ClamCase Debuts New Keyboard Case for iPad mini

If only the iPad had a USB port.

if only the iPad Mini had a micro SD port...

MathBunny123 said:

If only the iPad had a USB port.

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Everyone keeps saying this. iOS would need a decent file manager first. Prioritize your battles.

Anyways, I know some people that have the original clam case. It looks pretty slick, and I’m all about having the physical keyboard, but even in “tablet mode” this thing seems to defeat the purpose of having a tablet. To me, anyways.

MathBunny123 said:

If only the iPad had a USB port.

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You can get an adapter for that:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD821ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter

macchiato2009 said:

if only the iPad Mini had a micro SD port...

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You can get an adapter for that too:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD822ZM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-MicroSD-MicroSDHC-Adapter-Static/dp/B001GGL7Z4

Talk about late to market man. I signed up for updates right when the original Mini was updated. Took way too long, and now I'm happy with my Belkin keyboard.

I also found that the Mini isn't great with one of those case keyboards anyway. I've posted about it on the forums before how I cut the keyboard from the crappy Belkin case and just use a separate folio stand case. You carry two pieces with that setup, but it weighs a lot less than most of these cases anyway.

Plus, it's more comfortable as you can set the iPad to be further away like you would a computer monitor.

If you only you had a trackpad/cursor.

A keyboard case with a trackpad in front of the Keyboard would mean that you could actually use this as a serious productivity tool without having to constantly touch the screen with your fingers. This would be awesome but unfortunately never going to happen since Apple thinks iOS should be controlled with and only with your fingers.

jyen said:

You can get an adapter for that:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD821ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter



You can get an adapter for that too:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD822ZM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-MicroSD-MicroSDHC-Adapter-Static/dp/B001GGL7Z4

Click to expand...

They don't do the things these people are talking about doing. Nice try but it's the OS too.

iPad mini keyboards are way too cramped.

Meecez

Yeah, having a mouse and a pointer would go great with this. And you can do that with a jailbroken ipad. But as someone mentioned, what would be great is if apple allowed for the mouse option (I know my mom with Parkinson's would find that useful). And then have one of these keyboard cases with a trackpad.

It would be a nice alternative to a laptop. Again, for someone like me mum. I'll keep my macbook thank you.

I'm kind of torn. I have the zagg cover for my air and love it but naturally being able to flip it 180 to use while still docked is convenient. On the flip side the zagg is way lighter and backlit and it can be removed faster from what I can tell than this one. But honestly, the amount of weight added to the ipad, to use it in 180 mode, that's really heavy. I mean, if it weights 1.5 lbs, using it in tablet 180 mode is heavy, as heavy as the previous ipad retinas (the reason I went to the mini for a year was the ipad retina was to heavy, really put fatigue on your arm when reading). So if they put this case out for the air, the air will only be useful with at a table or on your laptop, cause in 180 mode, that thing is gonna be plus 2 lbs is my guess, way too heavy for readability.

I really wonder how easy it is to take out the ipad cr the folio, cause I doubt one would want to leave it in there with the overall weight. But I do like the all over aluminum MacBook look.

Looks amazing!

If this attachment makes sense to you, I'd wager you'd be better off with an actual laptop. I don't get trying to make the ipad something it's not.

If I wanted something that thick id own a surface

Had a ClamCase Pro - it says it's aluminum, but the majority is still plastic. The top lid is plastic. The aluminum "keyboard half" is actually some sort of aluminum covered plastic.

I wanted to find something that I could put on my lap and type on, and would not tip over when my hands were not on the keyboard. The ClamCase failed this test (and so did pretty much every other keyboard case I tried). So, with that and the not-so-aluminum build, I returned it. I don't have high hopes for this one either.

I finally realized what I really was looking for. Now I have a retina iPad mini, and a 11-inch MacBook Air. I'm happy.

If Apple does come out with an elegant solution where you pull off a retina MacBook Air's screen and it turns into an iPad...sign me up.

Ugly

This is really aweful looking.

I have a ZAGG keyboard for my iPad Air. I can't imagine using a tiny one on my iPad mini. But then again ladies with small hands may like it.

I don't get it.....??? Looks so silly and am sure it heavier than a MacBook Air. If you want a REAL laptop, why not get an Air that a REAL keypad.

