Akko Black&Gold 3098B Keyboard Review

Software

An actual software page for an Akko keyboard? This was the biggest surprise to me going in since I wasn’t expecting dedicated software drivers from Akko anytime soon. There’s still some work to be done before Akko can be proud of it, but it was the feature other companies could claim over Akko—until now. The software solution for the 3098B is Akko Cloud Driver, and the installer can be found as a zip file

Regardless, once installed, it is fairly low on system resources, but not as fast as most other programs, which was my biggest issue with Akko Cloud Driver in this current form, where everything you do initiates an action whether you intended for it to be saved or not. With the keyboard connected, it takes ~5 seconds to detect the device and bring up the appropriate module full of specific menus and options. I will give Akko some credit for making it scalable enough with high DPI displays, and it’s not full of poorly translated English or errors, so this is already a step up from many generic, re-skinned software drivers we have seen other brands use.

There was a firmware update, which I of course applied first. This is where the 3098B differs slightly from the 3098N, wherein the former is more reliant on USB connectivity to get it done, along with some of the more extensive features. Regardless, wired mode is always a good idea when updating keyboard firmware, and the process was smooth.

An actual software page for an Akko keyboard? This was the biggest surprise to me going in since I wasn’t expecting dedicated software drivers from Akko anytime soon. There’s still some work to be done before Akko can be proud of it, but it was the feature other companies could claim over Akko—until now. The software solution for the 3098B is Akko Cloud Driver, and the installer can be found as a zip file on this page . At the time of testing, v11.1.11 was the latest available public release, and the installer is ~90 MB. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of installation options, with the executable choosing to do everything by default, including any T&C you inadvertently agreed to, adding shortcuts to the desktop and start menu, as well as the install location itself. I want this to be updated to an experience that is more as expected as soon as possible. Some discrepancy in version numbering exists as well, with Windows seeing this ~280 MB installed program as version 1.0.0 and the program itself citing v11.1.13, which are both different from the file name.Regardless, once installed, it is fairly low on system resources, but not as fast as most other programs, which was my biggest issue with Akko Cloud Driver in this current form, where everything you do initiates an action whether you intended for it to be saved or not. With the keyboard connected, it takes ~5 seconds to detect the device and bring up the appropriate module full of specific menus and options. I will give Akko some credit for making it scalable enough with high DPI displays, and it’s not full of poorly translated English or errors, so this is already a step up from many generic, re-skinned software drivers we have seen other brands use.There was a firmware update, which I of course applied first. This is where the 3098B differs slightly from the 3098N, wherein the former is more reliant on USB connectivity to get it done, along with some of the more extensive features. Regardless, wired mode is always a good idea when updating keyboard firmware, and the process was smooth.I hope you like that loading animation Akko is using because you will be seeing it a lot. Every single action is immediately executed, and there is a ~1 sec processing time to get anything done. This can make for a somewhat frustrating experience when just playing around with the various available options, and I want to see Akko adopt a preview system with dedicated apply and cancel buttons to proceed after having decided what to do. This is exasperated by there being a lot to like here, so much so that I would not be surprised to hear Akko outsourced this to a team with more experience. The various menus are well laid out to where the interface is logical, and there are extensive options as it pertains to layers and profiles, in addition to key mapping, macro recording, and of course the RGB lighting effects, with associated options including selecting the exact color from among the 16.8 million on offer, speed and brightness of the effects in discrete steps, direction of some dynamic effects, and per-key lighting for more customization. This is where I realized there’s an onboard microphone on the PCB for nothing but the two available audio-input lighting modes. The two main reasons for software drivers are the easier customization than via onboard controls and the finer control over something—the delay between keystrokes in a macro or exact hue for LEDs perhaps. It’s a generally impressive first step from Akko, but there remains work to be done before I am happy.