With the keyboard sharing an interface with my 2022 Z13, I tested it on that with similar results. I’ve gone through ASUS repair processes before in the UK and they have been quite accommodating, so assuming this is a one-off caused by cosmic rays, it’d probably be a simple fix. It does however raise potential issues in terms of longevity if this has happened after a month; it’s a blemish on an otherwise great device.

I really do love this design, and I’m a little upset to see it come from a collaboration in oppose to it being a mainstay product. The 2023 revision to the Z13 is already out there and it looks no different to the 2022 model I have on hand. It’s still a good tablet, but this is leagues apart in terms of both build quality and feel. This does come at a cost though, and with a £3000 price tag, this is a niche product within an already-niche category.

Closing Thoughts

Put simply, this is my dream tablet, but it’s one I’ll likely never buy in part to its price, and in part to what I assume will be its limited availability as a collaborative release. ROG and Acronym have come together brilliantly to deliver on a device that can’t be matched in its field. By no means it a mainstream product, but for those wanting to push the tablet form factor to its modern limits, look no further. It’s a premium you pay, but you get what you pay for.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/huion-kamvas-pro-13-2-5k-pen-display.2253/

I’m not unfamiliar to Huion tablets, and if you’re remotely into digital art, you probably won’t be either. Having used one of their simpler non-screened tablets in the Inspiroy Q11K since 2017, I can vouch for their tablets being easy to use and working well. I’m by no means an artist, but I love the idea of being able to just pick up a tablet and doodle away, but when you stick a screen on your graphics tablet, it becomes capable of so much more. With the Kamvas Pro 13 2.5k model having been out for just over a year now, there’s plenty of reviews out there from seasoned digital artists, so I wanted to approach this slightly differently as a doodler, a multitasker, and a simple lover of touch screens. Is it worth it for your average tech enthusiast to pick this up? That’s what I’m here to figure out.

Out of the box we have a fairly hefty assortment of goodies to look at. Outside of the tablet itself, we have a horde of cables to choose between, an adjustable stand, the pen, a doughnut to hold the pen, and an odd-looking glove. The box itself is about as nice-looking as you’d expect it to be for a graphic design tool, and it all comes out easily. The tablet features a 2.5K screen, coming in at 2560×1600 for the growingly-popular 16:10 aspect ratio, and feels really quite premium to hold. Along the side you have seven buttons that can be remapped via software. By default these function as, from top to bottom, B, ], [, Ctrl+, Ctrl-, Space, and Ctrl/Alt/Z. These are all fairly usable out of the box with something like Clip Studio Paint if you’re not wanting to go out of your way to install Huion’s software. The buttons each have a different embossed mark on them to make them easy to differentiate by touch, with the top being blank, then a circle, dash, and the middle being a dot. From there they repeat in reverse. It’s really easy to pick up and start using once you’ve got down which button does what.

Outside of the 13 inch screen being 2.5K, it’s also interestingly-textured thanks to it being laminated anti-glare glass. If you happen to have a Kindle Oasis, it feels a lot like that to touch. It’s much softer than your standard glossy panels, but with a sturdiness you wouldn’t expect from a matte display. Something that will take a bit of getting used to is the granular look this layers on top of your image. It’s something I previously saw on the secondary display of my Zephyrus Duo and it does soon fall out of mind, but it can take away from an otherwise sharp and crisp image. The colours on the screen look great with 145% sRGB coverage, and setting it up can be as simple as plugging in one USB C cable, this assuming your device is capable of DP over USB C to be able to power the device. If it isn’t though, you there are two slightly more cumbersome options you can pick between. If you have a USB C but it doesn’t support DP over USB C, you can just plug in a separate power cable to the tablet that can be connected to a wall or anything else that can offer a USB plug power. If your PC is a little older and has a humble HDMI port, you can use the exceptionally odd-looking three-headed cable that features a HDMI, data USB, and power USB. With HDMI by itself unable to drive touch events, you need to dedicate a USB port. It does work well though, and I’m glad it was considered as an option. With my tablet having a spare Thunderbolt port, I was thankfully able to use a single cable and that worked flawlessly too.

