IPAD PRO SMART KEYBOARD FOLIO REVIEW PORTABLE

The keyboard is very comfortable to type on. Three things I don’t like about the keyboard: the lack of an Escape key, the lack of function keys, and my fingers keep bumping up against the iPad Pro when I press the top row of numbers/symbols. Super underrated: the inverted-T arrow keys are sublime. The keyboard is backlit, too - something I missed greatly whenever I used the Smart Keyboard Folio in the dark. They’re tactile without feeling hollow like the covered butterfly keys on Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio, which it still sells. Each key has a good amount of resistance and travel.

IPAD PRO SMART KEYBOARD FOLIO REVIEW PORTABLE

Hands down, this is one of the best portable keyboards I’ve used and the keys are nearly as good as my beloved pre-butterfly keyboard 13-inch MacBook Pro and nearly as solid as the scissor keys on the entire lineup of MacBook Pros now. The only difference is that it has five rows of keys instead of six (the Touch Bar for function keys). The 12.9-inch version I’ve been testing has the same full-size keys as my 2019 work 13-inch MacBook Pro. Typing blissĮasily the best part of the Magic Keyboard is the typing experience. An iPad is made to be touched, begs to be touched, and is better because you just reach up and touch things on the display. There’s nothing that I can’t do with the trackpad that I can’t do with my finger or the Apple Pencil. The Magic Keyboard’s trackpad allows for more precision for certain tasks, but it’s hardly essential. It feels wrong.Īs a longtime iPad user who’s spent years accepting the tablet as a different kind of computer designed with touch at the core - one that’s not a laptop or trying to be one - I found myself rejecting the trackpad more than I thought I would. It feels half-baked and incomplete with the current version of iPadOS. The MacBook-like keyboard with scissor-switches is heavenly to type on, but I’m not sold on Apple shoehorning a trackpad (and cursor) on the iPad.

I’ve been using the Magic Keyboard with a 2020 iPad Pro for the last two weeks to really get a feel for it beyond my initial knee-jerk excitement and it’s beautifully chaotic. At last: the iPad can replace a laptop! Not quite. At first glance, the accessory for the iPad Pro (works with 20 models), which starts at $299 for the 11-inch version and $349 for the 12.9-inch model, gives off Microsoft Surface Pro vibes. More specifically, Apple is selling a Magic Keyboard that’s part case, stand, keyboard, and trackpad. An unexpected coronavirus has ravaged the world, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a flagship-worthy camera, and the iPad now supports mice and trackpads.

Ipad pro smart keyboard folio review