It's cool but not $1600 cool... - Angry Miao Hatsu Ergo Keyboard
ShortCircuit
·ShortCircuit
·2022-05-05
·
3,113 words · ~15 min read
0:00
- Am HATSU, its future art community because it comes with an NFT, I guess.
0:05
It's $1,600. Am intrigued, probably gonna be so stupid, but okay,
0:10
I'll check it out. I really liked the little high-fiving paw thing from the company, what's it called?
0:15
Something miao, term miao. - [Jono] Angry Miao. - Angry Miao.
0:18
Okay, I went to their website, tried to scope this thing out ahead of time. There was nothing, there was barely anything on the website.
0:25
So let's just look at it. I bet this is actually the case you get,
0:29
not just like a reviewer case. Squishy, cool, fragrant,
0:34
but in an off gassy kind of way. It's a split key ergonomic keyboard.
0:39
And now this is garbage, thanks.
0:43
Angry Miao. (James purring)
0:46
To get these open a bit and then your generic plastic on the inside.
0:52
They had to, to keep it food safe. They're kind of heavy,
0:55
I was hoping they would be even heavier. Oh, it's kind of white.
0:59
So they made this with a 5-axis CNC machine
1:02
and they think they're pretty cool for doing that.
1:05
No one's ever done it before. Lots of thoughts immediately looking at this, but let's take our time here.
1:11
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, David. What is going on,
1:15
there's a bunch of weird stuff happening. Like what are these? Is that gonna be RGB?
1:19
This looks badass. You will be cool if you have this,
1:24
I didn't see an option on the website for choosing different key caps.
1:27
I'm not sure everybody will like this kind of P green,
1:32
depending on the color of your P. The legend actually is, has two colors.
1:37
If you see the bottom of the key caps, there's some extra,
1:43
there's an extra legend for secondary functions, which is great, which is cool, it's subtle.
1:47
Are these non-skid? Yeah, there's some feet. So even off of the LTT Store desk mat there's,
1:53
yeah, sufficiently non-skid, how about that? Basically the only criteria my wife was interested in
1:59
when I proposed to her, is he sufficiently non-skid?
2:03
No, I'm a skid. Whoa, I haven't actually touched these yet
2:07
and they feel super like lacquered. They feel as shiny as they look, I'll say that.
2:12
You kind of got this keywell thing going on where it's concave in both dimensions,
2:17
which reminds me of the Kinesis Advantage2 Ergonomic Keyboard
2:21
which itself was what $350 and that was expensive.
2:25
This feels like it's heavier, it's metal and stuff.
2:29
So it's maybe higher quality than that, or at least more premium looking
2:34
but I'm not convinced yet that this is like more ergonomic solution
2:37
or that they did more research than those other guys. Take note of this, what do you call this bed
2:42
that they're all on? It's so cool and contoured,
2:45
it's definitely all 3D printed and that looks really badass.
2:49
This is a beautiful keywell, I'll say that.
2:52
Now the reason this is split is so that your shoulders can be ergonomically placed.
2:56
You can be out like this or in, you don't have to be like this or your mouse ARM
3:02
doesn't have to be way over here. So that's the deal with split.
3:05
It also reduces ulnar deviation, which is when your arms go like that,
3:09
because you don't have to, if this was super close together you might be like this, but you don't have to be.
3:14
You can just go like this and be super ergo.
3:18
The website said nothing about what key switches this thing comes with.
3:23
It's a bit weird to begin with because your pinky is higher up than your, than I'm used to.
3:27
You can see that even on the home row, these keys are at different levels.
3:32
The K key is lower, it's sunken deeper
3:35
than the J and L keys and that's because your middle finger typically is longer
3:41
unless you're a psychopath or a genius. I don't know, I think there's a thing.
3:44
Maybe women have different lengths or is it just the length of the ring finger?
3:47
I don't know, I'm not an astrologer. Alls I know is my middle finger is longer
3:51
so that key is farther away. And then when you, by the time you get to the pinky,
3:56
that will, the semi-colon key there is even higher. So it's a bit of a weird feeling.
4:00
There is a little notch on the J key for home row,
4:03
which is nice to have, 'cause I wouldn't be lost on this thing.
4:07
Feel a little foreign. The idea on this dimension though,
4:10
the keys are all the same height basically and that's so when you, when your finger sweeps like that,
4:16
you're reaching up, you're going back down, the key should be kind of within the same reach
4:21
which is why they're curved like that. Next there's these thumb clusters.
4:24
I'm a huge fan of thumb clusters on my keyboard, on my desk, I have all the thumbs doing
4:28
all sorts of different things. And it's actually not that different
4:32
from what they've set up here. So they have for, I would say the main,
4:36
where would your thumb go by default. I guess they want your thumb to go here by default
4:40
which is Space and Enter. I personally would do Space and Backspace
4:45
'cause I just backspace more than I Enter,
4:48
but it's nice to have Enter. They do have both my main squad keys right here
4:52
which I like, but then I don't really care about Control and Alt, those are a little farther away.
4:57
System, Delete these dot buttons, who knows what they do.