Coming from 2017’s Inspiroy Q11K, I can see some clear improvements in the drawing department. The pen in particular stands out as a really simple evolution that sticks to the same ideas they had back then. It’s slightly slimmer, slightly lighter, and no longer requires what I have come to dub the “pinprick cable” to charge it. In fact, you don’t need any cable to charge it, which is genuinely stellar when coming from a Surface Pen’s AAAA batteries, or the awkwardly-hidden USB C ports of other PC pens. They’re not quite like for like comparisons, but no charging is only a good thing in my mind. Hidden inside the doughnut, you have access to an additional ten pen nibs, with the doughnut itself doubling as a nib remover. This is something Huion have done for a while and it works well. Something new to me however is the inclusion of five felt nibs, on top of the five more traditional plastic ones. Using these are an entirely different world in terms of feel. It’s much softer, and saying it feels like a felt tip is probably the most apt, given these are actually just felt tips for the pen. Naturally however, these do wear down faster than the plastic nibs, and I did notice fraying of the material within an hour of use. On top of that, I found them far more loose in the pen itself, and while they wouldn’t fall out, they didn’t take much to come out at all. I think if you want a different feel and you’re happy to be delicate about it, these offer a genuinely refreshing change, but I couldn’t see myself using them all the time.

Your drawing experience as a whole is a fairly standard affair. You have 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, and a touch screen that will only register the pen. This is the ultimate form of palm rejection, and this style of screen will be favoured by some for that, and disliked by others for the fact they can’t pan across the canvas easily with a free hand, or rotate using two fingers. I’m in the crowd of liking it though. A small quirk for those not wanting to install the driver is that you’ll need to set it as your primary display for the touch to register correctly, but if you’re happy to have the software, any display can be controlled using the touch screen. The stand can be adjusted between 20 and 45 degrees, which are both great for drawing, but not so great if you wanted to keep the tablet plugged in and use it as a secondary display when not being creative. Propping it up on an adjustable stand works well, but it’s a bit of a shame the included stand couldn’t have a slightly steeper setting. The glove mentioned earlier was a surprisingly significant improvement as somebody who’s never used one before. This type of glove looks odd, and wraps around just the ring and little finger. What this does however is allow your hand to glide across the display with no resistance. It’s great for traversing the canvas and drawing smooth, clean lines.

The Huion software hasn’t changed in the past six years, at least to my eye. You install it, and then you have a simple set of screens that give you everything you need to. The features it has are all the things I touched on earlier; you can pick your display, you can remap the buttons, and you can also calibrate the display if you feel your inputs are landing off the mark. My only criticism with it is that after installing the software, the mouse pointer would always be on-screen. Without the driver, the pointer follows whatever you set in Windows, whether this is hiding it, or using a smaller cursor to better show the screen. The driver appears to ignore this, always showing a mouse cursor. Googling the issue, the community consensus was to uninstall the driver, which is what I ended up doing. It’s not a huge loss if you’re happy to have the tablet as your default display, and are happy with its default buttons. It would be better to see this addressed however.

Looking at wider uses for the tablet, you really can just think of it as a very nice 2.5K display. If you have a compatible system, it’s incredibly easy to add it to your setup with just a single cable, and being able to reach for it whenever you need to doodle, note take, or even draw something out in Paint while on a call with a colleague, it all just works. The response time isn’t great for gaming at 25ms, and a standard refresh rate of 60Hz, but it is workable for lighter games that favour a touch screen. If you’re a Bloons fan you’ll be in for a grand time. If you did plan on using this for games and the like, I would recommend diving into the Pen and Touch section of Control Panel on Windows, and disabling the “Press and hold” action. This can cause odd behaviours in games like Bloons where you just want to click and drag things. Outside of that though it really is good to go.

Not being a full time digital artist and still wanting to put the tablet through a fair stress test, I opted for the only thing I thought was reasonably in my skillset: Pokemon Ranger. Once I had fiddled around in Control Panel, melonDS worked without issue, and I was drawing rings in no time. Despite the input delay, I was perfectly able to draw rings around even the most elusive of targets, and the display stood up find to some really quite rigorous inputs. I can’t imagine too many artists attacking the screen as I did, so I feel confident in saying it’ll last a decent length of time for most. With emulators like Citra and Cemu offering multi-window options, it’s great to have it set in front of me solely displaying the lower touch screen. I wish there were something for the DS that supported this too, and I’m hoping in time melonDS might meet my hopes.

