Connect with us

Technologies

This Keychron Keyboard Combines One of the Best Technologies in Gaming With a Gorgeous Premium Design

Keychron delivers yet another fantastic keyboard with the K4 HE, this time with a new gaming technology.

If you’ve paid any attention to gaming accessories the past few years you’ve likely heard something about the benefits of Hall Effect joysticks and triggers. Essentially, instead of using a physical connection to sense movement, Hall Effect sensors use magnets. The idea is to reduce wear and tear on components to give you more durability as well as improve the controller’s response time. Most gamers probably won’t notice the difference between a standard and Hall Effect controller, but for the hardcore gamers, where every millisecond counts, it can make a big difference.

Hall Effect controllers have exploded in popularity over the past few years, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before companies started using this same technology in keyboards. Behold the Keychron K4 HE: It’s a 96%-sized wireless keyboard from the world-renowned company. As you probably guessed from the intro, it uses uses Hall Effect switches instead of traditional mechanical switches. The result is a combination of superlatives like impressive, enjoyable, annoying and ridiculous overkill, all in one package.

What I like about the Keychron K4 HE

For starters, the build quality is exceptional, as I’ve come to expect from Keychron. The K4 HE has a good bit of weight to it, which gives it a premium feel, and the wood sides of the Special Edition version I reviewed add a touch of luxury as well. It’s available with either black or white keycaps with slightly different wood tones for each. There’s also a Standard version, which has Cherry-profile keycaps instead of OSA-profile and loses the wood side rails, knocking about $10 off the price.

The most important feature of the K4 HE, however, is the Hall Effect switches. The use of magnets enables a 0.2 to 3.8mm actuation range with a minimal 0.1 mm sensitivity. The Nebula Gateron switches that came with my K4 HE have a start and end actuation force of 40 gram-force and 60 gram-force, respectively, but you can get other Hall Effect switches with smaller or larger actuation forces. It’s worth noting that the K4 HE is only compatible with double-rail magnetic switches. So while you can hot-swap the switches, you cannot use traditional mechanical switches.

What’s really nuts is the insane levels of software customization available. You can set different actions for different actuation points within each keypress, meaning a shallow, 0.2mm keypress could trigger one action while a deeper, 3.8mm keypress could trigger a different action. There’s also Last Key Prioritization, which prioritizes the last key pressed, and Snap Click, where deeper keypresses take precedence when you press two keys at the same time. Basically, this allows you to trigger multiple actions in a game without having to lift your fingers for multiple keypresses. In games that require speed and fast reaction times, this can be huge.

The Rapid Trigger feature also gets a speed boost because each keypress is reset the moment the key travel reverses, meaning you can keep firing or moving literally as fast as your finger can move. Honestly, the most surprising thing to me is that you can have up to four distinct actions per key based on how hard you press it. As in, you can program up to four stages per key, which triggers a keypress at each stage.

This is my first experience with Hall Effect magnetic keyboard switches and the typing experience is… interesting. Fully aware of the irony, I immediately noticed how firm and tactile the typing experience felt when I first started using it. The design engineers at Keychron deserve a lot of credit for tuning the magnetic resistance so superbly. It feels amazing to type on.

The acoustics are also enjoyable. While they don’t quite have the crispiness of a traditional mechanical keyboard «thock,» they still sound great. I personally enjoy the noise of a mechanical keyboard and the K4 HE sounds nice to my ears. The only exceptions are the spacebar and other longer keys. It’s not unusual for these specific keys to sound different than the rest of the keyboard, but it’s still annoying when they do, at least for me.

HE not for everyone?

I never quite got used to the typing experience over my several weeks with it, so I never got back up to my normal typing speed and accuracy while using it. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to press on (sorry) and see if I fully adjust or go back to my standard mechanical switches. Part of my frustration lies with the compact layout. It’s literally one solid rectangle with no space between the main keyboard and the arrow keys, numpad, or function keys. I personally found it annoying and don’t know if I’ll get used to it.

Also, if you’re a big fan of RGB, I’d probably get the Standard edition over the Special Edition because the RGB is much harder to see with the keycaps from the Special Edition.

Overall, the Keychron K4 HE is an impressive keyboard. If you are a hard-core FPS player, there’s no doubt you can take full advantage of the customization options to up your gameplay, and the solid build quality and wood rails look great on any desk. If you don’t need a numpad, I’d probably recommend going for the K2, as the layout is likely closer to what you’re used to.

Either way, for $135 to $145, depending on if you want the OBS keycaps and wood rails, there’s not a lot wrong with the K4 HE. That’s a good price for a keyboard this good, and if it sounds interesting to you, you won’t be disappointed.

Related Topics:

Technologies

Hands-On: Crisol

Continue Reading

Technologies

Today Only, Get $300 Off Your Galaxy S25 Ultra With This Best Buy One-Day Deal

Best Buy has $300 off the Galaxy S25 Ultra with no strings attached — but only for today.

This week Best Buy is knocking big money off the best Android phones every single day in a special sale event. It means that now is a great time to upgrade your phone, and today’s discount is on the incredible Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

You can currently get $300 off the phone in an array of different colors and memory configurations, and you don’t have to do anything at all. You’ll even get a month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free, and can save even more money if you do decide to trade an old device in.

