INTRODUCTION

   Smartphones and Tablets are part of our everyday lives and that's not something to go unnoticed by all the manufacturers out there so as expected really the mobile accessories market has grown exponentially over the last 5 years. Right now there's pretty much everything people may need to "enrich" their mobile experience including cases, screen protectors, chargers, stylus pens, charging cables, stands, Bluetooth HandsFree, speakers and car kits, car and bike holders, one touch buttons, selfie sticks and even wireless keyboards. Personally I’m not much into mobile accessories since my job has me spend most of my time in a lab but from time to time i do use one of the two tablets we have here (usually to post on Instagram) and i have to admit that a small Bluetooth keyboard would come in handy. Mad Catz released one such keyboard a few months back called the S.T.R.I.K.E.M and today we're taking a closer look at it.

   Established by passionate gamers in 1989, Mad Catz is a multi-category market leader capable of supporting consumers worldwide. Mad Catz products cater to users of in-home gaming consoles, handheld gaming consoles, Windows PC and Mac computers, smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices. At Mad Catz, it’s all about the game.

   Unlike regular sized keyboards or even tenkeyless ones the size difference between them and a wireless keyboard used for mobile devices is massive. Still although the S.T.R.I.K.E.M mobile keyboard may be rather small it's actually larger than most similar models in the market currently and if that wasn't enough to win it some points Mad Catz has also equipped it with P.U.L.S.E membrane switches (2mm travel distance with 60g of actuation force), optical finger navigation touch sensor with two buttons that can act as a mouse, dedicated media buttons, quick-switch between 4 paired devices, fully adjustable backlighting for the keys and a rechargeable battery that can power it for up to 18 hours (45 without backlighting). Sure it's not about to compete with its larger brothers the S.T.R.I.K.E.5 and S.T.R.I.K.E.7 (besides it wasn't designed with the same target audience in mind) but it sounds quite interesting so let's get close and personal with it.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

At the front of the long yet small box we see a large product image, the company logo, system compatibility and some of the unit features.

Contact information about Mad Catz is printed at the base of the box.

The main product features are showcased at the rear of the box with the help of a product picture (the bundle contents are also shown as two small pictures).

Along with the S.T.R.I.K.E.M Mad Catz also packs a pretty thick neoprene carrying pouch, tablet/smartphone stand, USB to microUSB charging cable, 6 stickers, user manual, technical support booklet and a warranty information paper.

THE S.T.R.I.K.E.M

We received the red variant of the S.T.R.I.K.E.M family and so its 287mm long, 110mm wide, 15.5 thick and 190g heavy glossy housing reminds me of a electric guitar and several games already (Borderlands, Mass Effect and some Star Wars games mostly).

I'm certain many of you would like to see how the S.T.R.I.K.E.M compares to a regular keyboard in terms of size so we placed it right next to the Lobera Supreme by Tesoro.

On the far left side of the keyboard we find the activity LEDs (battery. paired device), clickable audio control knob (clicking mutes audio), playback control buttons, Bluetooth pairing button, device quick-switch button, backlighting button (4 levels) and two mouse buttons (primary left/right).

The optical finger touch sensor with the two left/right buttons is placed on the upper right corner.

A small button with the Mad Catz claw printed on it can be used to navigate back to the main screen (desktop screen) of compatible devices.

The on/off switch and the charging microUSB port with its charging LED are placed at the front of the keyboard.

A total of 5 thin rubber feet are placed beneath the keyboard.

As you can see the highest backlighting level may not be breathtaking but it's much brighter than we had hoped.

Finally the small stand Mad Catz bundles with the S.T.R.I.K.E.M mobile keyboard can hold tablets up to 10 inches large (we used an 8inch one in the above picture).

AUDIBLE FEEDBACK

Many people ask my opinion on what keyboard they should get for their needs. Some want a “silent” model for use in their living room or even in their bedroom while others ask for a model with good audible feedback for use in the office or for gaming. Because of this I decided to test keyboards by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically over each keyboard (5cm distance) and typing NikKTech a total of 6 times with each (after that the max recorded number - max hold - is placed in the graph). I have to admit that this may not be 100% accurate but it does give a good idea on what you can expect from each model since aside the type of switches used keycaps and keyboard material also matter.

CONCLUSION

   The S.T.R.I.K.E.M mobile keyboard reminded me of what i used to look for in the market a couple of years ago when i got my very first tablet (in the end i just gave up cause i couldn't find what i wanted). It may not feature superior build quality (obviously with a weight of 190g this didn't come as a surprise to us) like some full sized keyboards (or some larger keyboards in general) but that's pretty much its sole drawback. Of course some could also argue that its small size is also a drawback but although i can see how people with large hands may have a problem using it (i have big hands and i couldn't use the optical finger touch sensor very well) in the end the reason behind its release was to provide people with a compact keyboard which they could take around with their tablet or smartphone so i see no way that it could be any larger (although i guess a foldable design could make that possible). We would like to see Mad Catz use mechanical switches with the S.T.R.I.K.E.M but that was never a possibility not only because of size limitations but also because mechanical switches are quite more noise compared to membrane ones (even more compared to the P.U.L.S.E ones used here). Moving to battery life well the good thing with the backlighting is that you don't always need it so with a balanced use we managed to hit slightly over 22 hours without the need for another recharge. Of course this is far from the "up to 30 hours" average noted at the rear of the box but even 22 hours with a single charge is somewhat impressive.

   Compared to when launched the S.T.R.I.K.E.M mobile keyboard is quite cheaper right now so one can find it for USD76.94 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 87Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). It still isn't the price tag most of you would like to see especially when there are quite a few full sized wireless keyboards that cost half as much but in the end you're paying extra for a very good compact (and very light) keyboard which you can carry around with you and not worry about its weight and/or battery life. And that's not all you pay for since it also has the optical finger touch sensor which can be used as a mouse, can be paired with up to 4 devices (although not simultaneously), features media control buttons and a very good backlighting and finally you can almost use it for a full day without the need for a recharge. Certainly it's not perfect and we do hope that Mad Catz further improves it in the near future but it's very good and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Design
- Weight / Size
- P.U.L.S.E Switches
- Backlighting (4-Levels)
- Media Buttons
- Optical Finger Navigation Sensor
- Battery Life
- Can Pair & Switch With 4 Different Devices
- Available In 3 Colors (Black, White, Red)

CONS

- Build Quality Could Be Better
- Price (For Some)