What is probably the weirdest feature that falls far beyond the traditional use case of this tablet is the fact it can function as a Switch dock out of the box. And I’m not talking about plugging the HDMI cable into a dock, it functions as a Switch dock using a single cable, with Huion advertising this themselves via their YouTube channel. It does work as advertised, but it did lead me to look into the tablet’s settings to see if there was a way to set it to a 16:9 aspect ratio. There is not. But oddly, there is an option to set it to 4:3. I can’t fathom why this would be remotely useful compared to the more standard 16:9, and it is a genuine shame it lacks this option. I’m not saying I would use this as a Switch display, but further flexibility on a device like this really just adds to the reasons to buy it.

At £350 I think Huion have done a great job in offering an incredibly flexible graphics tablet. The drawing experience is great and as a package, it goes a long way in justifying its value. While you can get cheaper portable displays, and at a similar price point, get ones more catered to gaming with low input delay and higher refresh rates, Huion have created what I would view as an almost-perfect all rounder. It’s easy to setup, easy to use, and easy to transition between using it as a traditional display and getting your creativity onto canvas. If you’re in the market for a graphics tablet or a portable display, it’s one worth checking out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/bayonetta-origins-cereza-and-the-lost-demon.2228/

Known for its sassy dialogue and fast-paced, combo-heavy gameplay, the Bayonetta series has grown to be hugely popular since its debut in 2009. Each game upping the ante from the last and continuing the titular character’s tale, we now take a step back to look into her past, and who she was before the stylish witch we know today. 

Bayonetta Origins starts with a chapter of a picture book, lovingly narrated like a parent reading to a child. I’ll keep the details here brief, since you can experience this part for yourself with the free demo, but the gist is that Cereza is a child shunned by her village for being born of both an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage. Her father sent away and her mother imprisoned, she gets taken in by an exiled witch named Morgana who trains her in the dark arts, with Cereza’s goal being to accrue the power she needs to rescue her mother. Our first glimpse of gameplay sees us wander through a recurring dream of Cereza’s, tempting the power she so hungers for, and telling her to enter the dangerous Avalon Forest and follow a white wolf to retrieve it. After a short tutorial and against Morgana’s best advice, Cereza wanders into the woods, and the game really begins. 

The forest is fraught with danger, but as little more than a child, Cereza is ill-equipped to fend it off. This is where the core of the Bayonetta Origins’ gameplay comes in: Cheshire. While Cereza can’t fight for herself, she does have a demon possessing her stuffed cat and it’s somewhat willing to fight for her, itself motivated to chase the same power as Cereza so it can be sent back to where it was summoned from. The majority of the game revolves around using both Cereza and Cheshire in different ways to navigate environmental puzzles and the intricacies of battle. At its core, you have each character being controlled by their respective half of the controller: Cereza on the left stick, and Cheshire on the right. You can attack with Cheshire using ZR, and you can cast spells with Cereza using ZL. The general idea is that Cereza is kept away from direct danger, but can assist with binding magic to support as Cheshire deals the damage. This system takes some getting used to, but I would say it’s to the game’s merit. You almost gain a sense of empathy towards the difficulties of controlling a demon, and as Cereza grows on this journey, you feel as though you grow with her as you better understand the controls and how each character can best support the other. Outside of this growth through play, you also have a more direct sense of growth in the available skill trees and elemental unlockables, further boosting your repertoire as you delve deeper into the woods. These act to keep the game fresh both in and out of combat, and when paired with a surprisingly good variety of enemies there’s more than enough to keep you interested as the game progresses. 

I won’t beat around the bush here though, the gameplay on offer won’t be for everybody. Where the Bayonetta series is known primarily for its fast-paced and combo-heavy combat, Origins puts forward a much slower and more methodical tale. Combat feels more tactical, and outside of it you’ll find yourself moving steadily through a tailored environment. It’s completely different, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The puzzles on offer are rarely over-complicated, but throughout the game they do manage to maintain a good sense of satisfaction for solving them. If this aspect of the game is what you enjoy in particular, and not the combat, I do also feel it worth commending the game for its great assortment of difficulty options. If you want to play the game without taking damage, you can do. If you want your magic to always be full, it can be. You can make the game into an incredibly engaging picture book if that suits your taste, and in a game like this I can only see that as a good thing. While there appears to be no way to make the game harder out of the gate, there is in fact a hidden difficulty setting you would usually unlock on beating the game. If you want this for your first play through, you can access this using the Platinum Code on the title screen. For the uninitiated, this is holding ZR, then pressing Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, X, B, Y, and A in sequence. Note you can only start a file with this harder difficulty, and it’s not something you can switch in or out of on the fly, so make sure it is something you actually want before jumping in. It would have been nice to have a bit of nuance in the upwards difficulty scaling, but it is good to see both audiences catered for in some way at least. 

