CLVX 1 Keyboard Review: A Seamless Keyboard & Touchpad Combo

From typing to swiping.

When I first heard about the CLVX 1 keyboard, I thought it was too good to be true. This unique keyboard incorporates a fully functional touchpad within its keys, enabling gesture controls while promising effortless transitions between typing and touch capabilities.

The CLVX 1 was created by Clevetura, a company that has been developing its patented TouchOnKeys® technology since 2017. This innovative tech adds a touch layer to the traditional keyboard experience, allowing users to click, scroll and perform gestures directly on the keyboard surface, mimicking the functionality of a touchpad.

Having implemented earlier versions of the technology for other companies, Clevetura has now launched a campaign on Kickstarter to bring the CLVX 1 to the market as their own flagship product.

They have kindly sent me an early production unit for review purposes, so in this article I’ll take a look at the build quality, specs and functionality of the CLVX 1 to find out if it’s just another high tech gimmick, or if it truly delivers on its promise as a powerful all-in-one productivity tool.

What’s in the box?

The CLVX 1 packaging is nicely presented, with a clean design featuring a diagram of its keys on the front.

Inside, you’ll find the keyboard, along with two small boxes in dedicated compartments, one for the Quick Start Guide and another for the USB-C charging cable, which is braided and feels really high quality.

Specs

The CLVX 1 is a full-size keyboard with an ANSI layout and a total of 110 keys. The keys utilize a scissor mechanism with a short travel of 1.2mm and a keystroke force of 60g. Although the keys on the CLVX 1 are packed tightly together when compared with other keyboards, they are also designed to be slightly larger than average, ensuring a standard 19mm key pitch (the distance between the middle of one key to the middle of the next). This allows for a natural and familiar typing experience, especially for those who are used to full-size keyboards.

When it comes to its gesture capabilities, the CLVX 1 has a built-in touch area of 186 х 84mm, with auto type-to-touch switching. You can customize the touchpad area, as well as the level of sensitivity for the automatic transition by using simple keyboard shortcuts. Once the product is officially launched, Clevetura will also release a desktop app that will allow users to easily manage these settings, as well as a number of other features on the keyboard.

In terms of size and weight, the CLVX 1 measures 437 x 130 x 12.4mm and weighs only 640g, making it slimmer and much lighter than many other popular keyboards on the market such as the Logitech MX Keys.

This keyboard comes equipped with a 1900 mAh battery that offers up to 55 hours of continuous use with the RGB backlighting switched off, according to the manufacturer. For those who want to keep the RGB lights always turned on, it’s worth pointing out that it also has automatic brightness adjustment, which enhances visibility in low-light environments while saving battery in well-lit settings.

When it comes to connectivity, the CLVX 1 offers three Bluetooth 5.1 channels, allowing seamless switching between three devices wirelessly, in addition to a wired connection via USB-C 2.0. Unfortunately, it lacks support for a 2.4GHz wireless connection, which would be ideal for those interested in gaming with this keyboard.

For now, the CLVX 1 is only compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems, but the company also has plans to release a Mac version in the near future.

Design & Build Quality

The CLVX1 is a very sleek piece of tech. Its body features rounded edges and an anodized aluminum material which gives this low-profile keyboard a premium feel. The use of a polycarbonate top and high-quality ABS plastic keycaps helps deliver a unit that is lightweight yet quite durable.

As mentioned earlier, the keys on the CLVX 1 are arranged in a very compact way, with the space between them measuring roughly 1mm. This was a deliberate choice made by Clevetura to ensure the touch surface feels as smooth as possible for a great user experience when swiping, pinching or tapping. It is also a design decision that ultimately contributes to this keyboard’s unique, minimalist look.

The touch area is clearly delineated by white markings over the keys, which is helpful from a usability perspective, but it is the one thing that detracts from this keyboard’s extremely clean design. Perhaps future iterations could rely more on subtle lighting effects to outline this area, rather than printed borders that are always visible.

The CLVX 1 also includes physical left and right click buttons directly below the touchpad and spacebar, for an even better mouse experience.

The function keys at the top are shorter than the rest, but still very usable. By default, this function row is set as multimedia controls, and it includes a range of useful shortcuts as well as handy sliders within the touch area. The first slider, which goes from F2 to F6, controls the brightness of the RGB backlight, while the second (from F7 to F11) controls playback volume. Once the Clevetura app is released, users will have the ability to configure these touch sliders to perform their own custom actions. This top row can also be switched back to a standard function key behavior by simply holding Fn + Esc.

On the right side of the keyboard, above the numpad, you’ll find some shortcuts that allow you to quickly switch between its three Bluetooth channels or a wired USB-C connection.

