"Are you sure it is priced at around Rs 1,000? It has those lights and all…" That is a question that we have been asked a lot while using the extremely elaborately named Ant Esports MK1500 Mini Retro keyboard. On paper, it seems like a classic Bluetooth keyboard with slightly retro-styled round keys, but those who see it and use it in real life get astounded by the amount of features that it brings to the typing table for a price that is generally in and around Rs 1,000, and if you are watchful enough, even dips below it. A compact, light keyboard with retro keys and looks For that price, the MK1500 Mini Retro delivers a truckful of typing delight. It is a compact keyboard (what they call a 60 per cent keyboard, with no dedicated number keys on top and no number pad), with a totally plastic build. It is about a foot long and at 300 grams, almost seems too light. It is available only in white, with rather prominent Ant Esports branding on the space bar, and a Type C charging port at the back. It is light and compact enough to be chucked into a normal backpack, although we would suggest keeping it in some sort of bag before you do so - we really think brands making portable keyboards should consider adding a carry bag for them in the box, given that so many of us carry keyboards around, and that they can get damaged easily. Pairing the keyboard is as easy as hitting the switch next to the charging port and selecting the keyboard from the Bluetooth device list. We paired the keyboard easily with an iPad, the Android-driven Xiaomi Pad 6 and our Windows ThinkPad and it worked perfectly fine with all of them. A point to be remembered is that the keyboard has no multi-point connectivity, so connecting it simultaneously to different devices is not possible. Once connected, the MK1500 Mini Retro is a fun keyboard to use. It is a membrane keyboard but has round keys with a lot of travel and clicking sounds, which give it a very retro feel. Those who like mechanical keyboards (we do!) are very likely to love the long-ish travel of each keystroke as well as the sound it emits. There is a distinctly typewriter-like vibe around this keyboard, and we rather like it. Loaded with lights…and with super battery life Contrasting with this retro feel is the presence of multi-coloured lights under the keys, giving it a very gaming vibe. You cannot control the light composition (although you can alter their brightness) but take it from us, people are going to notice you when you use this keyboard, be it in terms of sight or sound. The keys seemed to rattle a little when we typed, and we were concerned that they might get damaged, but they seem rather solid in spite of the somewhat shaky feels. All in all, this is a very comfortable keyboard to type on, although its smaller size means that you have to get used to the placement and functionality of some keys - for instance, the F function keys also stand for the number keys. There are also no dedicated 'tablet OS' keys that are found in some keyboards - so you will not get dedicated keys to lock and unlock the screen, launch the browser, control volume and other functions. This is not an uber-smart keyboard, just a very compact and basic one. Battery life is very impressive - the brand claims it can last close to a month of 3-4 hours daily use, and we have had no need to recharge it. Charging it takes about two hours and there is a USB Type A to Type C cable in the box, although there is no charger. We like the fact that it can be charged over a Type C port, as it not only saves us from the need to keep AAA or AA batteries handy (as are needed in many other wireless keyboards) but also lets us charge it off a power bank if need be! Quirky, but super affordable and perfect for the fun types! Though it generally works well, the keyboard does have some eccentricities. Perhaps the biggest is the fact that the arrow(direction) keys also alternate as the keys for other functions (including the very commonly used question mark punctuation). So if you want to type a question mark you need to turn off the direction keys by pressing Fn and O for three seconds, and then press that key combination again to get the direction keys. We could not see any way of remapping the keys so this turned out to be a bit of a major irritant as one does tend to use the arrow keys and the question mark quite frequently. We have also seen some units being a little unbalanced, nothing which cannot be cured by a fold of paper placed at the right corner, but annoying nevertheless. The keyboard would be immensely helped by a detailed manual, instead of the rather basic pamphlet with microscopic print. Finally, while the keyboard does come with colourful lights that are a gaming trademark, it is not much of a gaming keyboard as it only has Bluetooth connectivity and cannot connect over a wired connection. Even with all its quirks, we found the Ant Esports MK1500 Mini Retro a very fun keyboard to use. It is light and easy to carry around, and typing on it can be very satisfying for those who like their writing to "click" in every sense of the word. USB Type C charging and the ones who like a bit of jazz about their keyboards will love the colourful backlighting. And its incredibly affordable price provides a pardon for all its shortcomings. For about Rs 1,000, this keyboard is perfect for those who want a wireless clicky, colourful keyboard with retro feels, even while sticking to being within a tight budget.