Looking at the game’s artistic direction, Bayonetta Origins is utterly charming through and through, enthralling me from the start. The world feels alive in a completely whimsical way, capturing the art of storytelling in a way I haven’t seen until now. From the watercolour style to the magical musical score to the fantastic narration that presents this story to you, you feel as though you’re walking through a picture book. It’s cohesive and manages to look great on the Switch regardless of whether you’re playing in handheld or docked mode. There are a few blemishes on show, with small things like the page turning animation feeling a little lacking on frames, but you’ve soon forgotten about that once the latest page begins to appear. 

As a package, Bayonetta Origins impressed me in ways I could never have expected from the larger series. Platinum Games did a stellar job in delivering a game entirely unlike its predecessors but marvellous all the same. It can certainly feel a little slow, granted, and with you able to beat the game in as little as ten hours, some will question the value on offer for a £50 game (though it is worth noting that it is readily available for £40 via certain retailers and will naturally be cheaper still pre-owned). As an experience it’s one I still recommend however, and would really encourage anybody remotely interested to give the demo a shot, regardless of prior experience with the series. This is a charming tale that I sincerely hope more people will pick up and give a chance.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/nuphy-halo96-mechanical-keyboard.2226/

Like many a keyboard creator before them, NuPhy were until recently a complete unknown to me. Appearing seemingly out of nowhere with some really interesting-looking designs and layouts, I was incredibly excited to jump into my first 96% layout. Do they do enough to stand up in this ever-crowded market though?

While NuPhy might be a little newer on the scene than some of its competitors, they’ve done a great job out of the gate in delivering keyboards that look fantastic in some interesting layouts. 96% is a layout I’d not seen until recently, with it striking a nice balance between the compact nature of a tenkeyless board with the functionality of a full-sized one. Notably, the end result is a design with no spacing at all between the main keys and the numpad. It does take a bit of getting used to, with the smaller 0 key also feeling a bit wrong at first. Once you get past that first hurdle though, you’re in for a really good time. To my eye, the only keys you miss with the 96% layout are Insert, Scroll Lock, and Pause; even on my full-sized keyboards I’m fairly sure I’ve only pressed these keys in error. Losing these keys really will be nothing more than trimming the fat for most.

In terms of connectivity, NuPhy are on board with the recent trend of offering both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connetions to go with your regular USB C wired option. Though I’m a person that will usually opt for a mouse, I can’t express just how nice it is to have the option to drag a keyboard over to a different PC without having to fish cables out from my desk. The dongle fits securely in the keyboard, another plus, and matches the light blue accented keys nicely. The Bluetooth also allows you to save up to three connections, meaning you could have this as your desk mainstay and quickly swap between laptops, tablets, or phones that you might have lying around without the faff of Bluetooth settings after initial setup.

Aesthetically-speaking, the Halo96 is immaculate. You have the choice between a black or white aluminium frame on top of a matching plastic base. The white model admittedly hurts my head a little with how all but four of the keys are white. I prefer a few more accented keys personally, and the black model I have on hand meets my needs perfectly. I feel it’s a little more important here to have some kind of definition on the numpad, but this will naturally come down to preference. You’re free to swap in your own keycaps if you’d like, but it’s certainly no necessity for the Halo96. The included PBT keycaps feel great, and you have the option to buy a set of matching shine-through ABS keycaps if that’s something you’re interested in. The keyboard does feature a great assortment of RGB configurations, so this is a good option for those wanting to show it off to its fullest.

One of my favourite features from the Halo96 is its aptly-named Halo lighting. Where most keyboards tend to exclusively have lights behind the keys, NuPhy took it a step further by adding a band of lighting around the keys that can be used either by itself or alongside the usual per-key light effects. After my initial play around, I’ve kept just the Halo light on; it just looks really great without being too over the top. You can also get an acrylic wrist rest separately that allows some of the Halo light to shine through, with it coming subtly from the bottom of the case as well as inside. Having recently reviewed Roccat’s Vulcan II Max I was left underwhelmed by how little it shines through, but it’s not exactly a make or break point for me. The wrist rest is really sturdy and feels comfortable, so it does everything it needs to.