Finally, a dedicated “type” button allows users to toggle between touch-and-type and typing-only mode, which completely disables the touchpad functionality. This can be useful if you would like to avoid triggering any accidental gestures or mouse functionality during longer typing sessions, but in my experience, I haven’t encountered any issues with unwanted behavior, so I always had the touch-and-type mode activated.

At the bottom of the aluminum body, you’ll find a pair of sturdy adjustable feet that allow you to prop the keyboard up, as well as rubber pads that help keep it firmly in place while typing.

The power switch and USB-C charging/connection port, are both located on the upper right side.

Overall, the build quality of the CLVX 1 is excellent. If aesthetics are important to you, this keyboard will be a great addition to any desk setup with its sleek design elements and high-quality materials. On top of that, the integrated gesture controls eliminate the need for a mouse or dedicated trackpad, which helps keep your working area even cleaner.

Performance & User Experience

Despite its unique features, the CLVX 1 is a keyboard, first and foremost, and when it comes to typing, it delivers an experience which is similar to a high-end laptop keyboard. The scissor mechanism ensures quiet keys with just the right amount of travel (1.2mm) for a super smooth typing experience. During my testing, my speed and accuracy remained on par with the low-profile Keychron I use daily.

The keyboard angle can be adjusted to two set positions (2.5° and 7°) and I found the CLVX 1 very comfortable to use during long sessions. If you usually rely on a wrist rest when typing, it’s worth pointing out that the CLVX 1 doesn’t come with one, and it’s not something that is currently available as a separate accessory for purchase either. It will be interesting to see if Clevetura can develop a suitable option that matches the sleek aesthetics of the CLVX 1, for those interested in purchasing this type of accessory down the track.

Although the typing experience is great, the real hook and unique selling point of the CLVX 1 is the integrated touchpad. This distinctive aspect really shines with its automatic mode switching, which delivers seamless transitions from typing to touchpad controls. If you’d like to see this in action, take a look at the video below.

While this new way of using a keyboard does take a bit of time to get used to, the gesture controls are smooth and responsive, and ultimately the CLVX 1 is a joy to use. As mentioned earlier, the automatic switching worked extremely well for my particular use cases, and I never had to adjust the settings to avoid false gestures. It’s good to know, however, that the option is certainly there if you need it, from adjusting the placement and size of the touch area, to the sensitivity/speed of the type-to-touch transition.

That brings me to configurability, which is an aspect that I wasn’t able to fully test with this early unit, since the dedicated Clevetura app isn’t available yet. For now, I can adjust basic things like brightness settings and transition speeds using the integrated touch sliders or simple keyboard shortcuts. However, once the desktop app is released, users will be able to fully customize the RGB backlighting, adjust the touchpad functionality, bind function keys and even set custom gesture controls for individual applications. At launch, the CLVX 1 will also come pre-configured with a range of gestures for popular applications including Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Microsoft Office and Chrome.

Although the launch model is only officially compatible with Windows and Linux, my curiosity got the better of me and I had to test it with my Mac. To my surprise, not only it worked perfectly fine as a keyboard but I was also able to use the touchpad area as a mouse. So, while I wait for the future Mac OS version with full gesture capabilities, it’s nice to know that I can use this current model with my MacBook to perform actions such as scrolling, tapping or clicking without the need for an extra peripheral.

Pros & Cons

It’s time to sum things up with a look at the positives and negatives of the CLVX 1 keyboard.

Pros:

• All-in-one design eliminating the need for a separate mouse or trackpad.
• Seamless mode switching.
• Intuitive touch sliders.
• Excellent build quality.
• Elegant, clean design.
• 3 Bluetooth channels for easy device switching.
• Decent battery life.

Cons:

• Wireless connectivity limited to Bluetooth with no 2.4GHz option available.

Conclusion

The CLVX 1 is a unique product that stands out in the computer peripheral space with its clever dual-functionality as a keyboard and a touchpad. Although this new paradigm does present a slight learning curve, it comes with a range of great benefits, from decluttering your workspace to becoming a powerful all-in-one productivity tool. It’s a device that feels great and empowering to use, whether you’re producing videos, creating interfaces in Figma, editing a Word document, or simply browsing the web.

Although there are still question marks around how good the Clevetura app will be once it’s released, I’m excited to see how it can make the CLVX 1 even better when it comes to fine tuning and personalization.

Overall, the CLVX 1 keyboard is an impressive fusion of sleek design and technical innovation that I can wholeheartedly recommend. If you’re interested in learning out more about it, take a look at the Kickstarter campaign.

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The product included in this article was provided by the manufacturer for review purposes, however, this is not a sponsored post and the opinions expressed are entirely our own.