Xunfei T8, one-button to open "spray", when the mechanical keyboard meets the intelligent voice.

This article only represents personal opinions, and the products are provided by merchants.

Friendly discussions in the comment area are welcome. Although they are all superficial understandings, sharing them can be regarded as an experience. Thank you very much for your viewing and opinions.

Recently received a sample machine - "Xunfei AI Mechanical Keyboard T8" from HKUST Xunfei, hereinafter referred to as T8.

As the first keyboard and mouse of Xunfei, it is also the first mechanical keyboard with intelligent voice input on the market. Whether you know Xunfei’s keyboard and mouse products or not, you should have heard about Xunfei’s input method more or less.

Let's take a look at the basic configuration first:

Arrangement: 80% 87 keys

Shaft: Jiadalong GPRO yellow/red shaft

Keycap: MDA-like ball cap PBT thermal sublimation process

Connection method: three-mode wired, bluetooth, 2.4g

Battery: about 70 days when used alone

Let's do a simple disassembly first.

From the perspective of the keyboard structure, in order to ensure the stability and support of the connection, the keyboard is fixed very firmly. The steel plate positioning plate further enhances the feedback feel, which is very hard, and it is molded to fit their exclusive voice module. The cavity sound also increased.

In terms of switches, although the Gpro switch is an entry-level switch with a price of one yuan, the price of this keyboard has reached 600+. In this current mass production market environment, the simple GPRO switch is obviously not enough. Look, at the same time, only the choice of red and yellow switches and no hot-swap function also make this keyboard stretched in terms of switch body customization.

In terms of keycaps, PBT sublimation keycaps are used. Compared with the two-color injection molded ABS material keycaps, the anti-oiling ability is significantly enhanced. However, for mass-produced keyboards, the cost of dye-sublimation keycaps is definitely higher than that of two-color injection molding. In terms of details, it is unlikely that the heat-sublimation keycaps of mass-produced keyboards will use very fine materials. The keycaps are also slightly rough in appearance.

From the perspective of a customized player, this keyboard is obviously not in line with the current mainstream feel requirements. If it were not for this experience, this keyboard would probably be forgotten by me in the torrent of information.

Jumping out of the player's perspective, from a user's perspective, is this keyboard as ordinary as I said?

If you have paid attention to domestic smartphones before, I believe you will be deeply impressed by the TNT voice recognition error problem that made Luo Yonghao sweat profusely at Smartisan's Bird's Nest press conference. Coincidentally, it was the University of Science and Technology that cooperated with Smartisan at that time Xunfei's technology, the seed of language recognition that was in its infancy at the early stage, has now grown into a small tree that can provide shade for people.

The growth history of intelligent voice input

ill-fated first half of life

Half a century ago, John Pierce, known as the father of satellite communications, gave a verdict on the technology of speech recognition

Just like turning water into gasoline, extracting gold from the sea, and completely curing cancer, it is almost impossible for machines to recognize speech

In the long years, speech recognition is like the most clumsy child in the artificial intelligence "preschool". When other technologies, such as computer vision technology, are advancing by leaps and bounds, speech recognition is still babbling and confused. long march. Large-scale speech recognition research began after the 1970s, and has made substantial progress in the recognition of small vocabulary and isolated words. After the 1980s, the focus of speech recognition research gradually shifted to large vocabulary, non-specific continuous speech recognition.

The perspective came to China, although our country started the scientific research of speech recognition technology very early, starting in 1958, the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences used electronic tube circuits to recognize 10 vowels. However, due to limited conditions, China's speech recognition research has been at a stage of slow development. In 1973, the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences started computer speech recognition. In 1999, HKUST Xunfei was founded by several college students with technical backgrounds, and has been researching speech recognition, speech synthesis and other technologies. Before the 21st century, most of our country played a marginal role in speech recognition technology.

But all this changed in 2010, and 2010 is also a very memorable year for me, the release of Apple 4 and the wave of smart phones. Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight, thousands of trees and pear trees bloomed. In just a few years, the technological trees spread like wings of light, and life has undergone earth-shaking changes. That is, in this year, speech recognition technology has made great progress, and then it has been advancing by leaps and bounds.

At the same time, the development of the Internet has also provided rich nourishment for speech recognition, making it possible to build a general large-scale language model and acoustic model.

From 2006 to 2019, iFLYTEK won the championship in the International Speech Synthesis Competition (Blizzard Challenge) (1) for 14 consecutive years.

Xunfei seems to be more low-key than other peers. It has been quietly researching technology, focusing on the input method as the core. The version iteration and upgraded technology of the input method basically represent the latest technical direction of Xunfei in the field of recognition.