I don’t usually comment on manuals or guides, but I do also just want to put in a quick word here to say that the guide here doubles as an A3 poster featuring NuPhy’s anime mascot. This certainly won’t be for everybody, but I think it’s commendable for any company to put effort into making something that may otherwise be looked at once and thrown away into something you would want to keep and maybe even display. If you’re a fan of the mascot, you even get a few stickers!

Your typing experience on the Halo96 as usual will come down to the switches you’ve oped for at checkout. There are some commonalities however, and NuPhy really did do a great job as a whole. The big theme on show is silicone, and through various layers of it you have remarkably muted keypresses. Out of the box you have a choice of six switches, with my keyboard coming with NuPhy’s Rose Glacier switches. These offer a really heavy tactile bump, with a 60gf actuation force. Weirdly, the Halo96 opts for a unified space bar, featuring one of NuPhy’s own Night Breeze switches regardless of whcih option you choose at checkout. Thanks to the included accessory kit that offers one of each switch type alongside some accent keys, you’re free to swap this out should you prefer. All of the larger keys feel great to use, but the space bar is a little special thanks to NuPhy’s unique “GhostBar” with a small support in the middle. The general idea is to make the key a little less hollow, but in reality I think the pleasant experience is carried more by the silicone pads underneath. Using a different space bar I had on hand produced similarly pleasant results. It is still a positive mark for NuPhy, but I just feel I’m missing something when it comes to their space bar.

While it isn’t advertised all too well at the moment, the Halo96 is fully customisable via NuPhy’s driver software NuPhy Console. I assume this isn’t listed on the main product page due to it currently being listed as beta, but from my experience it really does do everything you’d expect from the big hitters. If you don’t like messing with keyboard shortcuts to set your lighting, you can sort it all out here, but more importantly, you can both remap keys and create macros. These are where your real value are going to live, especially with a numpad on the right of the keyboard just asking to be remapped to bigger and better things. It’d also be very little hassle to swap your layout to something like AZERTY if that’s what you’re used to, which is great when this keyboard is only sold as QWERTY ASCI. There are a few quirks, like the shortcut it makes after running the installer being broken, and some of the UI not quite being as clear as it could be, but it remains simple to use and does everything I’d want.

NuPhy may have been an unknown to me until recently, but the Halo96 has put them solidly on my radar. A well-constructed keyboard that offers a fantastic typing experience and feature set, it has me genuinely excited to see what’s coming next from them. To me it more than justifies its $140 price tag, and I’d encourage you to check them out if you’re looking for a fantastic and flexible pre-built board.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/vortex-pc66-keyboard.2188/

I’ll start this review off as I have many reviews of interesting-looking things: by saying I’d not heard of Vortex prior to seeing this keyboard. Based out of Taiwan, Vortex were founded in 2010 with an aim to make well designed PC peripherals that were both high quality and affordable. It’s a pretty generic mission statement, but knowing the company’s been around for more than ten years now does instil a certain confidence, and create expectations as to the quality of their gear. I saw the PC66 back in December and absolutely fell in love with its aesthetic. After two months of waiting it’s finally here, but does their time in the business shine through as you’d hope?

Let’s just jump straight to it. This keyboard is absolutely gorgeous. Based on the classic design of IBM’s PCjr it screams nostalgia from every part of itself. You have a solid-feeling cream plastic shell housing your classic off-white and beige keycaps. On top of this, you get a nice coiled USB C to USB A cable, and my favourite feature of all with the PC66: an emblem in the bottom-left of the shell. I recently built my own keyboard using the Momoka Zoo 65 kit, and while I really love how premium and clean it looks, the PC66 scratches an itch on the polar opposite end of the spectrum.

Now while I love the design, it does come with some notable caveats. The emblem in the bottom-left corner is taking up the position of two very crucial keys: on a traditional layout these would be Ctrl and Win. Vortex’s solution to this was a simple one. Get rid of the Win key, and shove the Ctrl key across. It’s not a perfect solution I will say, and any muscle memory you might have had with keyboard shortcuts may as well be thrown out the window. If the emblem isn’t too important to you, there is a PC68 flavour that gives you these two keys back. But if you’re set on it like me, there are ways to adjust. We’ll get to those later.

