Keyboard label wear

[Eldkatten]

Hello,

in the german section I read a post from some guy who said that already after a week or two some key labels are clearly chaffed (is this the right english word? I mean that the color starts vanishing).

When I first opened the Gemini, I also noticed that some keylabels look quite "thin", and in particular the small alternative symbols on the front of the keys (reachable with Fn + <key>) sometimes seem rather sloppy, as if they had little color in them applied by ancient and rather crude screen printing technique.

It would be pathetic if the unique feature of the Gemini, the physical keyboard, was the first thing that tattered. I once again compared it with my ancient Psion 5 mx, which I have used intensively for years: on the one hand, the keylabels look much cleaner than on the Gemini (ie the edges of the symbols are not so frayed), and even the intensely abraded keylabels are always still clearly visible.

Is there anything known about PC is going to offer a replacement key set? Maybe even of a better quality?

Kind regards

[gidds]

I can't see any signs of that on my 6-week-old Gemini…

[smapmap]

I can't see any signs of that on my 6-week-old Gemini…

I had wear on mine. I've reported it to Planet and they will investigate with the factory.

[gymbo]

I can't see any signs of that on my 6-week-old Gemini…

I had wear on mine. I've reported it to Planet and they will investigate with the factory.

I JUST noticed this as well (haven't reported to Planet though...  ).

[rasva]

Same here, CZ layout, Fn an ESC/ON show wearing off (or darkening) after only few days. On the German forum someone mentioned that the reply from Planet was that the keys are laser engraved, meaning that wearing is not posssible. Obviously this is not true, I tried to clean the keys, no change. As OP mentioned, the keyboard is the reason why Gemini is here, if there really is a problem, than this is ridiculous.
I hope there is some explanation comming from Planet.

[SimonTelescopium]

I've had my UK Gemini for 3 weeks and now that you mention it it does look like it is starting to wear, I had put it down to the keys getting a little grubby so I looked a little closer and to me it does look like dirt rather than the white print wearing off,
see attached image

[salvomic]

I've had my UK Gemini for 3 weeks and now that you mention it it does look like it is starting to wear, I had put it down to the keys getting a little grubby so I looked a little closer and to me it does look like dirt rather than the white print wearing off,
see attached image

ok, also mine...
I cleaned a bit with few Alcohol and cotton and it worked, but some keys are again dirty...

salvo

[MikeC]

+1 here... I've had my gemini for about a month, and it has had little use while I wait to see if my mobile carrier will allow it on their network. The Esc/on/off key label is almost completely gone. There is no way these labels are laser-engraved. They're painted on with poor quality paint.

[greguu]

+1 here... I've had my gemini for about a month, and it has had little use while I wait to see if my mobile carrier will allow it on their network. The Esc/on/off key label is almost completely gone. There is no way these labels are laser-engraved. They're painted on with poor quality paint.

I have not noticed it on my device yet, but this user (link below) did apply a top coat on the gemini keyboard to prevent this from happening.

https://twitter.com/deep_blue_21/status/995349553003094020

[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdAxIeFV4AAcwDy.jpg\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

[rasva]

No matter how much I try to clean it my Fn key still looks like this. As it is most used it looks the worst. This is after 6 days of use. If anyone knows what kind of protective paint I can use, I will try it. Logically all other keys will look like it sooner or later if I do not take any action. I will also write to Planet.

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[Dixit]

No matter how much I try to clean it my Fn key still looks like this. As it is most used it looks the worst. This is after 6 days of use. If anyone knows what kind of protective paint I can use, I will try it. Logically all other keys will look like it sooner or later if I do not take any action. I will also write to Planet.

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

I took my old 5mx to compare. From what I recall (from the year 2000) I also had the idea back then that its letters were fading away.
Quite rapidly the 'fading' did stabilize: I never entirely lost a letter (or a part of it).

I had a look at both keyboards with a magnifier and it seems very much the same technology.
This is different from my netBook: that one seems to have 'stickers' on its buttons. You see the profile around the letters.
With the netBook it is the same - the keyboard is slightly worn, but all letters are still there.

So let's see what the result is within 3 months. Who will have lost his first letter ?
MikeC, can you post a picture of your Esc key ? You seem to have the worst one, then.

[Eldkatten]

Hello,

maybe I stand corrected, since I didn't fully believe the "laser etched" thing about the keyboard labels. Be it as it may, the technique to get the labels on the keycaps seems to be the same as with the Psion 5 (mx).
Here is a comparison between the "Enter"-Key on the Gemini:
[img]http://www.eldkatten.net/Fotos/EnterGemini.JPG\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

and on the Psion:
[img]http://www.eldkatten.net/Fotos/EnterPsion.JPG\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

And here is a comparison between the "5"-Key (which seems to be one of the least worn keys on my Psion 5) on the Gemini:
[img]http://www.eldkatten.net/Fotos/5Gemini.JPG\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

and on the Psion:
[img]http://www.eldkatten.net/Fotos/5Psion.JPG\" border=\"0\" class=\"linked-image\" /]

Though the technique seems to be the same, the Psion-keys look abit "cleaner" to me. Anyhow, if it is indeed the same technique and the same quality, we may look onto years of use, though the most used keys might fade a bit, but never completely. I think time will tell.

Kind regards

[gidds]

The lettering does indeed look and feel very much like that on the Psion 5 series.  And yes, while that lettering often got a little discoloured, in many years of use I never saw it disappear; in most cases it didn't get much worse than the screenshots above.

So while any discolouration at all is clearly not good, I don't think it's necessarily as serious as it might at first appear.

[Dixit]

Which is why I am intrigued (and slightly worried) about MikeC's comments.
If the writing on his On/ESC key is litterally gone, then all of our above conclusions are not correct.

My Gemini looks like the one from Simon Telescopium: the 'h'in the left Shift looks dirty.
Pity I cannot compare that one with the 5mx. The 5mx has an arrow, not the word "Shift".

It would indeed be a bloody shame if Planet succeeded in finely copying the 5mx keyboard... except for its quality.

[rasva]

I just got reply from Planet:

...The keys on the Gemini are lasered, so they will never completely wear off. While it might discolour, they will eventually stop fading.
...

So it is not a bug, it is a feature  

Below I tried to look at Fn and Esc keys with microscope. It appears that there might be just dirt in the microscopic holes afte laser etching, not easy to clean.  So some protective paint applied ASAP would prevent this.

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