Amazon just delivered the Pitaka case to my door about 30 minutes ago. The case really weighs next to nothing. Snaps on easy, buttons are reasonably clicky, and I can confirm that it works perfectly with the Magic Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio, and the ESR clone of the Apple Smart Folio (magnetic ESR Rebound Smart Folio).. All three close completely with no lifting or binding, and function exactly as they did without the Pitaka installed. The pen retainer flap on the ESR folio continues to work as well as before too. The only thing I can point out is the the Apple Pencil 2 doesn’t magnetically dock quite as forcefully as it did when the iPad was nude, but it still latches on just fine. If you’ve had a Pitaka case on a phone before, you know how grippy the coating on the case itself is, and this is no different. It’s going to make holding my 12.9 Pro much easier when it’s undocked from a keyboard and in tablet mode. It’s also much less likely to slide down my leg or off my lap while I’m reading. The perimeter of the case stands proud of the screen maybe 1mm, which also means I can now set my tablet face down on a table without worrying about scratching the screen.
Yes the case is expensive, but considering the size and how their iPhone cases (with about 10% of the material) cost nearly the same, I’d say it’s a decent buy. I’m not sending mine back!!
If I didn’t want/need a keyboard, I’d simply buy the ESR case for $20 instead of paying $100 for the Apple version, add this case to the iPad for the added protection and functionality, and still come out ahead.
Two thumbs (and a couple big toes) up on this one.
