Continuing the SteelSeries product branding we have come to know in the past, the Shift comes in an elongated box. Styled in black and grey there is a large impression of the Shift on the face of the box. A smaller image of one of the prominent features and on the reverse a run-down of the features – including a diagram of the keyboard, picking out important features and explaining their usage leaving you in no doubt what they are there for.


SteelSeries Shift packaging

Within the box there is a small selection of pamphlets - a sticker, product manual, software instructions and product catalogue. Aside from the informative items, there is the inclusion of an attachable wrist-wrest to prevent any RSI.


Inside the packaging, leaflets and wrist-wrest.

The Shift follows the traditional layout of the keyboard. It’s described by SteelSeries as an ‘original gaming keyboard’ in fact. Where this keyboard differs from the conventional keyboard visually is the additional buttons along the edges – left hand-side (multimedia) and top (macro). There is another significant difference too. The space bar is also split into two independent keys. The reason this is so is to allow the keyset to fold into the 3 different sections.


Keyboard layout similar to the conventional board but with subtle changes

Flipping the board over we can see the Shift has a solid structure. Even holding the keyboard in your hands you will be confident that this board has strong construction and is weighty. There are lots of screw holes on the back panel with two feet to alter the height of the Shift.


The back of the Shift, solid construction with adjustable height

Paramount to the Shift’s feature-set is the interchangeable keysets. By this, we are able to switch to another keyset by simply unclipping the rubberised lever on the side of the board. When this has been unclipped, the keyset folds into 3 sections and can be completely removed.


Rubberised level on the side of the Shift and side profile

No matter what your genre of game is, the idea with the Shift is that you can swap these keysets to a different design – all available from SteelSeries and eventually etailers. The Medal of Honor version is available now:

http://shop.steelseries.com/index.php/keyboards/steelseries-shift-keyset-medal-of-honor.html


Keyset is interchangeable. Different designs are available at SteelSeries