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Apple's Smart Keyboard Folio vs. Third-Party Alternatives
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Haha that’s funny!
Good to see some humor in this thread. There’s so much ignorance it’s frustrating to read. I want to help but I think people just want to heard themselves be “smart”. I dunno.
For the guy who says the Apple keyboard sucks because there’s no track pad: That’s just like, your opinion, man. I got a keyboard to make typing a convenient and joyful experience on my iPad, and this keyboard accomplishes that in spades.
For the guy who says that all of these keyboards suck for using on your lap: You CLEARLY don’t own the Apple Smart Keyboard which is surprisingly great for just that. I never thought for a second that it would be but lo and behold It balances nicely for the task. Try one and see for yourself.
I’ve tried other off brand keyboards and they add too much weight and bulk for my taste.
As cost goes: Anyone interested in the 10.5” Apple Smart Keyboard should check out their local Costco while they’re still clearing them out at $79.97. It’s a fantastic price and they really stand behind what they sell with an excellent return policy. I posted this info earlier in this thread but just in case those who need it didn’t see it...
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Off topic for a discussion about keyboard cases maybe, but I have a different take.
I've had pretty bad luck with keyboard cases in the past and I just like using a small BT keyboard. 95% of the time I'm not typing anyway so prefer not having the bulk. (my iPad is more often for drawing)
For a keyboard I use the Logitech K380, that's paired to my iMac, my PC and my iPad.
![81ZvN3jsZqL._SX466_.jpg]()
TBH a keyboard case is not ideal as an artist. Being able to use all the keyboard shortcuts is great (particularly in complex stuff like Affinity suite!) but its much better if the KB is free floating and I can put it somewhere off to the left while I'm moving the iPad around.. The iPad gets rotated a lot and put in every orientation imaginable, having the KB attached would be a pain.
This way also saves a lot of money, and you get a better keyboard from a typing/key travel perspective anyway?
I've had pretty bad luck with keyboard cases in the past and I just like using a small BT keyboard. 95% of the time I'm not typing anyway so prefer not having the bulk. (my iPad is more often for drawing)
For a keyboard I use the Logitech K380, that's paired to my iMac, my PC and my iPad.
TBH a keyboard case is not ideal as an artist. Being able to use all the keyboard shortcuts is great (particularly in complex stuff like Affinity suite!) but its much better if the KB is free floating and I can put it somewhere off to the left while I'm moving the iPad around.. The iPad gets rotated a lot and put in every orientation imaginable, having the KB attached would be a pain.
This way also saves a lot of money, and you get a better keyboard from a typing/key travel perspective anyway?
I feel you. I might pretty much be anti iPad (for my use anyways now) but it wasn't always that way. I had been using Macs since 2000, right when OS X started being pushed. My first iBook came with Mac OS 9 and OS X but defaulted to OS 9 and so I have been with Apple through a lot of trials such as OS X, which was not really ready until 10.2 came along. 10.0 didn't even have a working DVD App. Was with them through the pains of IBM based processors and the fustration of not being able to get a G5 into a laptop. I was with them through the intel shift. I bought the first iPhone through the iPhone 4, bought two iPod touches. At the time I thought iOS was brilliant and some ways still is for small mobile devices. I was first in line to buy an iPad. I was one of the people who thought the tablet form of computing was the next step and couldn't wait for OS X to eventually be put on a tablet form factor, but then I just kept waiting and waiting lol. I ran across a Surface RT at best buy one day running Windows 8 and fell in love with it. The RT is really under appreciated for what it was. People were just misinformed. Windows 8 actually had an amazing UI for tablet/touch based forms. Even though it couldn't run any Win32 Applications, you still had a full desktop OS with a touch interface and a desktop interface when you wanted it too. It was pretty awesome to be able to hook up a mouse and keyboard and use full blown office with it sitting on my desk with its kickstand propping it up. It was also nice to be able to add a micro SD card to it considering it only came with 64gb SSD. I didn't have a problem with the lack of apps because work wise I just need Office and other than that the few apps I did use were in the Microsoft store. The only reason at this point I was still booting up my Macbook Pro was to torrent some files but once a torrent client came into the MS Store, I went on ebay and sold it. I was still using an iPhone 4 at this point but it came up for my upgrade time and when I went to the At&t store looked at the Windows 8 Mobile phones and since I loved the UI of Windows 8, switched to that. It still is to this day the best mobile UI i have ever used plus I was tired of how iOS hand kinda just stalled in innovation UI wise. Since then I have had a Surface Pro 3 and 4 which are amazing. It really is amazing to have a FULL computer in that form factor and most people call it a 2 in 1 but its really a 3 in 1, a pretty good tablet(but I will admit not the best, but then again I don't think the iPad is either. The iPad is better but it is nowhere what it could be and that's why I don't say its the best because no company has yet to make a best), I would say for me a near perfect laptop experience and third, a pretty could desktop experience when docked to an external mouse, keyboard and display. When the iPad came out I relly wanted it to be amazing. When I heard rumors of the iPad Pro I was excited and might have switched back had it run OS X but I have come to realize Apple is less about innovating than it is about milking now days. Apple could easily turn the iPad Pro into a surface killer if they wanted too and it would be but they don't care about being the best because then they wouldn't get the profits from you having to buy a tablet, laptop and desktop to fit the use case of the Surface Products.