This thing is ugly. The new actuators coming out means we could see keyboards with decent feeling tactile keys small enough to fit within smart covers.

As for file system, this is sorely missing and will need to be addressed for iOS8.

osx11 said:

If you only you had a trackpad/cursor.

A keyboard case with a trackpad in front of the Keyboard would mean that you could actually use this as a serious productivity tool without having to constantly touch the screen with your fingers. This would be awesome but unfortunately never going to happen since Apple thinks iOS should be controlled with and only with your fingers.

Click to expand...

Tell you what, if Apple would let my MagicMouse connect to this thing, with that setup, that would let me do so much more than I can on the iPad. I mean, if I could now use a mouse/pointer in Pages, Numbers, etc. and for apps that would take advantage of a mouse, that would mean I have an iPad for all the times I want a simple touch interface, but for those times when I want to break out a spreadsheet or do some photo editing with a more precise mouse, that would be great.

I doubt Apple will enable BT mice anytime soon however. But you can see how the iPad, with this keyboard and a mouse could turn into a really powerful content creation device really fast.

If that iPad Pro comes out... imagine being able to run full OS X apps on that... with a bt mouse/keyboard. Just put that sucker on a kickstand and you have a full-featured Mac. Now I'd be first in line for that.

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Msail30bay said:

I don't get it.....??? Looks so silly and am sure it heavier than a MacBook Air. If you want a REAL laptop, why not get an Air that a REAL keypad.

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Because I want an iPad 90% of the time, but if I want to do some serious work with mouse/keyboard, having the ability to use those peripherals would be godly. Then my iPad goes back to being a regular old iPad.

With the MacBook Air, you only have a laptop. The iPad offers many more (touch) possibilities.

... and that's how you can easily triple the thickness of your iPad! But wait, that's not all, order today and we'll also triple the weight of your iPad at no extra cost

I have thought long and hard about getting a keyboard for my iPad. It is clear to me that for doing any significant typing, I much prefer a keyboard versus the on screen keyboard. Yet I have held back because so far all these keyboard double the size and weight of my ipad (which is not the air but the new). I am still hoping that Apple can adapt the only good thing I like about the Windows tablet, the keyboard covers that click in versus using bluetooth. If Apple did this right, that would be a huge improvement over this clamcase or anything else I have seen so far for the iPad.

For quite some time I was waiting for the clambook to be released. Being able to use my iphone as the main cpu and just have a screen and keyboard would have worked for me. I thought this was a great idea but it never materialized. I gave up waiting for clambook and went with the MBA 11" last June. More expensive I am sure, but I needed a keyboard and a larger screen.

QCassidy352 said:

If this attachment makes sense to you, I'd wager you'd be better off with an actual laptop. I don't get trying to make the ipad something it's not.

Click to expand...

Msail30bay said:

I don't get it.....??? Looks so silly and am sure it heavier than a MacBook Air. If you want a REAL laptop, why not get an Air that a REAL keypad.

Click to expand...

The article says the iPad mini + keyboard combo weighs 1.5 pounds. That's a full pound lighter than the 11" MacBook Air, and still half a pound lighter than an ultrabook such as the Sony Vaio Pro 11.

I think it's a great idea for those who need a portable laptop "sometimes" for simple productivity tasks such as email, writing Office type documents, etc. For example, you're going on vacation and you want to keep a daily travel blog. You keep the iPad standalone for casual use but when it's time to sit down and do some writing, you pop in the keyboard and use it in laptop mode. Rip it apart again when you're done.

QCassidy352 said:

If this attachment makes sense to you, I'd wager you'd be better off with an actual laptop. I don't get trying to make the ipad something it's not.

Click to expand...

It's far cheaper to buy an iPad or iPad mini and get an external keyboard. The iPad is better for certain tasks, while the MacBook isn't really going to be a better experience for most people. Some people can use the freedom of a full OS, but most people can't. Plus, when you don't need the keyboard, you don't have to have it attached to the iPad. I have an external keyboard for my iPad, but I don't have it on 99% of the time, because most of the time I'm not doing anything that involves a lot of typing.

Nice add-on, but this is priced too high for my tastes