Your typing experience will vary greatly depending on the switches you opt for. When I’m buying a pre-built keyboard, I often try to grab switches I’ve not tried before that sound like they’ll fit with the larger theme of the keyboard. Here, I have Cherry MX Milky switches, which to me feel like heavier versions of Kailh’s Box Whites. They’re really wonderful, and give the keys what I would describe as a really satisfying bubble-wrap popping feel. The 80g actuation force is something you really feel, especially when compared to something like the previously mentioned Box Whites’ 45g. Key presses feel intentional and forceful, but it can feel slightly fatiguing with extended use. When hitting keys, you do get a bit of a metallic reverb thanks to a lack of dampening in the case. It’s not really a deal breaker for me and I think it fits well with the switches I have, but it’s worth mentioning all the same.

Regardless of the switches it comes with, the hot-swappable nature of the board means you can happily change your mind down the line and install whatever you want. With these being standard MX switches too, there’s no real issue with you grabbing alternate keycap sets either. I’m really fond of the set Vortex picked out, but the keyboard did also release as a barebones kit for those wanting to customise it better to their tastes.

The PC66 does also feature both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth wireless capabilities, and is quite oddly powered by two AAA batteries. The USB dongle is cream to match the keyboard, which is a nice touch to avoid it getting lost in the sea of other unbranded dongles you likely have floating around your desk. As to what this wireless experience is actually like, I really couldn’t tell you. I’m not sure if the model I have handy is defective, but it would not be found by my PC regardless of whether I used the dongle or tried to connect via Bluetooth. The batteries were fine, as indicated by the wireless indicator light turning on when I pressed the appropriate buttons to pair, but nothing would happen. It’s a nice feature assuming it works, but I’m not all that disappointed it didn’t for me. I bought this intending to use it wired, so wired I shall use it.

As mentioned earlier in the review, there are certain sacrifices you have to make if you want to pick up the 66 key variant of this keyboard. The keys being shifted over is one thing, but the lack of a dedicated Windows key was a real struggle for me. It is still somewhat accessible using Fn + Z by default, but you can actually do something about it using Vortex’s dedicated software.

Having just reviewed a Roccat keyboard, it’s a noticeable step down. At least in terms of polish. Functionally though, it hits all the right marks, and at the end of the day if it works, it’s good enough for me. There are only really two pages of interest: key configuration and the macro manager. Both are exactly what they sound like, and are incredibly easy to use. Within seconds I had my left Alt key remapped to Win, and my Alt Gr key mapped to be that left Alt. A simple change, but it goes so far in terms of bolstering usability. I still do struggle a little moving between keyboards and adapting to Ctrl + X/C/V for common shortcuts, but I at least have Win + number keys at my disposal for quickly opening taskbar apps. My only real complaint on this page is that when hovering over each key, it doesn’t actually tell you what’s currently mapped. You can configure both the standard mappings and the function layer, but you’ll have to keep on top of what you’ve mapped yourself. It’s small, but it is annoying.

The macro editor isn’t anything fancy, but again it’ll get the job done. You can choose to insert specified events manually, or record keystrokes with either the recorded delay, no delay, or a set delay. From there you save it and throw it onto a key of choice using the key configuration page. There’s no frills, but it’s perfectly functional. What I do really appreciate about the app a considerable amount is the fact that all of these configurations are saved onto the keyboard itself with no active requirement to keep the software open. This is frankly how it should be in my mind, and being able to keep my keyboard plugged into a dock that I can switch between personal and work machines on is a really big point for me. I don’t want to be installing software just to have easy access to a Windows key.

Can I recommend Vortex’s PC66? It’s hard to say. It certainly suits my tastes, but this is a niche design for enthusiasts and people like me who would put a little metallic square over functionality and many years of muscle memory. On Vortex’s part though, they really did everything right. It’s a wonderful keyboard as long as you know what you’re buying, and one I’m using as my daily driver at the moment. It feels great to type on, and I love seeing it on my desk.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/kirbys-return-to-dream-land-deluxe.2196/

Kirby games have always held a special place in my heart. They’re not known for their challenge so much as their charm and polish. To me, they’re comfort games. Joining the series back with Mouse Attack (or the better US title Squeak Squad) on the DS, I’ve seen Kirby through most of his modern adventures, and I’m yet to come out disappointed. Having missed the original Wii release of Return to Dream Land though, I’m excited to jump in now.

