The Shrimp

The Shrimp in its half glory

I've come across this fun-sized keyboard on occasions. The idea is at least partly sound: if you don't need all the keys for games, why pay for those extra keys? 

Well, I'm half-joking. A real use case might be playing games with mechanical keys on a laptop, but without taking along a full-sized keyboard. 

The problem was the Shrimp was quite expensive for what it seemed to deliver. But now I could have it for a reasonable price (20€) so I was more than tempted.

It's quite thick.

Yes, there are also other problems with the idea, such as that keys 1-5 might not be enough for weapon selection in some games. Redefining keys can help there.

The other problem might be that you can't use it for chat, but it doesn't matter as I don't use the chat. Pros will use headsets anyway?

Unboxing reveals a carry bag, a USB cable (USB-C shape at the Shrimp end), and a bulky wrist rest which is attached to the keyboard with a magnet.

Many keys have double functions built-in, using the fn key. I didn't even notice at first there's an Enter/Return key accessible with fn+ESC.

The WASD highlighted

Connect the keyboard and it begins to flash in all colors of rainbow, as gaming keyboards tend to do these days. With the button on the top-left knob, I can turn the lights off or switch between configurations. The knob also seems to control the light level. My favorite is the fairly muted option with only WASD and ESC keys lit in blue.

Just trying it on a text editor or a terminal proves the keys work just as well as a normal keyboard would. It's just missing a bunch of keys.

As the manual says nothing about further customizing the key lights, I assume it can't be done with OpenRGB and such.

The other knob controls volume, albeit quite badly on my Linux Mint/Mate. I have to sort of click-click it with care in order to change the volume, rotating didn't work too well. The small "minus" key works as a mute button. Using the knob hidden button, Mint launched the control center window. Not sure what it would do in Windows.

The knobs come loose quite easily, which I guess is meant to support portability. Otherwise something nasty could happen to them in a bag.

Everspace 2 highlights the typical problem: weapon/item activation keys

I did try a few games quickly.

After a short session of Half Life 2, I thought the keyboard did okay. At first there's a strange phantom limb sensation, as if the right side of the keyboard were missing. This, even if the game mostly doesn't need the keys there. At this point I didn't have the full weapon set (1-6) or the Gravity Gun (G), which would have needed more keys than the Shrimp provides. The keys can be redefined, but HL2 keys are kind of an institution.

With Control, all the essential movement and combat keys are present, and it was quite pleasant to fight with the Shrimp. I've lost the touch for this game in a very short time, though. I had to redefine a key to get to the loadouts and missions, because they normally open from G, M or I.

Popping over to Everspace 2, the strafe, pitch, yaw, hover and thrust nicely fit in the cluster and actually give something of a "hey I'm controlling a space ship" feel. TAB brings the menu screen. The consumable/one-off items are activated using keys outside the number range. These could be mapped to the "function keys" (behind fn) but it's perhaps less than ideal. The ULT key default is G, again outside the Shrimp horizon.

With a ZX Spectrum emulator, so many games have redefinable keys that Shrimp kind of works, although this is quite nonsensical experiment.

I suppose the Shrimp would work 100% with Fortnite.

The cosy wrist rest

To be honest, I haven't much reflected on how I use my everyday keyboard, HyperX Alloy, when playing games. So, having a keyboard like this makes me more conscious of the hand and wrist placement, resulting in uncomfortable positions even if this might not be the device's fault. Time will tell.

A minor point against the wrist rest is that taken together, the two parts are going to occupy as much room as a small keyboard anyway.

Still I believe it's a good idea to use the wrist rest. Although the magnets are not super strong, combined with the rubber feet the keyboard and the rest stay put. Maybe it ought to be a little lower.

There are no tilt adjusters, which might be another tiny minus. Such an option could have complicated the magnet connection.

Separated

Well, does The Shrimp provide a smaller number of superior keys? It does, even if I don't see them as better than the HyperX Alloy keys.

The Shrimp can be considered a space saver, both in a bag and on the table, but as the full-sized keyboard is going to be here anyway, it's not going to help in decluttering the desk. One more curiosity to the collection.

Some ideas also loom in the horizon, such as using this keyboard for a custom-built software, but we'll see.

Quick Edit: I tried the Shrimp with an Android Galaxy phone, and it works. Game support for keyboards is quite limited, but just to test I downloaded Asphalt 8 Airborne. Not too bad, even if not my cup of tea of game. Oh and Sonic the Hedgehog Classic. So perhaps this is one more use case for the Shrimp.