Gboard: The keyboard Gmail users have been waiting for?

I’m not terribly interested in most of the devices that could hypothetically improve interaction with my MacBook. An ergonomic keyboard? Yawn. A mouse? Whatever. But there’s a new product called the Gboard that I can’t wait to try out.

The Gboard, as you might be able to guess, is a keyboard made up of buttons for the different keyboard shortcuts in email service Gmail. So instead of mousing and scrolling around the Gmail site to accomplish different tasks, or learning the keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, you just hit a button to search, to reply, to archive, to delete, and so on.

I like the idea because my work life is really built around Gmail (I probably spend more time in my work Gmail account than anywhere else on the web), yet I still haven’t learned the keyboard shortcuts. Anything that makes me more efficient in dealing with email would be much appreciated. It’s supposed to be easy to set up (just plug it into your USB port and turn Gmail shortcuts on), and is priced very reasonably — only $19.99.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a Gboard to test before tonight’s launch, but I’ve been told one will arrive in the mail first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll be sure to report on my impressions. You can buy a copy for yourself at the Gboard website.

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