

I could get by, but squared off keycaps are the standard for a reason.īeyond their circular shape, the Pop Keys’ keycaps just don’t seem particularly well made. If your finger doesn’t hit a key directly, then there are big gaps between the keys for it to fall into. But the keyboard’s circular keycaps are unforgiving. There’s nothing wrong with the switches underneath each key (they’re tactile Cherry MX Brown clones produced by TTC). F1 to F3 offer shortcuts to switch between three paired devices.Įven if you went to the trouble of remapping each of these emoji keys to fulfill more useful functions, you’re still left with a keyboard with typewriter-style keys that can be a chore to type on. And naturally the keycaps aren’t going to match the function they’re performing if it’s not an emoji (buying third-party keycaps could be an option, but watch out for the non-standard bottom row). Key remaps also aren’t saved to the keyboard, so you’ll have to remap it if you ever want to connect it to an alternative PC. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to assign one of them to be a print screen key (on Windows, Logitech tells me that the keyboard’s F5 key is set to launch the Snip & Sketch tool by default, but I’d prefer the speed and flexibility of a dedicated Print Screen button).
Popkey replacement software#
It’s possible to remap these keys to something more useful using Logitech’s software if you’re not an emoji fiend, and there’s the option of remapping them to individual keys or key combinations. A tactile brown switch sits under each key.Įven then, four emoji keys sit in a weird middle ground between “people who love emoji enough that they want dedicated emoji buttons on their keyboard” and “people who only use four emoji on a regular basis.” I’m perfectly happy to admit I might not be the target market for this keyboard, but personally I’d much rather have dedicated Home and End keys rather than having to access these common functions by using Fn and the left and right arrow keys.

For starters, four out of the five emoji keys don’t even do anything until you’ve installed and configured Logitech’s Options software and told it what emoji you want each of them to correspond to (the button to open the OS-level emoji select menu doesn’t require the software). I can see the basic appeal, but the whole implementation is so cumbersome that I ended up just getting annoyed that the Pop Keys wasted five precious keys on emoji when it could have more useful buttons there like dedicated Home / End keys or Print Screen. There’s a fifth emoji key on the keyboard that acts as a shortcut to pull up the OS-level emoji selection menu. Instead, the idea with the eight available emoji keycaps is to pick your four favorite emoji for the keyboard, and then use Logitech’s software to program the keys to correspond to the emoji you’ve picked.
Popkey replacement mac#
Mac and Windows legends are crammed onto the same keys Especially on a keyboard that prioritizes its appearance as much as the Pop Keys does. It’s functionally fine, but it looks messy. So while the Pop Keys still technically supports both Mac and Windows, the Option / Windows and Command / Alt legends are crammed onto the same keys. The idea is that when you program the keyboard’s emoji shortcut buttons, they correspond to the right symbols. Rather than including both Windows and Mac keycaps in the box like other manufacturers such as Keychron have started doing, Logitech has opted to include keys with additional emoji symbols on them. It’s clear what Logitech’s priorities are with the Pop Keys from the moment you open its box. Four keys for typing emoji, one to open up the emoji selection menu. On the right of the keyboard there are five programmable keys designed for typing different emoji symbols. There’s an Fn key to access the more standard F1 - F12 buttons.

Although you can change this in Logitech’s settings, by default this function row is given over to a variety of other commands like switching between paired devices and playback and volume controls. The Pop Keys has what’s generally known as a 75 percent keyboard layout, which means it’s more compact than a full-size keyboard but still includes a function row and arrow keys. The keyboard is available in three color schemes: pink yellow and black or purple and yellow.
Popkey replacement Bluetooth#
It’s capable of pairing to up to three devices via Bluetooth or up to two Bluetooth devices plus one via Logitech’s Bolt USB receiver (included in the box), and you can easily switch between them using the F1 to F3 keys. Although it’s not rechargeable, you get three years of battery life from an included pair of AAA batteries. There’s little wrong with the basic specs of the Pop Keys. Questions over keycap legend durability.