For me, the voice input function is a "familiar stranger". Although in daily life, voice input has become an integral part of my life, such as using the voice-to-text function during chats and conversations. But on the computer side, I have hardly used the voice input function, because for me, my level is not up to the "export". It is true that the efficiency of voice input is very high, but I am more accustomed to using the keyboard to input longer documents. At the same time, for me, "not being noticed" is also one of the reasons why I don't use voice input to write long texts.

But after in-depth communication with them, some of my inherent prejudices about voice input began to melt, and I gradually understood their product concepts and some current ideas. After experiencing some products of Xunfei peripherals, I also noticed that To their obsession with "smart voice".

HKUST Xunfei has produced a lot of intelligent voice + fusion products, such as office notebooks, projectors, recording pens, etc., but the integration of keyboard and mouse seems a bit clumsy and cute.

How to integrate intelligent voice with office keyboard and mouse? It's "simple", just plug the two together and you're done.

These products that combine mouse and intelligent voice have iterated multiple versions and adapted to different models.

In my opinion, this is indeed an almost "violent" integration. The voice chip is built into the mouse, and a button is added to cooperate with the software driver to turn the "smart voice mouse" into reality. This may be a relatively safe choice at present. Through this form, a simple and simple "smart voice life" can be realized. In their product ecological line, I can see a trace of the concept of "Internet". Layout in various office scenarios to achieve the effect of "voice office" in a shallow way.

Industry solutions from Xunfei official website

Speaking of keyboards, Xunfei has also produced some products in the keyboard field.

These two membrane keyboards with different configurations are the first generation products of Xunfei smart keyboard and mouse.

Xunfei has always focused on office and study in smart voice products. Our keyboard and mouse are mainly office attributes. At present, the office mouse and office keyboard have almost reached a bottleneck period, so we want to develop a bigger Market, thinking about exploring games, office and games.

Of course, in addition to the long-term label of the game on the mechanical keyboard, the lifespan has also become a major focus of this entry into the field of mechanical keyboards.

At the beginning, I made a membrane keyboard, because the membrane keyboard is more in line with the attributes of the office, it is easy to carry, and everyone can use it on business trips. It does seem to be more neat than traditional mechanical keyboards on the desktop, so we wanted to make one in the early stage. Intelligent voice membrane keyboard, and the production scheme of the membrane keyboard is relatively mature, but what we did not expect is that the repair rate of the membrane keyboard is very high, and the quality level is not easy to control.

In fact, one point to be mentioned here is that an important factor for the membrane keyboard to dominate the office market is the low price, so that some other shortcomings of the membrane keyboard can be ignored. After all, it is not distressing to replace it, but when the membrane keyboard is used After the addition of some other functions leads to an increase in the overall price, the lifespan, the weakening of the handle, and the maintenance have become major problems. It is no longer a product that can be replaced at will.

Although they are all keyboards, the experience of making membrane keyboards cannot be transferred to the production of mechanical keyboards. Making a mechanical keyboard is equivalent to starting from scratch for the entire team.

First of all, the biggest problem is the choice of switches. Different from the few choices of membrane keyboards, the mechanical switches on the market can be said to be in full bloom. In addition to Cherry, which has dominated the list for many years, domestic switches have also risen.

Why choose Jiadalong shaft?

At the beginning, we were vacillating among many manufacturers. After contacting these manufacturers, we finally chose Jiadalong among several manufacturers that can produce stable products. On the one hand, we did some market research and tested a lot. The switch body, through cost performance, feel, comfort, etc., including we tested a batch of prototypes externally, equipped with a variety of switch bodies, according to the final feedback, the yellow switch and the red switch, everyone thinks that the user experience is the best. On the other hand, considering the technical level, compared with some other manufacturers and shafts with traditional technology, Jiadalong is self-lubricating, the use of alloy contacts, and compatibility, which are also very important to us. At the same time, Jiadalong's serious and responsible attitude towards our products is also recognized by us.

The second point is the keycap. In fact, in terms of keycaps, for mass-produced products, sublimation is extremely uneconomical. Using two-color injection molds to mass-produce keycaps can greatly reduce production costs.

Why did you choose to make sublimation keycaps in the end?

In terms of keycaps, we finalized several plans at the beginning, including two-color injection molded ABS keycaps, yellow keys with sublimation, and other keys with two-color injection molded ABS keycaps and full-key sublimation keycaps. We made several versions later, but in the end, we still feel that the same material and workmanship of the full key is still very important in terms of visual perception. At the same time, the sublimation version is better in terms of user experience, including oil resistance. Considering that our keyboard is still It is a long-term use product, so try to do the best that can be done within the budget in terms of durability

In fact, if the built-in voice function is implemented, the physical voice module on the right side of the keyboard is actually not necessary. Why is it finally made into this shape?

