review

Tap Strap 2 Review Hand-Wearable Keyboard And Mouse

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Most of your writing delay doesn't really come from the typing speed, but from figuring out what you want to type! Tap Strap 2 is the second generation of Tap, the first one being Tap Strap 1, which is no longer being sold by Tap With Us.
Internally, Tap Strap 2 retains the same hardware specifications as Tap Strap 1, including a Bluetooth 4.2 low energy chip that uses 2.4GHz radio frequency to connect to a device such as a smartphone, smart TV, laptop or tablet which support Bluetooth. The transmission distance is also the same, up to 10 meters if there aren't any obstructions.
Tap Strap 2 also integrates a laser sensor to track the position of the fingers, as well as a 3.7V 45mAh li-on rechargeable battery that can power Tap Strap 2 for up to 8 hours. Tap Strap 2 remains a haptic feedback device so, it uses vibration to feedback certain functions, including keyboard shortcuts, mouse mode and battery level.
When battery level is low, Tap Strap 2 will vibrate when it's powered on. Two vibrations indicate 50% charge, while three vibrations indicate full charge. Tap Strap 2 will also vibrate when powering up, powering down and going to sleep.
Tap Strap 2 will also vibrate when enabling any of its modes, including Shift mode, English Keyboard Mode and Mouse Mode, which lets you use Tap Strap 2 like a computer mouse.
In terms of design, Tap Strap 2 retains also the same look and size as Tap Strap 1, weighing 15 grams and measuring 21cm long.
The charging/storage case that Tap Strap 2 comes with it's also exactly the same inside and out, featuring a 3.7V 370mAh li-on battery, which can store up to 64 hours of power, allowing you to potentially recharge Tap Strap 2 up to eight times.
The Tap Strap 2 charging case has the same sleak glasses-case design, weighing 105 grams and measuring 16.5cm long, 38mm wide and 45mm tall.
Charging takes place via the thumb unit gold-plated contacts and charging pins inside the case, which are magnetized, preventing the thumb unit from becoming loose while charging inside the case.
There are a total of five rubber rings (one for each finger), all of which are attached via nylon cord designed to adjust the rings snugly around the base of the fingers.
The Tap Strap 2 charging case only requires 5V/0.2A input charge to recharge so, the charging case can be charged via the USB port of a computer, taking 4.5 hours to fully charge. The strap itself takes 2 hours to fully charge and can hold charge for 2 weeks on standby.
The charging case has a single battery led to indicate remaining charge. This led is located on the side, next to a small circular, low profile button designed to activate the charge and battery indicator. When the led flashes red, it means the charging case has only 8 hours left of charge. 
There is another led indicator that is built-in around the button located on the thumb unit of Tap Strap. This led is useful as it lets you know when a function has been activated. That said, the led uses only slightly different blue flashing patterns (pulsating, breathing, and blinking) to differentiate functions, which is not as intuitive as having different color leds. 
The Tap Strap 2 is fantastic technology but, it does come with a caveat and that is, it isn't plug and play in the true sense of the word. In order to use Tap, jut like a computer keyboard, you have to learn and memorize the Tap Alphabet, which consists of morse-code type patterns of alpha-numeric combinations and punctuation marks. 
There are also shortcuts and commands you can learn to do cool things such as powering on/off the strap by tapping the ring finger three times. You can also swipe screens, as well as take a picture from the device by tapping the thumb and index fingers twice, simultaneously. With the Tap Strap 2, you also have full mouse functionality, including, left/right clicks, scroll and drag. To activate Mouse mode, you simply place the flat base of the thumb unit on a surface.
Tap Strap 2 works in conjuration with the TapManager app, which requires an account registration via Google, Facebook or email.
Once registered, you have full access to Tap's how-to guides, online support and apps such as TapAcademy, which is a daily training app that uses 10 minute exercises to increase your wpm (word-per-minute) count over a period of 30 days.
From the TapManager app, you also have access to to enable and disable setting such as left-handed mode, vibration, airmouse, stand by mode, auto-correction text and smart TV control. 
You also have the ability to adjust the length of time to wait in between taps via a double-tap timeout feature, as well as the ability to disable the mouse or keyboard input and adjust the scroll and mouse sensitivity. 
Tap has the same "Class B digital device" rating as a computer or mouse and, it also has a class 1 laser product rating, which is the same rating as the miniature laser beam inside CD players. In a nutshell, Tap is safe to use.
Tapping with Tap is not nearly as hard to learn as it seems. You can be competent within a few hours of fun practice and be able to type 25 wpm (words per minute). You can, probably, achieve 40 wpm once you become proficient using Tap. A 40 wpm count is, approximately, half the speed a proficient computer keyboard user can average (80-100 wpm). For a developer or programmer who needs to be productive, they are likely to find using Tap somewhat tedious when writing regular expressions. 
For writing standard text, Tap Strap 2 works very well and has some advantages too, one of them being quieter to use than a regular keyboard. Tap Strap 2 can also be used as a full mouse and a gesture-controller to control various devices.
In some ways, Tap Strap 2 is easier to learn than typing on a keyboard for the first time. This is because you don't have to look down or worry about the spatial placement of the keyboard keys, just which fingers you're tapping down.
Tap Strap 2 is recognized by any device, running an operating system, as a wireless keyboard and mouse so, Tap is compatible with android devices (Android 5.0 and higher), iOS devices (iOS 9.0 and higher), Windows computers (Win 8.1 and higher) and Mac computers (mac OS X and higher). Tap Strap 2 Bluetooth 4.2 chip is also backward compatible with Bluetooth 4.1 and Bluetooth 4.0 devices. Tap comes with one 1 year warranty and 30 day return policy. You can buy Tap Strap 2 on Amazon too.

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