If you’ve managed to avoid my favourite pink blob all this time, let me fill you in on the basics. Kirby is a happy and somewhat carefree resident of Dream Land. If they had their way, they’d probably spend his adventuring days sat under a tree indulging in sweet treats; it never quite works out that way though. For one reason or another, Kirby’s peaceful afternoons are thrown into chaos, and they must set out on journey after journey to live the life they so desire. The stories behind an average Kirby game is never particularly complex, but they are endearing in just how far Kirby’s willing to go in search of this peace, or to make their friends happy. Often caught up in the grandeur and sense of adventure, it’s easy to forget how simple the motivations often are. Mouse Attack as a keen example starts by Kirby’s strawberry shortcake being stolen, and ends in a fight with a possessed mouse and an evil God or something. Kirby just wanted the shortcake, and I love that.

Return to Dream Land starts out in a similar way to most Kirby games. You see a peaceful and green world with a few familiar faces lounging around or running with food. All is well, at least until it isn’t. Kirby’s push in this case is a giant spaceship appearing in the sky, and falling apart as it crashes down. Going to investigate, we meet a now-stranded Magolor in the ruins of his ship. Seeing how sad he looks, Kirby’s naturally right there to offer support and gather the parts Magolor needs to get back into the sky. With that, we’re on our way.

Coming to this game after recently playing Star Allies, it is a change to see a more traditional level selection screen. Taking me back to some of the oldest titles in the series, worlds are laid out as a 2D map not too different from an actual level. On these maps, you can see a bunch of closed doors where each represents a level, and each world ending in a boss battle. It’s a simple formula that works well, giving you a decent idea of what to expect and how long each world is likely to be. Once you’ve unlocked a level, you can also see your stats in terms of collectables both available and found. It’s good to have this knowledge prior to entering since you don’t always keep to the three collectable per level rule you might have become accustom to in games like the New Super Mario Bros series.

The levels themselves are unquestionably and ashamedly Kirby levels. It might sound like a silly thing to point out, but if you’ve played one Kirby game before, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting here. Not necessarily complex and rarely overly punishing, they’re a relaxed stroll where you’re encouraged to explore and engage with the level using the tools on offer. It’s common for the game to put something you want just out of reach as you run through a level. Close enough that it’ll catch your eye, but far enough away where you have to think about how to get it. It’s a good balance that doesn’t really strain you to play; it fits in with my general view of the Kirby series as comfort games to unwind to.

Unique to Return to Dream Land are the super abilities. As Magolor’s ship crashed down, strange and shadowy objects fell with it. While it isn’t immediately obvious what these are or do, you’re soon introduced to them in the form of a particularly large and glowing enemy. As a great player of Kirby games, the natural instinct is to ingest such an enemy, and you’re rewarded well for such an instinct. Comparable to the Mega Mushroom of New Super Mario Bros, you gain a very strong version of the enemy’s power up with the caveat that you only have it for a brief period of time. The first of these, and the one you’ll have likely seen in some form of promotional material, is the Ultra Sword. When you attack with the Ultra Sword, you’ll both clear enemies off the screen, breaking the fourth wall a tad and smashing them into your display, and clear otherwise-unbreakable objects from the map. By getting to the end of the section with the power up, you’re able to enter another dimension that starts with you being chased by a really intimidating wall of something, and ending in a boss battle for some of those sweet sweet collectables. These sections are entirely optional, but to me they were some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

While I do consider Kirby games to be relaxing rides, it’s certainly not to say there’s no kind of difficulty scaling as you progress through the story. Though not something I noticed so much from level to level, it is noticeable as you move from world to world, especially at the start of the adventure. Cookie Country serves as your typical green training wheel world that, in typical Kirby fashion, ends in a fight with everybody’s favourite tree. Moving out of there though and onto Raisin Ruins and beyond, I noticed myself taking more random hits and even dying a few times. It was never particularly frustrating, and I think a lot of my deaths came from being impatient more than the difficulty spiking out of nowhere.

If you do find the game too difficult though, you do have a few options. The first is probably the obvious one: just skip the collectable. More often than not, the difficult areas of a Kirby game are the ones that are rewarding you for beating them, usually ending with an energy sphere or two. I managed to collect everything on my adventure, but if I were committed to collecting and found myself entirely against a brick wall, there was also another option. In Return to Dream Land Deluxe, you can call upon Magolor to assist you. He’ll throw you potions every so often, and also pick you up if you happened to fall down a hole and into the void. I’m never against optional helper features like this, especially in such an accessible game as Kirby. If you wanted to introduce a younger family member to the franchise or even gaming as a whole, something like could genuinely have a meaningful impact on their experience. I think that’s great.