In his review, CNET’s Patrick Holland said of the S25 Ultra: «If you want the best screen you can find on any phone, get the S25 Ultra. If you want the most versatile phone cameras, get the S25 Ultra. If you want a stylus, get the S25 Ultra.» However, he didn’t love the price, which isn’t a huge surprise. Of course, this deal makes that far less of an issue.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

In fact, if you’re looking to get more of Holland’s thoughts, you can also read how he felt after two days with this incredible phone. Spoiler: It was good. This is easily one of the best Samsung Galaxy S25 deals going on right now, so make sure you don’t miss out if you want to get the phone for less.

SMARTPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

The majority of these kinds of big deals on phones involve you having to trade an old phone in or sign up with a new line. The proper discounts are far less common, and often aren’t all that notable. So, this is a sizable deal that’s easy to get.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Revert Back to iOS 18 From iOS 26 Beta: The No-Stress, Step-by-Step Guide

Having second thoughts about the iOS 26 beta? Here’s how to safely go back to iOS 18.

The iOS 26 developer beta is now available, which is your first opportunity to try out new iPhone features such as the Liquid Glass interface, the redesigned Photos app, the AutoMix feature in the Music app and much more. If you have a free Apple Developer account, you can download the developer beta and get started right away. (The public beta is expected in July.)

But that access comes with a risk. Due to the nature of prerelease software, the iOS 26 beta includes bugs and performance snags that can disrupt your everyday use, which is why you shouldn’t install it on your main iPhone. 

As another example, if you also want to test the new WatchOS 26 beta, be warned that you will not be able to roll back to WatchOS 11, as my colleague Blake Stimac unexpectedly discovered last year, unless you don’t mind parting with your Apple Watch while it goes back to Apple for repair.

If you find the current iOS 26 beta to be too brittle, you can roll back to iOS 18 by following these steps.

Read more: Everything coming to your iPhone in iOS 26.

Do you have the right kind of backup?

Reverting to the previous system version isn’t a matter of replacing a few key files here and there — you’ll need to erase the phone and install the current release version. This is why it’s important to back up your iPhone before installing the beta (or, honestly, updating any version of iOS).

The best approach is to create an archive on your computer that you can fall back to. Creating an iCloud backup (Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup) would seem to be the easiest option, but there’s a catch: if the most recent iCloud backup is made under the iOS 26 beta, you can only restore the iPhone to iOS 26. That means when you restore the phone to iOS 18, you’ll have to do it from an archive or set it up as a new phone. Data synced via iCloud will eventually arrive, but you will need to reinstall apps manually.

Instead, create a local backup: Connect the iPhone to your Mac, select it in a Finder window sidebar, and click the Back Up Now button. On Windows, open the Apple Devices app, select the iPhone there, and click Back Up Now.

What if you didn’t make a backup before installing iOS 26 beta?

If your excitement got the best of you and you skipped making a backup, you should still attempt to sync your important data, such as contacts, photos and notes to iCloud. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.

Next, in the Saved to iCloud section, tap See All. Tap the categories for items saved to iCloud, such as iCloud Mail, iCloud Drive and Contacts, and make sure they’re set to sync.

Make sure your MacOS or Windows software is up to date

First, if you’re restoring from a Mac, make sure you’re running the latest version of MacOS:

  • Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner, and choose System Settings.
  • Select General in the sidebar.
  • Click Software Update.

If an update is listed — and you have a current backup — go ahead and install it.

Under Windows, open the Apple Devices app, which replaced iTunes as Apple’s conduit for managing its devices.

Turn off Find My

If you’ve enabled Find My for that device, you’ll want to turn it off before you revert back to iOS 18. Find My is key to the Activation Lock security feature that requires the Apple ID and password of the person who set up the phone. When you finish reinstalling iOS 18, you can turn it on again.

To turn off Find My, Go to Settings, tap your name and tap Find My. Then tap Find My iPhone and turn it off. (If the option is grayed out, you may need to disable Stolen Device Protection first.)

Put the iPhone into recovery mode

Next, plug your iPhone into your Mac and do the following button dance on the iPhone to enter recovery mode:

1. Press and quickly release the volume up button.
2. Press and quickly release the volume down button.
3. Press and hold the sleep/wake button, and keep it held, past the point where you see the Apple logo and until you see the recovery mode screen — a black background with a cable indicating a connection with the computer.

Restore the iPhone to go back to iOS 18

The computer will ask if you want to update or restore the iPhone; don’t be alarmed if the dialog makes it sound as if something is wrong with the phone. Click Restore. In the confirmation dialog that appears, click Restore and Update.

Or, if you don’t see that dialog, open a new Finder window (MacOS) or the Apple Devices app (Windows) and select the phone in the sidebar. Click Restore iPhone and follow the directions that follow.

The release version of iOS, currently 18.5, will download and be installed on the iPhone.

During the normal iOS setup process, you’re asked if you’d like to transfer settings and data from another device:

1. On the Transfer Your Apps & Data screen, tap From Mac or PC.
2. On the computer, select the iPhone in the sidebar (of a Finder window on Mac or the Apple Devices app on Windows).
3. Select Restore from this backup and choose the most recent backup from the pop-up menu.
4. Click Continue. If you chose to encrypt the backup, enter the password you made.

The computer then restores the data from the backup.

Your iPhone Wants These 11 Essential Accessories in the New Year

+9 More

See all photos

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version