In a sea of me-too keyboard and mouse designs, it's refreshing when a product like the Naya Create attempts to break the mold. Unfortunately, this modular keyboard system proves more enthusiast's experiment than something that's ready for the mass market.
Price and Availability
Originally a Kickstarter project that ended on October 29, 2023, with nearly 1,700 backers and over €650,000 raised, the Naya Create is now available direct from Naya starting at $500 for just the wired mechanical keyboard, with options going up to $990. To get wireless functionality, you need to choose at least two modules for a minimum total price of $680. The Touch module is priced at $80, Track at $100, Tune at $160, and Float at $180. If you add three modules, you get the third for 30% off, and, if you add four modules, you get the fourth for 50% off.
By default, the Naya Create comes with Linear Switches pre-installed. You can get Tactile, Clicky, or an extra set of Linear Switches, which you'll need to install yourself, for $50 each. Extra keycaps, including Blank Caps, Japanese, German, or an extra set of English (US QWERTY), are also $50 each.
In the box is the Naya Create split keyboard, hard shell storage travel case with two module spacers, 3.3 foot USB-C to USB-C Y cable, USB-A wireless Speedlink dongle (Bluetooth 5.4), three switch samples for trying out different switch types, keycap/switch puller, and optionally one or more magnetic hot-swappable input devices. On the interior of the packaging are simple quick start instructions.
A Sleek Design with Lots of Options
Bill Loguidice / How-To Geek
At the heart of this modular keyboard system is the Naya Create low-profile mechanical split keyboard, which works with the included detachable USB-C to USB-C Y cable. Each part of the top of the Y attaches to either the left side of the right half of the keyboard, just above the magnetic module holder, or the right side of the left half of the keyboard, just above its magnetic module holder, respectively. Unfortunately, this cable is only 3.3 feet long, so I had some trouble easily connecting it to my Windows 11 desktop computer. Even worse, I found the USB-C connections to the two halves to be a bit wobbly, with a tendency to fall out if I moved a keyboard half too much.
If you want Bluetooth wireless, you'll need to have two of the available magnetic modules attached. This is partly because the keyboard itself, which is only about .63 inches thick from its base to the top of a keycap, has no battery. Instead, the keyboard is powered by the batteries in each of the modules, although it does hold enough of a residual charge to allow you to quickly hot swap modules.
Battery life from the modules varies because of different battery sizes. For instance, Naya Tune has a 1300mAh battery, and both Naya Touch and Naya Track have a 700mAh battery. Depending upon module configuration and everyday usage, including how bright you set the lighting, you can expect anywhere between 14 to 80 days of battery life. The modules can be charged using most wireless charging pads, which is a nice touch, or when attached to a wired keyboard half by matching the six flat magnetic pins. It's an easy and secure hot swap system. Each module has a charging indicator light.
Naya Touch is a flat surface touchpad like you'd find on a laptop. It supports gestures and touch-zones.
Naya Track is a trackball with four customizable buttons. It also features integrated linear scrolling in any direction and axis locking to limit movement to vertical or horizontal directions.
Naya Tune is a rotary encoder dial that's often used for scrolling through editing timelines when creating videos, adjusting brush sizes in paint programs, controlling volume, and more. It features haptic feedback, with everything from low resistance modes to rough ticks and barriers to limit movement. An LED ring light provides a visual indicator of rotational direction. Finally, Naya Tune can also be configured like Naya Touch, allowing for touch and gesture pad control.
Naya Float is a type of tilt dial, often used in 3D modeling applications for spatial control. Naya has decided to re-engineer and improve this particular module, so it has yet to ship.
Oddly enough, although a USB-A wireless Speedlink dongle that purportedly uses Bluetooth 5.4 was included with my setup, it's not yet supported. Presumably, this will be a way to use a newer—although not the newest 6.0—Bluetooth spec for those computers that either have an older internal module or lack such capability entirely.
The included hard travel case can hold the keyboard halves, up to three modules, the keycap/switch puller, USB dongle, and the USB-C Y cable. The case is reasonably compact and certainly gets the job done, but I would have expected something a bit more luxurious and versatile at this price point. Overall, the case feels a bit thin and pedestrian.
Flexible But Clunky Setup and Software
Bill Loguidice / How-To Geek
Initial setup, regardless of whether or not you have modules, involves connecting Naya Create with the USB-C Y cable to a computer running Windows, MacOS, or Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS recommended), and the Naya Flow app. Each half of the keyboard has its own power switch that needs to be turned on.
Initially, I had some trouble with this simple process, but Naya has provided regular updates for Naya Flow. The app is still not out of beta, but it's certainly a lot better and more stable than when the keyboard was first released.
As you would expect, Naya Flow allows you to configure every key and module functionality. It's also the only way to push firmware updates to the keyboard and modules, although I found this process hit or miss, even after recent updates.