It actually took a long time to open the shell mold, because our model is obviously different from other keyboards in shape. In order to make the texture of the shell and some small details of the connection, the decoration on the back panel . Guarantee that this keyboard is a perfect fit.

In fact, I am still more concerned about this voice folder. Careful viewers can actually see that logically, "voice button + built-in radio" can actually realize the linkage between this keyboard and software. Why did you still make a physical voice folder? Woolen cloth?

Originally, we didn’t have a voice clip. The keyboard comes with a voice key, so we didn’t expect to add a detachable voice clip. At the workstation, generally do not move randomly, especially mechanical keyboards, and membrane keyboards are also possible.

Later we thought about how to integrate the voice recognition function of this keyboard into various scenarios more deeply, and a detachable voice folder came into being. After wearing the voice folder, users can record meetings, transfer meetings For writing and the like, you can even realize one-key "spray" characters in the game. Everyone will use this keyboard more and more, and the usage scenarios will be more diversified.

At the same time benefiting from this voice clip, the sound recording is clearer than before, and the feedback is faster. We think this is still helpful to the game scene, and it also improves the effect of this keyboard taking into account the game. The core It is the use of the voice folder in the game. As far as the user experience feedback is concerned, the "spray" function of the voice folder is still very attractive.

For this product, there are few options for shell color and style, and the lack of hot-swap function. Will these be resolved in the future?

We actually wanted to do a variety of color schemes. At the beginning, there are about 20 kinds of color schemes, and several of them are very good, but in actual operation, we went to the factory to color the color and the effect was not very ideal. To make this keyboard, from conception to design to actual mass production , It has been more than two years, and when it is about to go on the market, we choose the most stable color matching that has been debugged by the factory, which is the current color matching.

Regarding hot-swapping and rgb lighting, we actually wanted to add it in at the beginning, but after thinking about it, it is our first mechanical keyboard after all, and it is not suitable for hard stacking. It might be self-defeating. This keyboard, including Xunfeike’s large keyboard and mouse, is mainly smart, so we still focus on the software. During the marketing process, we also collected a lot of user suggestions, and we will continue to optimize and upgrade in the future. up the tempo. Compared with traditional membrane keyboards, mechanical keyboards still have more playability.

In fact, when we talked about this, we already have a good understanding of the hardware part of this keyboard, and if this keyboard wants to exert its full strength, software is essential.

When it comes to HKUST Xunfei, the most important thing that cannot be ignored is its software strength as a technology company.

The first is the three smart function buttons. In addition to the smart voice key, smart screen capture, smart search, and smart recording can also contribute to the usual office work. The realization of these button functions depends on the intelligent voice assistant developed by Xunfei University of Science and Technology.

At the beginning, we wanted to add all the functions to it. In the end, we only left a few core pieces. We have about 400,000 registered users. By analyzing the usage habits of users, which functions are used the most, we start from From the addition at the beginning to the subtraction until now, what remains are basically some functions that users are more concerned about.

These functions are actually more in line with the application scenarios of the current speech recognition function-recording and searching.

Of course, these functions do not seem to be much different from other software on the market, but in terms of actual use experience, the biggest feeling I personally feel is "fast". Compared with the voice recognition that comes with the win system, Xunfei's voice recognition It is more fluent and silky, and can basically achieve the effect of talking with the mouth, while some traditional software basically uploads and recognizes words one by one in this regard.

Xunfei’s speech recognition function, from the original 80% at the beginning, to 98% of Mandarin now, 400 words per minute, currently used in Xunfei’s keyboard is an algorithm of Xunfei’s input method, due to space limitations, here Do not expand the description.

Future can be expected

As the first mechanical keyboard cross-border product of Xunfei University of Science and Technology, the performance of T8 can be said to have both surprises and shortcomings. From the perspective of the mechanical keyboard itself, this keyboard still has a lot of room for improvement, but from the perspective of putting it into a voice recognition crossover product, this keyboard still has a lot to be commended, whether it is You can feel the mold opening design of the shell, or the hard work on software adaptation.

Against the background of the keyboard market growing wildly, this keyboard is on a completely different track. In any case, this keyboard needs to compete with other opponents after all. Coincidentally, keyboard manufacturers in the circle are on the cusp of crazy volume configuration. The configuration of this keyboard is obviously unable to touch the volume king, but I still hope that this keyboard can be seen by more users. This keyboard may not be so It is cost-effective, but there is no doubt that this is beneficial to the entire keyboard ecology. I also hope that iFLYTEK can continue to work in the field of mechanical keyboards and make some more interesting products.

The author declares that there is interest in this article, please respect the author and the content shared, communicate friendly, and make rational decisions~