A translucent underside and a halo on the desk
The NuPhy Halo gets its name from the translucent base, which lets RGB light spill onto the desk, creating a soft glow around the keyboard.
The underside in all five colours. You can also see the flip-out feet and the slot where the receiver lives. / Video: NuPhy
The Halo V2 comes in three sizes: Halo65 V2 with 67 keys, Halo75 V2 with 83 keys and Halo96 V2 with 99 keys and a numpad. Otherwise it is the same keyboard on the inside. The Halo65 doesn’t appear to be available in Nordic ISO. Only the 75 and 96 get our exotic letters and that lovely, fat Enter key.
At Moderskeppet I got to try several of the NuPhy models, and there is a lot of exciting stuff here. The one I sat with the longest is the Halo96 V2 in pink. I only got to type on it for a little while, but both the keys and the sound felt good. The halo effect is definitely there, and on top of that it has smart storage for the USB-A receiver, tucked into the soft plastic at the back on the right side.
The Halo96 V2 from the side with the lights on. This is what the translucent underside does, plus the USB-C port and the switches for OS and connection mode at the back. / Credit: kaytomas.com
Disclaimer
I tried the keyboard at the booth during Moderskeppet, an event by Geeks AB and SweClockers with 1500 geeks on a boat in international waters. Nothing came home with me, so this is a short test at the booth. The one I tried had the Nordic ISO layout. Two of the photos are mine, the rest are press images and video from NuPhy.
Halo75 or Halo96
The biggest difference is the size, and that the Halo96 has a numpad. The Halo75 V2 is a 75% keyboard at 1020 grams, the Halo96 V2 weighs 1150 grams.
Both have an aluminium top, gasket mount, double-shot PBT keycaps and hot-swap, so you can swap switches without soldering.
The Halo75 V2 in Obsidian Black, one of the two colours sold in Scandinavia. The press image shows the US layout, in stores you get Nordic ISO. / Credit: NuPhy
Switches and wireless
The switches are NuPhy’s own, made together with Gateron. Mint is linear at 37 grams, Raspberry linear at 45 grams and Lemon tactile at 55 grams. There is also Blush, a linear at 42 grams, and a silent Cherry Silent Red Clear-Top. In Scandinavia it is Lemon that is sold, on both sizes. I am not sure which switch was in the one I tried.
Connectivity is tri-mode, so 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth and cable, with a 1000 Hz polling rate on 2.4 GHz and cable and 125 Hz on Bluetooth. The battery is 4000 mAh, and NuPhy claims up to 307 hours with the lights off. The software is QMK and VIA, so you set the keyboard up in the browser without installing anything.
Lots of colours
I got to see and try several colour variants, everything from black to pink. Lots of cool stuff. On nuphy.com the colours are called Obsidian Black, Ionic White, Blue Lagoon and Sakura Fizz, plus a green one, and it is the pink one, Sakura Fizz, you see in my photos.
You can also get a wrist rest in the same translucent acrylic, which is meant to give the halo feeling across the whole desk. It is not in the box, it is sold separately.
This is what the halo looks like on a dark desk, here with the translucent wrist rest carrying the light further. / Credit: NuPhy
Halo V2 IO
NuPhy has just launched the Halo V2 IO, with its own software instead of QMK and VIA, new switches and longer battery life. It will probably take a little while before it reaches Scandinavia with Nordic keycaps and that lovely, fat Enter key.
NuPhy is fairly new to Scandinavia
NuPhy is still relatively new to Scandinavian stores. You can now find its keyboards at Elkjøp, Komplett, Proshop and MaxGaming.
What interests me most is the design. The combination of aluminium, translucent plastic and RGB gives the Halo series a personality of its own. It looks quite different from what we’re used to seeing from manufacturers like Keychron and Wooting.
At the time of writing the Halo75 V2 costs 2090 NOK at MaxGaming and 2099 NOK at the others. The Halo96 V2 costs 1599 NOK at MaxGaming in black, 2199 NOK at the others. So right now the biggest version is the cheapest one.
