🏀To those who bought the Keychron Nape Pro and felt 'something is off'... A thorough dissection of the source of that discomfort💡

💰Why is this attention-grabbing device that raised 300 million yen being let go?

The
trackball device "Nape Pro" created by Keychron x Gizmodo Japan

🎯 A project that was a bit of an event in the gadget world, with over 300 million yen raised in crowdfunding and over 28,000 supporters
.
💰300 million yen, that's 300 million yen✨😍

But when you dig through various reviews, you see this sentiment quite often.

"The feeling wasn't right"

To the 28,000 people who supported it, how are you doing?😅
By the way, here is my review

So this time, I'm going to seriously dissect the true nature of
"the feeling isn't right" that I also felt a little bit🔍

📝Reasons spoken of in the conscious mind (surface reasons)

First, let's list the reasons everyone is actually saying.

① The customization requirement problem
The Nape Pro, with its initial settings, is honestly just an inferior version of a regular mouse.
To bring out its true value, you need to "Keychron Launcher" to reconfigure the keymap for yourself.
This is quite a hassle💨 It's truly a game of raising it🍂

② The "I already have the best partner at home" problem
This is also a common sentiment.
"I already have a favorite mouse, so I can't find a reason to use this over that one."
This is the so-called homeostasis problem👦. People are bad at change😅

But the reasons explained so far are standard.
What is the stress sensation that you don't actually understand unless you use it❓
I'm going to dig into this～👷

👉Forced to be conscious of clicking

The hypothesis I arrived at... no, this is probably the truth❗️

🐻Let me explain❣

With a normal mouse, both pointer movement and clicking are completely part of your senses.
The index finger is for left-click, the middle finger is for right-click. It's a spinal reflex level action.

No one visually confirms a mouse click.
Unlike a keyboard, everyone is probably able to click a mouse by "touch typing".

Even with a typical trackball, while you are somewhat conscious of the ball operation itself, the unconscious nature of clicking is maintained.

So, what about the Nape Pro?

⬆Vertical placement: Supposed to be "as designed," but...

Vertical placement is the orientation where the logo can be read in the correct direction, and the default left/right click buttons also work in the correct orientation—in other words, the way the manufacturer seems to be saying, "Use it like this."

……However.

To be frank, even when placed vertically, there is almost no advantage over the mice or trackballs I usually use.

The benefits are just space-saving and a stylish aesthetic (depending on personal taste), and even that is a trade-off with the "learning cost of getting used to a new device."

On top of that, there were two hurdles I realized after testing it with my own body.

First hurdle:
Sensory-wise, you naturally want to roll the ball with your thumb. But actually, it is better suited for rolling the ball with your index finger. (Due to the default click button layout.) This is the first counter-intuitive part. It's the first wall as a gadget where you think, "Oh, so it wasn't the thumb."

Second hurdle:
Operating the ball with your index finger means you have to do the clicking with just your thumb. It's unconscious with a mouse, but here you have to search for the left and right buttons while being conscious of them. The fact that you tend to have to look down to confirm might be stressful.

➡Horizontal placement: Everyone wants to choose this, but there's a pitfall

In reality, many people probably want to place it horizontally because they don't want to break their home position. The idea is to place it in front of the keyboard and operate the pointer without moving your fingers.

But this isn't straightforward either.

First, the moment you roll the ball with your thumb, your home position is slightly broken. Moreover,

the position of the ball is slightly higher than the keyboard.When these "slight" things pile up, they accumulate as unconscious stress.

Furthermore, if you try to press the default click buttons with your thumb, you have to rotate your wrist, which is a very stressful operation. Personally, I recommend remapping the left click to the 01 button.

🕵️The mystery of the 135.2mm depth

According to the official specs of the Nape Pro, the total length is 135.2mm. When placed vertically, it sticks out slightly from the keyboard in front of you.

"Why did they create this half-baked feeling with millimeter precision here?"I was curious, so I checked the depth of not only general keyboards but also other Keychron keyboards one after another.

However, it didn't match any of them. I really wanted them to make it match here😅

In other words, it's not an inductive method of "matching a certain size," but a deductive method of "this is what happened when we packed the internal parts." This depth wasn't intentional; it's probably just a byproduct of the design.

📝Summary: Who it's for and who it's not for

So, here is the conclusion.

The true nature of "it doesn't feel right" is,
the stress of suddenly having to become conscious of movements you were previously doing unconsciously

—that is my assessment this time.

So, who is it for?

💪People with potential:
People who are already used to clicking with their thumb on a laptop trackpad.
Since the action of clicking is already automated with the thumb,
the transition cost to the Nape Pro is low to begin with. They are the type with good instincts.

♨People it suits:
People who don't find the endless swamp known as customization to be a burden,
but rather a reward✨.
People for whom "nurturing their tools" is a hobby in itself.

🧀People it doesn't suit:
People who are looking for the same "don't have to think about anything" operating feel of a mouse.

The reason why a product that raised 300 million yen is being let go,
is perhaps not about "performance" after all,
but rather about "being forced to be conscious of things you were doing unconsciously,"
a very subtle point, that was the topic.

If you found this helpful, please give it a like😍
The bear will be happy🧸