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Aten's Tap Converts USB/Wireless Keyboard for Bluetooth Compatibility with Smartphones and Tablets

By Vijay Anand - on 7 Jun 2012, 4:51am

Aten's Tap Converts USB/Wireless Keyboard for Bluetooth Compatibility with Smartphones and Tablets

Dedicated Bluetooth compatible keyboards are an expensive accessory, but Aten has a nifty solution to convert existing keyboards to be mobile device friendly, saving you the added inventory cost.

Enter the Aten Tap (CS533), a device that converts existing USB or Wireless keyboards to be Bluetooth capable.

Acting very much like a Bluetooth keyboard converter and switch, the CS533 unit can toggle between two other Bluetooth compatible devices via hotkey combinations.

As seen here by the indicators, device 1 refers to your main computing product with which you want to connect to via USB. Device 2 and 3 refers to the two other Bluetooth compatible devices like an iPad or an Android smartphone that you want to use your keyboard with.

Estimated to cost close to US$100, the Aten Tap isn’t cheap but, the same can be said of Bluetooth keyboards. The advantage of the this device is that if you have a favorite keyboard with which you use on your desktop, the Tap sits in between the keyboard and desktop, while allowing you to switch between two other Bluetooth compatible products via hotkeys. It’s pretty straightforward as it only has these following steps:-

  • Connect the Tap to your desktop via USB
  • Plug keyboard into Tap (or the wireless adapter if it’s a non-corded product)
  • Place your mobile device on the Tap’s cradle or in the vicinity and pair them via Bluetooth
  • Use hotkeys to switch keyboard use between desktop, tablet, phone, etc.

In fact, the Tap supports mice as well, but iOS and some Bluetooth devices still don’t have mouse support.

The Tap’s cradle is just a physical stand for various devices and there’s no docking mechanism. This is to ensure the device is compatible with a variety of products and you need not even place the product in the cradle.

Here’s a list of default hotkey combinations it supports.
 

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