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Detroit-based company Astrohaus has been making “distraction-free writing devices” under the Freewrite name for nearly a decade. So far, both have been happening individually, single purpose equipment which means just writing notesbut Astrohaus is working at CES 2025. The company just announced the Freewrite Wordrunner, a device designed specifically for writers.
This comes three years after Astrohaus quietly revealed plans to build the keyboard, previously known as the Maestro. But the company finally pulled the plug on their 2022 launch, and I haven’t heard anything about it since – it seems they’ve been working on it all along. CEO Adam Leeb said in a press release that the company has been iterating and developing it for nearly four years.
Mechanical keyboards have become a part of gamers; The company wanted to build a device for people who live writing instead. Without spending a good amount of time with it, I can’t say if they’ve succeeded yet, but there are some interesting ideas on display here.
Wordrunner has a tenkeyless interface that looks familiar at first glance, but you’ll quickly notice that the taskbar has been replaced with keys that will make typing faster. This includes find and edit, edit and reset, paragraph up and down and back, forward and reload keys. I would have been disappointed to lose the media controls from the taskbar, but Wordrunner has it covered by a button / red button. It moves in all four cardinal directions, can be turned like a knot and can also be pressed vertically to skip songs, change the sound or pause your music.
On the other side, you’ll find three customizable keys with the cute names “zap,” “pow” and “bam.” They can create anything you want, but Astrohaus recommended that they use it to set up specific writing programs, convert text into a title or set the date. I’m not sure what I’ll use them for, but having customizable keys is a tableau feature on most custom keyboards so I’m glad to see them here.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Wordrunner is the two machines you can see above. One is a calculator that you can use for writing sprints or just for a quick overview. Of particular interest is the Wordometer dead-center above the keyboard. It tracks your voice with its eight-digit reader, and since it saves your voice as you wish, you can try and add it another day. Of course, you can reset it at any time or pause it if you don’t want it to progress while chatting with friends or sending emails.
The mechanical keys are also activated using Kailh switches; keycaps are adjustable but settings are not. It also has built-in noise canceling so you can use it without having to put everyone around you on super loud keys (this can be a plus or minus depending on how you like your keys). As for connectivity, Wordrunner uses Bluetooth or USB-C, and you can pair the keyboard with three different devices and quickly switch between them with dedicated hotkeys.
I got a chance to play with the Wordrunner sample, and my first reaction was “wow, this is heavy!” It is a polished aluminum that matches the finish Hemingway’s first edition of Smart Typewriter. Astrohaus founder/CEO Adam Leeb told me that the company is shooting for this keyboard to be a premium, low-end product even though they plan to make it part of the regular lineup.
Although I didn’t try to test Wordrunner connected to a computer, I should have seen the Wordometer machine turn when I started writing. It’s satisfying to see it count as I write a hypothetical essay, and there’s a small LED that turns green when the counter is on and turns red when you stop it. The keys and navigation all felt great, and the trigger was also a fun touch – I’m looking forward to using it as a media monitor. Leeb says this keyboard is still analog, but it feels polished and almost finished to me.
Finally, there is the ever-present question of availability. Astrohaus is launching the Wordrunner on Kickstarter, as it has done with many of its devices over the past 10 years. The campaign should start in February with early bird prices, but we don’t know what the price will be. Fortunately, there is a very cheap way to get a good price if you want to know. Astrohaus says you can deposit $1 for early access and great pricing, with plans to deliver the first set of keyboards by the end of the year. It’s a long way, but a buck isn’t a bad investment if you want it.
Update, January 8 2024, 9:27PM ET: This article has been updated to include Wordrunner graphics and images.