5:01
They're all here. The thumb buttons are really nice because you do a lot of work with your thumbs
5:05
and you should be able to split them out rather than just having your like one buttoned
5:09
space bar down there, just doesn't make any sense like we have a normal keyboards.
5:13
These are linear switches. - [Jono] They're called Icy Silver Switches.
5:17
- Icy Silver Switches, it says right on here TTC.
5:22
- [Jono] Along with TTC's technical support. - Yeah, okay, they're TTC switches.
5:26
They're linear, I don't know why. This isn't a gaming keyboard
5:29
as far as I can tell, it's an ergo keyboard. I would think tactile or clicky would be better.
5:35
Although as far as like RSIs go, I guess linear is kind of better.
5:39
I don't know for pure typist, linear is not usually the way they go, but they still okay.
5:43
They drop that easy to press down. I'm gonna pretend that this Enter button is a space.
5:47
How about that?
5:51
Wow, the pinky, you could get used to this pretty quick.
5:55
I think within a few days, you'd be pretty much up to speed. USB-C ports on the bottom.
5:59
Is this like an Apple mouse like you can't charge it unless it's plugged in and unusable?
6:04
Let's plug in and check it out right after this message from our sponsor.
6:08
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6:30
It's not a secret anymore. Now it's time to open another, oh,
6:35
I was gonna do this with one hand but (James grunting) another box that I have.
6:39
This is just a whole other ball of wax. Oh, it's actually just more keys guys.
6:43
(people laughing) Just joking, oh, warning.
6:47
This is also very fragrant in an off gassy way.
6:51
It's a tablet, a mouse pad, desk mat, desk pad.
6:58
First let's see the competition.
7:02
This is a very basic desk pad
7:06
with some cool blueprint looking schematics on it
7:11
telling me where to place my key modules
7:14
as well as the wireless charging area. So, it looks like they give you some latitude
7:19
and being able to put your key modules along this axis
7:23
and still have them wirelessly charge, which I guess makes the portal on the underside
7:27
a little more accessible, but still kind of lame.
7:31
That's where they go. Then there's these over here.
7:34
I believe these are, hold on. Let's put this pip aside.
7:39
Oh my God, (upbeat music)
7:45
this obviously is meant to go on top of this, but it kind of just looks cooler without it,
7:49
'cause this is almost like a, it's almost like a leather phone case. You got some doohickey at the top here
7:54
and this would be where you would plug into your machine
7:58
with a USB-C port. Non-skid bottom like the whole way.
8:02
Yeah, that thing is pretty stable. And then a couple of peels, like these are basically the nipples of the product.
8:09
Ooh, oh, what we're the only cable company in town?
8:12
"South Park" guys. Did this even, I don't think it's,
8:17
(James laughing) I don't think this even came with a cable, didn't even come with the charging cable.
8:21
- [David] Are you kidding me? - Hold on, did I miss it?
8:25
This is, this smells like an old banana peel.
8:29
That is crazy. - [David] They're trying to be eco-friendly. - Activate, look at the lights.
8:32
Did you see that? - [David] I did. - There's a flourish? Does that mean I can just start wireless charging right now?
8:37
'Cause my phone supports it. Boom! - [Jono] More light came on.
8:42
- Over here? Ooh. - [Jono] It's on the other side. - Oh wow, this is (indistinct).
8:47
So what's gonna happen to these little, I think these are light bars and I'm hoping
8:52
they light up when I put this on here. Good, give me the RGB.
8:56
Okay, you got some activity there. Oh, sick, there's like an under-glow.
9:00
It's not, the light's not coming from where I thought, but right there that looks cool.
9:05
So now we're charging. 5,000 milliampere-hours in each one.
9:08
If I wanna extend the lifespan of those, I might unplug this mat once in a while
9:14
because you don't wanna keep these charged at all times,
9:17
but there's no switch on here, is there? Is there an off switch?
9:20
If you want these to discharge, you have to just slide them off I guess,
9:26
or unplug the whole thing. Currently there's another aspect of this which is these pucks, Cyber Coin designed by Angry Miao.
9:36
No wire, yeah, we know you didn't even put it in the box. So that's gonna put it in this.
9:41
Logitech Mouse sold separately. So that pops out.
9:45
This goes in and now you, boom red.
9:49
Ah, she dead, she's dead, Jim. Now we know that these change color according
9:53
to battery life, that's nice. Can I just, how do I pair this thing?
9:58
It doesn't come with a dongle. - [Jono] Bluetooth only I think. - Bluetooth only.
10:02
They talked about it being super low latency though. Hold Circle button + Tab for three seconds
10:09
to start pairing. I don't know if it means any Circle button
10:12
or we gonna see it blinking blue or something like that.
10:16
Something's happening. They got a light down here. Oh, there it is, HATSU.
10:20
Yeah, we're in baby, I'm in. Control + Tab, ah, new tab.
10:24
(James laughing) I'm Pickle Rick. This might actually be easier for someone coming
10:28
from a QWERTY keyboard 'cause I have like all sorts of raw muscle memory.
10:32
I don't know if I wanna learn it. I don't love the feeling of this.
