TypeMatrix EZ-Reach Keyboard Review

The Index Is Mightier Than the Pinky

Modern sports cars no longer have the gearshift pedals and hand throttle of a Model T, but your PC still has the keyboard layout of an antique mechanical typewriter. And by the way, your mouse is too far away.

No, this review isn't going to proselytize you about the more efficient Dvorak keyboard layout. The familiar QWERTY arrangement may have been created because early typists were too fast for early typewriters (it reduced jamming by putting many common two-letter combinations on opposite sides rather than adjacent to one another), yet most of us are no more likely to give it up than we are to start speaking Esperanto.

But what if you didn't have to learn the radical Dvorak layout to take advantage of one of its central benefits -- the fact that smaller movements are easier on your fingers and wrists than larger ones? What if the ergonomic or split keyboards you're probably most familiar with, like the Microsoft Natural series, aren't really so ergo-friendly after all?

The company that dares to ask these questions is TypeMatrix Inc., and its answer is the $99 TypeMatrix EZ-Reach -- a keyboard dedicated to two propositions: Small is beautiful, and your index finger is stronger than your pinky.

The EZ-Reach compromises between conventional one-piece and most split keyboard designs by separating your hands, but not putting them as far apart or at an angle as other designs do (the latter, according to TypeMatrix, reduce stress in the wrists but can merely relocate it to the arms and shoulders).

It also puts jumbo Tab, Enter, and Backspace keys in the middle instead of at the edges of the board, assigning them to the stronger index fingers. The left and right Shift keys are supersized, too, and the Caps Lock key is stashed in an inner location to eliminate accidental cAPS lOCK.

Just as important, the TypeMatrix is relatively tiny -- at 14 by 7 inches, it's five or six inches shorter and two or three inches shallower than Microsoft's and other ergonomic whoppers. That means you don't have to reach as far to use your mouse; indeed, both the keyboard and a mouse can fit in most keyboard trays. When you need a numeric keypad, the Num Lock key toggles (or a Fn key temporarily shifts to) a notebook-style embedded set.

The EZ-Reach is also the next slimmest thing to typing on your desk itself -- just 0.6 inch thick, with no prop-up feet. This promotes proper (flat instead of cocked) forearm and wrist posture, and also helps make the 1.6-pound keyboard easy to tuck into a briefcase for transport between home and office.

Finally, to complete the company's mania for small movements, you'll notice on second glance that the keys are in a straight grid of rows and columns, not the staggered or diagonal columns of a conventional keyboard. This lets your fingers leave the home row in small, consistent motions instead of traveling different distances to hit the keys above or below.

According to a study cited on the TypeMatrix Web site, women adjusted to (matched their former speed and accuracy on) the new keyboard in 8 to 17 days -- men, more stubborn, needed 8 to 24 days. Among users who'd admitted to repetitive-stress-injury (RSI) pain at the start of the study, 15 of 16 women and six of eight men reported a significant decrease in symptoms after five weeks on an EZ-Reach.

We're not a scientific study, but we're serious about typing, and we used the TypeMatrix at both work and home for two weeks. The verdict? Read on ...