With the advent of Asian retailers that are more accessible in the English-speaking world, as with Banggood here, the sales of these keyboards has also never been easier. The Anne Pro, and subsequently Anne Pro 2, is such a keyboard.

But the attention span of most in those spaces is that of a cat if the keyboard doesn't grab eyes and keep them open. The original keyboard, as with most smaller Asian brands, relies on word of mouth in the West, with forums, subreddits, and other online communities the way to go.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the Anne Pro 2 besides many not wanting to go with a smaller keyboard is the lack of retail availability, and global market awareness. Tap mode allowing for multiple functions goes such a long way in making this keyboard punch above its weight, as it makes for such items as the arrow keys easily being accessible. Somehow, the Anne Pro 2 does it all, and at a price lower than the vast majority of the competition. Many have onboard customization, some fewer companies allow for wired or wireless connectivity options, and even fewer offer more than a couple of switches to choose from, let alone more than the usual black color scheme. Some keyboards opt to go with added legends on keycaps to make it easier for people to understand what does what, and others have prioritized software customization with profiles to allow for complete swaps after a profile change. There are commonalities across pretty much all of them, including logical pre-programmed functions over an Fn layer, such as Fn keys for the number rows. This is while I am in the middle of a 60% keyboard marathon, too, which is especially handy for discerning differences. Turns out the Anne Pro 2 holds up very well in 2021 indeed since it has been a while since I have had an easier time using a 60% keyboard.

The Anne Pro 2 is not even a new keyboard, having launched a couple of years ago, so curiosity on how it holds up compared to all the recent 61-key, 60% keyboards from companies big and small alike was a factor here. These keyboards, at least in my opinion, heralded the smaller form factor keyboards to many who in turn found their love for such keyboards over the go-to full-size or TKL keyboards from before. The Vortex Poker 1 and even Poker 2 and 3 are not really feasible retail options these days, nor is the original Anne Pro. Early 2021 seems to be all about 60% form factor keyboards for me, which is why I wanted to cover the Anne Pro 2 now.

Poker 3 vs anne pro 2