Weve reviewed some of Padacs products before, and were quite impressed by some of their offerings. Their success was designed, in my opinion, on two things, quality accessories at a very affordable price. This was proven with the PowerCase for the iPhone 4, which combined amazing performance with an outstandingly low price, nearly half the price of its competitors. Today we will be taking a look at one of Padacss steeper tiered products, the Rubata 2 Keyboard Case for the iPad 2, which combines a folio type case with a nice and nifty keyboard that you can take on the go. Lets take a closer look and see what this case is all about.
The Packaging & Accessories
Padacs packaging is always very basic. You get a case, a manual for setting up the keyboard, as well as a charger for charging the keyboard, so nothing too special to discuss there. When it comes to installation, I found something to be quite weird about this particular case, and maybe it was just my unit. With the iPad 2 installed, the case seemed kind of loose and my iPad actually seemed to shift around a lot when inside the case. For fun, I decided to try this case out with my original iPad, and too my surprise, it actually worked and fit a lot tighter with the original iPad, which was very weird considering this is an iPad 2 case. Then again, I may just have a loose fitting unit.
The Keyboard Setup
Setting up the keyboard is very easy, and only takes a few minutes if you follow the directions. Simply navigate to the Settings app on your iPad, browse through the General section, click on Bluetooth, and turn Bluetooth on. After that is done, go back to the actual keyboard itself and turn on the keyboard via the power button on the top. Lastly, navigate back to the Bluetooth section on your iPad and the wireless keyboard should show up on your list of options. Let the keyboard sync up with your iPad and you should be up and ready to roll. Before we actually get to the keyboard though, lets take a quick look at the actual case itself.
The Design
When fully closed, the Rubata 2 reminds me very much of an envelope. Every inch of the case appears to be made out of a very nice fake leather and feels very smooth and clean. The case is opened via a magnetic closure that releases the top. The iPads sides, top, and bottom is covered by a black bevel and features appropriate cutouts for the front facing camera, the home button, and the backside camera. The keyboard itself is held on a nice lengthy piece of the case and features a soft arm rest below it. The keyboard itself features the same keys as regular keyboards, with a slight difference. The top bottoms have features that when pushed, can access the home screen, turn up and down the brightness level, and shut on and off.
The Keyboard Itself
Now that we have everything else out of the way, lets take a quick look at the actual keyboard itself, the main attraction of this case. While its no where near the size of a full keyboard, it is actually a very nice keyboard, especially when considering the fact that its very mobile and can be used for the iPad 2. The buttons are pretty tactile (albeit a bit stiff), have proper button locations, and are quite day to type on. There does seem to be one problem though. I grew up learning to type on a full sized keyboard, so a smaller size keyboard took me a little bit to actually get used to. While its not necessarily a horrible thing, I still think that people with bigger hands may find that it will be difficult to type of a keyboard of this size, as I sometimes hit the wrong.
Final Thoughts
To wrap up, the Rubata 2 for the iPad 2 will fit almost anybodys need, wether you may be a journalist or the internet addict, you all always need something to type on, be it physical or touch screen. The physical keyboard on the Rubata provides a nice extra to the iPad 2 for writing articles on the go or using anything that require typing. Plus, it doubles as a very nice case, and a good looking one at that. If you can get over the slightly small keys, then you will absolutely love this case. The Rubata 2 can be had for $90 on Padacs website, which may be a tad bit expensive, but it so worth it in the end.
Rating: 4/5
Rubata 2 for iPad 2 @Padacs