If you look at the non-standard layout of the keyboard, you'll understand why using the app to work with layers is so important. By default, layer 0 matches more or less what the keycap labels indicate. Of course, there are also keys with special labels that are assigned important functions that would only be obvious from this screen. For instance, the || key on the right half keyboard is Backspace, while the || key on the left half keyboard is Enter, two keys that I suspect you, like me, will use all the time.
By default, switching to layer 1 gives you arrows keys and related functions on the left half of the keyboard. On the right half of the keyboard, it works like a tenkey, or number pad. Switching to layer 2 gives you access to what Naya calls System functions, which include selecting between four Bluetooth devices, and changing the color, brightness, and effects of the RGB lighting system. You can easily add additional layers, although I suspect most users, like me, will prefer to modify one of the existing layers, particularly layer 0, and what certain keys do, to help ease use of this non-standard keyboard layout.
Middling Performance with a Staggering Learning Curve
Bill Loguidice / How-To Geek
It's no exaggeration to say I've used hundreds of different keyboards over the decades. It's also no exaggeration to say that the Naya Create has been one of the most difficult to adapt to. I'm not saying the high learning curve may not be worth it, but short of going from a QWERTY to a DVORAK layout, I can't imagine a more difficult transition from traditional layouts.
It's not quite ortholinear, where keys are arranged in a perfectly straight grid of vertical and horizontal lines, but it has a similar feel. You'll likely want to place both halves parallel with each other, straight on, with no angling, for best results. Of course, you can position either half as you need, which is an advantage with these types of separated split keyboards. In terms of tenting, it's fantastic that two parts of each half can be angled, but without any type of indicator to what angle you're at, I found it difficult to match the shape on both sides. Instead, I mostly used it flat or with slight tenting.
The low-profile keycaps aren't bad, with good spacing, but I wasn't too fond of the Kailh CPG-1232 linear switches. The overall feel was a bit sluggish, although for those who don't care for the clack of traditional mechanical keyboards, they'll be happy to know these barely make a sound. While I appreciate the ability to change out the switches should I so choose, I would have preferred a better out-of-the-box feel like I got with the similarly low-profile Logitech G915 X Lightspeed Keyboard .
As stated, the layout of the Naya Create is missing some common keys, like Backspace and Enter, instead relying on its extra programmable keys for such functions. By default, hitting backspace on the lower left of the right keyboard with my left thumb, and hitting Enter on the lower right of the left keyboard with my left thumb, wasn't exactly intuitive. While again I appreciate the virtually limitless customization, as someone who types a lot, I really would have preferred each of those functions and others in more traditional locations.
Typing responsiveness itself is good, but, on the other hand, I did find the keyboard a bit slower to wake from sleep than I typically like. There were even times when I had to switch each side of the keyboard on and off to get it to properly connect again.
On the plus side, the RGB lighting is extremely well implemented with excellent uniformity and high maximum brightness. There's no way to set per key lighting or do more robust lighting programming beyond setting one of five colors and basic effects like breath or swirl, but what's there likely covers most needs.
The magnetic modules are generally excellent, although between the Naya Touch, Track, and Tune, only the latter feels like a genuinely premium controller. In fact, while Naya Track is a perfectly serviceable controller, nothing secures its trackball, so if you lift the keyboard wrong, or remove the module itself unevenly, it falls out.
The overall idea with the keyboard and module setup is that you should move your hands as little as possible, with all functions accessible in one general area. The concept itself is sound and should be particularly appealing to professional programmers or creative professionals engaged in heavy editing tasks. With that said, you'll absolutely have to learn a completely new way to work. If that's something that sounds appealing to you and you have the time for a long adjustment period, then the Naya Create system is well worth exploring. For everyday usage, however, I can't help but feel this is a solution in search of a problem.
In fact, I feel like Naya themselves has acknowledged some of the issues with Create by announcing Naya Connect, which features a new type of unlimited attachment system, Naya Dock, and Naya Type, which has a more traditional keyboard layout. It's supposed to also come to Kickstarter, which may not sit well with those who originally supported Naya Create on that platform and are only now getting their pledges, not to mention the shipping delay of Naya Float.
Should You Buy Naya Create?
Crazy technological experiments like this are right up my alley, so I really wanted to love the Naya Create . Unfortunately, I never truly felt comfortable using the keyboard and have yet to figure out how to properly optimize my usual workflows with it and its modules. The whole setup requires a staggering learning commitment that I'm just not sure is worth it.
Of course, if you often get frustrated interrupting your workflow when removing your hands from your keyboard to work a mouse or other controller, and don't mind putting in the time to learn a new way to work, then this might be a good option. Despite some rough edges from both the hardware and software, there's a lot to appreciate about the customization and personalization possibilities. Unfortunately, while I can appreciate the thought and engineering that have gone into this product, I never felt the end result, from build quality to utility, came anywhere close to justifying the high cost.