10:35
Like these are very heavy so they, they have a decisive like bottoming out,
10:38
that aspect of is pretty nice. I would like to have different switches on here.
10:42
Is this thing hot-swappable? Can I pull that switch out. But look how wiggly that is.
10:47
My God, they're all lighting up. Stop it James. I must've put it into like reprogram mode or something.
10:53
One thing that I don't like about ergo keyboards is that they're always so minimal.
10:57
They don't have the F keys or a number pad often.
11:00
And I'm not screwing around trying to learn how to go to the second function row.
11:05
I'm not pulling out Alt and going into here. I'm not doing that.
11:08
So that is why I use the one that I have at my desk. It's like the only ergo keyboard I know of
11:13
that has thumb clusters and a bunch of extra keys. So I guess it's not RGB.
11:17
There's just this white backlight. Do I have any options for turning it up and down
11:21
and changing the pattern? Is there a Function key, function?
11:26
Something I, look at that,
11:29
you wanna light up this half the keyboard, you got to press the Function key.
11:33
(James vocalizing) Output power three watts,
11:36
wireless charging turns on when the battery is less than 85%
11:39
and turns off when fully charged. There you go. You don't need to switch on here.
11:43
All user input is error. It charges these when they're below 85, that's too much.
11:49
It should kick in at like 40, but and then stop at 75, that'd be better, but whatever.
11:53
I guess that's to make the compromise. So what if you don't wanna use this mat, you wanna charge them up and then peace out?
11:58
Well then you'd use a cable. Yeah, I stand by my earlier assessment.
12:02
Long press the left Circle SKP for five seconds
12:05
to turn off both sides. (upbeat music)
12:11
No, that wouldn't turn it off. It says both sides.
12:14
All right, whatever, moving on, you can turn off one side.
12:18
Circle + P to view the current battery level on the side of the light bar.
12:24
Right, is this even on right now? (James grunting)
12:29
Why is this blinking? I can't type though.
12:33
It's like you have to have them both on to work.
12:36
I guess it's not paired anymore. It says it's connected. It has 65% battery life
12:41
but she do not type, no. Well, I can't really get it working.
12:45
So I'm sorry. Wasn't gonna recommend you buy it anyway.
12:50
But here's a couple of other things to talk about. Why isn't there enough room for this mouse?
12:54
You gotta have to go over here to have enough room for your mouse.
12:57
That's not an issue but again,
13:01
that means if you're gonna wanna charge it then you kind of have to do it while you're not using it.
13:05
Unless I guess you can get as far as there, this is workable.
13:10
It's just clearly they didn't, like they wanted symmetry instead of a good design
13:14
that accommodated a mouse. I would've liked hot-swappable switches. I would've liked something that worked.
13:18
I would've liked the ability to customize the keys, at this price point, an online configurator tool
13:25
would have been nice like the ErgoDox has, that one's awesome.
13:28
You wanna be able to customize this stuff, that's the thing with ergo and in wanting to be able to go as fast as you can.
13:32
Like they've done an okay job with the basic layout
13:36
they've given us, but it's kind of redundant. Why do we need so many Control and Alt on keys
13:39
for the thumbs? We could have used those for some of the functions that instead are on second layers.
13:45
Of course you can remap any keyboard using free online tools,
13:50
but they should definitely provide one. RGB I think a little more would be better.
13:55
These strips are cool, but I kind of wish it was over here as well and I thought those are gonna line up, they don't.
13:59
I think that's just for connectivity. There's some kind of feature
14:03
where you can have multiple Bluetooth devices connect to the thing. It's not clear to me how that works.
14:07
There's no information in the guide about it. This thing shouldn't be $1,600.
14:12
It should be like five to 600, even 600 I'd be like that's a lot.
14:15
But ergo keyboards themselves are often three, $400.
14:19
Then you've got this big charging mat. That's cool, that's like a power play in itself
14:24
and those are a couple hundred dollars, aren't they? - [Jono] Yeah. - Like 150 or something.
14:27
- [Jono] But it doesn't even come with a USB-C cable. - Doesn't even come with a USB-C cable,
14:30
they forgot that, okay? They meant to.
14:34
And then the NFT it's just like go away. I still think the makers of this keyboard
14:39
will be happy with this review because I think the thing they care about the most is the artistry
14:43
and precision with which this was cut and designed.
14:46
And I think the CNC and metal aspect of it is really badass.
14:49
I think it's beautiful. Apparently this is a "Westworld" inspired aesthetic.
14:53
They'd have that like at least twice on the webpage, whatever.
14:57
I don't like the color they went with for the legend. I think that kind of serves to erode
15:03
a lot of the other kind of deposits
15:06
in the beautiful bank account they made. They just, I just wish it works.
15:10
(James laughing) But for this, that's it.
15:13
Save your Christmas money, get something else. NFT stands for no fricking techomandation from James.
15:20
Get that? That's a tech recommendation, not today. Thanks for watching "ShortCircuit."
15:25
If you liked this video hit Like, if you hated it still hit Like
15:28
but then yell at me in the comments and watch our other videos about keyboards.
15:32
Bye. Hello?