Brydge, a leading purveyor of premium keyboards for tablets, made a leak on its Shopify site, revealing two keyboards in full and probably some new Google hardware.
Images of Wallaby the keyboard on the Shopify site, which has been taken down now, were first spotted by About Chromebooks. The site describes the Wallaby as a “wireless keyboard for tablet,” with the price to be declared. On Brydge’s site, the Wallaby falls under the category of “for Hooli,” which may be known as the mock Google in the popular show Silicon Valley.
Goanna is the name of the other keyboard whose image got leaked. Interestingly, the Goanna is described as being a “Wireless desktop keyboard for Chrome OS” specifically.
These leaked images have left us intrigued by questions such as – Is the device we see in the images for “Wallaby” the “Nocturne” Chrome OS convertible suspected to be a Google product? Is it a generic render?
With the assumption that Brydge would want to manufacture these premium keyboards for big-shot manufacturers with marketing power, it is possible to bring into the spotlight Google Nocturne.
Moreover, the feature of the fingerprint sensor at the top-left of the frame matches some art that Google itself made for Chrome OS. Earlier Chromebooks lack this feature, but the Google 2-in-1 Pixelbook tablet has a fingerprint sensor for sure, just like this device.
Furthermore, the leaked images of the Wallaby keyboard have a Launcher key with the same icon as the home button that is incidentally also in the same place on the first generation Pixelbook. What’s more, the keyboard layout as a whole is identical to the original Pixelbook. The images don’t show any branding on the front.
Additionally, the “for Hooli” description on Brydge’s site seems to suggest “for Google”. These pointers might suggest the inclusion of Google hardware.
However, “For Google” might as well mean that it’s for Chrome OS as it would mean for first-party Google hardware launching next month. Moreover, there is no inclusion of existing Google hardware features such as the sharper corners and edges of the Pixelbook, Italian design with bright colors, or glass windows. There is no visible Google logo.
Moreover, these devices, as can be garnered from the leaked images, don’t include the necessary cameras, unlike Google’s Nocturne, which includes both front and back cameras.
Additionally, the screenshot laid on top of this supposed device is circa original Chrome OS – so it’s definitely not an official Google-sanctioned render. The color of the device perfectly match the color of the keyboard suggests that they could just be some kind of a generic render that Brydge is using as a placeholder to represent any Chrome OS tablet.
