Self-proclaimed "obsessive power-user" Ryan Paul over at ArsTechnica put the $100 alternative input device, which combines keyboard and pointing functions into a gamepad-like housing, through extensive testing in a variety of computing environments and found it to be from a good-to-great device overall. Although Paul claims to have achieved 45 words-per-minute after only a week of on-and-off use, apparently most people take up to a month to reach those speeds on the unintuitive layout (which does have one major benefit: unlike other alternaboards such as DVORAK and Frogpad, extensive use of the AG-5 does not deteriorate your QWERTY skills). Although the ergonomic benefits of the AlphaGrip system are without question (no more hunching over and jumping from 'board to mouse), problems such as a sluggish trackball, buggy Caps Lock button, and difficulty in executing multi-keystroke commands (along with the obviously-steep learning curve) may convince interested users to wait on the next generation of this product (although it might be quite a long wait: AlphaGrip already has the dubious distinction of having at least one Wired Vaporware Award under its belt).