On the other end of the spectrum though if you breezed through the main game, you might be happy to know there is an Extra Mode that takes the entirety of the base story and amps it up. Here, you’ll play with limited health against tweaked enemies and bosses. It is much the same game, don’t get me wrong, but only having 60% of your maximum health available was terrifying to me when I squeaked through a few of the later stages by a hit or two.

Though it might sound like a picky critique, I do think it’s a shame that no real malicious motivations are communicated throughout the game. To some extent, you’d ask why would there be? And that’s a reasonable question. But to ask something similar back, exactly why are the world bosses fighting you over these pieces of Magolor’s ship? Surely it’s just junk to them? There’s one exception to this that’s a brilliant fight, but the others feel like they could’ve been in any Kirby game. Compare this to a game like Planet Robobot where each boss fits the larger theme and serves a larger purpose, it all just feels a bit disjointed. It still makes for a fine Kirby game, but the series has shown it can be better than this.

Magolor Epilogue is a mode new to the Deluxe edition of Return to Dream Land. Set after the main story, it sees you control a now-powerless Magolor fight against enemies to collect magic points and restore his power. After each stage you return to the Ethereal Alter to allocate your magic points before heading out again. The core gameplay shares much of the Kirby charm and simplicity, but at least at the start puts a much heavier emphasis on traditional platforming with Magolor unable to fly. You’re also rewarded for building up combos of attacks with some decent magic point bonuses, this working towards an end of stage medal that ranges from bronze to platinum. I found from normal play a gold rank was easy enough to get. Platinum tended to take a bit more thinking to ensure I could both string together enough combos and not be hit out of them from being careless.

This epilogue is a really cool addition, and really rounds out your traditional game modes nicely, but there’s obviously one more major mode you’ll probably expect if you’re a series veteran: the arena. Much like Magolor Epilogue, this is unlocked after beating the main story, but unlike the epilogue, you know exactly what you’re getting here. After picking your favourite power up, you’re thrown into a 13 round timed brawl against each of the game’s bosses. As always it’s a great challenge and a greater challenge if you’re trying to best your previous high score. With me being the type of player to play carelessly in search of a quick win, this is one of the harder parts of the game for me, and one I come back to when I want to re-experience some of the best parts of the game.

Outside of your primary game modes, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe features a pretty lengthy assortment of subgames to enjoy, and they’re split between two areas of the game. The first of these is Merry Magoland, a charming theme park area run by Magolor. Here, you get ten games that are available to play pretty much out of the gate, each with a small assortment of missions to complete across three difficulty settings.  There’s a fun gameplay loop to be found. You’ll play games and receive stamps. Getting enough stamps will reward you with items to help you on your main adventure, but also cosmetic masks to wear. Some missions will require you to play the games wearing these masks, bringing you back, getting more stamps, and so on. The majority of these games are fairly simple and you’ll be getting through them within a minute or so of play, but they are fun and they’ll feel familiar for fans of the series. I enjoy the cosmetic masks a lot too since they carry over to the main adventure to customise Kirby just a little, and the missions are fun for guiding you towards an objective as you play instead of them just being standalone games. It’s kind of like how I prefer Harvest Moon DS to Friends of Mineral Town for how collecting Sprites gives much of the other game a guiding purpose.

The other way you’ll be interacting with subgames is as a reward for gathering this game’s collectables: energy spheres. At the centre of the world map, you can visit Magolor’s ship for an update of what’s still missing, but also to see what you’ve unlocked along the way. For your troubles, you’ll get an assortment of bonus challenge levels focused on a particular power, rooms that’ll let you just gain a power you’re after, and subgames. What’s a little odd here is that these are the same subgames you’ll find in Merry Magoland, but here they’re locked behind up to 115 energy spheres. What’s more, playing the unlockable versions doesn’t actually count towards the missions you can find in Magoland. If I had to guess, this was the original way you’d be able to play them, and Magoland is a Deluxe addition. Even so, it’s weird they’d leave these in as a reward when you start with them. It’s just a bit odd. I like Merry Magoland’s aesthetic and inclusion, but I do wish they reworked the content that was already present to not diminish the sense of reward for collecting the spheres. I don’t think I’d have minded Magoland having the games be locked.

Can I recommend the Deluxe version of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land? Of course I can. This is a great Kirby game on a more versatile platform, with the added bonus of new and meaningful content. If you’re a fan of Kirby games or just want something fun to play with a few people on the sofa, you’ll have a great time ahead of you.