There are a few things better than settling down with a good book in a cozy blanket. Unfortunately, unless you’ve got one of those funky blankets with sleeves, you always need to keep part of you exposed to hold your book. That is, unless you have a page turner.
I’ve seen page turners grow increasingly popular among e-reader fans, many of which have come up with smart ways to read hands-free from the confines of a blanket. An arm or mount to hold the e-reader, and a wireless clicker to flip the pages without needing to even touch the e-reader. It might seem overkill, or perhaps a little indulgent, but once you’ve tried it, it’s tough to go back.
While page turners are a dime a dozen, most of them are the same basic, boring design — a small, pebble-like device with some buttons on it. But for those who want a page turner that’s a little more aesthetic, Boox has the solution: the Tappy.
Tappy offers the same wireless page-turning experience you’d expect from other devices, but in a much nicer package. It looks almost like a tiny green typewriter — and green is the only colour option, for better or worse. (I think the green is lovely, but if you’d prefer another colour, you’re out of luck unless Boox starts offering more.)
Along with the green, typewriter-style body, the Tappy sports a USB-C port on the rear for recharging the battery (which lasts surprisingly long), and a small, silver ball on the left side that acts as the power switch. When turned on, a small LED next to the switch lights up to let you know the status, flashing blue to show it’s pairing, green when changing the mode, or red for low battery.
Tappy sports two page-turning buttons with swappable tops — it comes with four options, one with an X, one with an O, one with a pixel art heart, and the last with a pixel art coffee mug.
The two buttons on the Tappy are delightful, offering a satisfying tactile feeling without being overly loud. They remind me of the mechanical switches I enjoy on keyboards, but I’m not sure if Boox used mechanical switches or just something similar. Regardless, pressing the buttons turns your pages forward or back in the default mode.
There are three modes in all, including the default reading mode that handles page turning. However, pressing both buttons at the same time for five seconds will change the mode. Browsing mode works with web content, allowing you to press the buttons to scroll up or down the page, while multimedia mode works with audio like music or audiobooks. Further, those with Boox devices running on version 4.2 or later can customize the Tappy functions, such as inverting the buttons or setting shortcuts tied to a double-click or long-press.
Unfortunately, Tappy’s compatibility is somewhat limited. It works best with other Boox devices, but while you can connect it to non-Boox hardware, results will vary. I tried using it with my wife’s Kobo to no avail, but some have had success with other Android-based e-readers and smartphones, though in some cases, you may need to allow Tappy to control volume since some apps allow using the volume keys for page navigation.
And that’s about it for what the Tappy can do. It’s a fairly straightforward, simple device that does exactly what it says — it turns the pages on your e-reader. Aside from its compatibility with Boox e-readers, the main selling point for the Tappy is the style. As I said above, page turners are a dime a dozen and the main function is pretty basic, so the main differentiator is going to be aesthetics.
Thankfully, Boox also gets the price right here. The Tappy clocks in at US$25.99, or about C$37.07 after the conversion. (Note that to get the $25.99 price, you need to select the Hong Kong warehouse on Boox’s website — the US warehouse costs US$29.99 instead.)
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