I've always wondered if they had plans for the smart connector to charge the Apple Pencil 2 but then totally changed course during the design of the iPad Pro 3..
Holy wall of text batman.
Realistically, most of the people who love iOS and use it's apps day in/day out don't want it running Mac OS, or even something similar to Mac OS. For many jobs the way the iPad does things, and the app selection is actually preferable? What one person sees as a limitation another sees as a strength.
This admittedly means there are whole industries/types of work that the iPad is unsuitable for without devs picking up a lot of the slack, but I find that makes for an interesting platform too? I'd rather keep device categories separate. The best laptop is not a tablet. The best tablet is not a laptop.
Yeah as I said i agree, it all comes down to personal preference. For me a Surface hits all the wants I want out of a tablet pc, for others the iPad hits all the marks. I do still stand by that Apple has become stagnant when it comes to making iOS better for tablet form devices. You are right that not everyone wants OS X slapped on a tablet and prefer devices optimized for their use cases but Apple has done nothing really to optimize the iPad or iOS for larger screen factors. It is still essentiualy a blown up small screen mobile device.
I have a Surface provided to me by my work. I find the keyboard to be awful. It flexes a lot! I'm not a big fan of it for extended typing of any sort. At least the trackpad is pretty decent. Otherwise, the Surface sucks, the battery life is poor and if you do any real work on it, the fan kicks in and makes quite a noise.
How old is the Surface you have? The keyboard is nowhere near as solid as a normal laptop but I found it to be pretty sturdy. The newer keyboards feel really good but if it still to flexable there is always the Surface Book or Surface Laptop that has a real keyboard and a very good one at that. With my Surface Pro i was hitting about 6 hours of battery life which for me was pretty good because I didn't have unbelivable expectations considering it was a full laptop in a constrained tablet form factor. With my Surface Book I can easily get 9-10 hours out of it. The Surface Pros other than the i7's dont even have a fan anymore and they have made the cooling system a lot more effecient so that the fans don't kick in near as much than they use to.
Great device.. It is easy to use easy to carry. I like this new Apple keyboard folio. It is really different from other Ipads.
I’m going to tell it like it is.
The iPad ABSOLUTELY SUCKS as a text editing device.
To do any serious formatting, you need to use the screen and going from keyboard to screen is a mess.
Using that magnifying glass (or space double-tap) is a lot worse than just using a mouse.
Pages is an absolute joke used by no one in the entire world. Nobody uses it, so unless you’re writing for yourself, you won’t be usin pages. Plus it’s insanely difficult to use.
Word for iOS (and Mac) SUCKS and the iPad will crap all over itself with more complex documents.
At this point, you can only use an iPad with a keyboard to take notes during class, a call or type out short emails - and you can do this very well on the iPad screen.
So there’s that. Using an iPad for serious typing is a stupid idea and having $250 cases for that is an idea I can’t wrap my head around.
The iPad ABSOLUTELY SUCKS as a text editing device.
To do any serious formatting, you need to use the screen and going from keyboard to screen is a mess.
Using that magnifying glass (or space double-tap) is a lot worse than just using a mouse.
Pages is an absolute joke used by no one in the entire world. Nobody uses it, so unless you’re writing for yourself, you won’t be usin pages. Plus it’s insanely difficult to use.
Word for iOS (and Mac) SUCKS and the iPad will crap all over itself with more complex documents.
At this point, you can only use an iPad with a keyboard to take notes during class, a call or type out short emails - and you can do this very well on the iPad screen.
So there’s that. Using an iPad for serious typing is a stupid idea and having $250 cases for that is an idea I can’t wrap my head around.
Forward delete can be done by clicking on the globe key (where fn key normally is) and the delete key. ie just the same keystrokes as a regular keyboard. It does bring up the keyboard switcher briefly but you can ignore this and just do forward delete.
cmd+[ works like an esc key
As always, the haters think it's all about them.
As a teacher, when I bought the 11" iPad Pro last year, I decided to go all in on the iPad experience and bought the smart keyboard as well (I had previously given the 9.7" iPad Pro keyboard a miss due to the price). In for a penny, in for a pound, I felt.
What I like is the integrated experience, which only Apple seems to be able to get right. Thanks to the use of magnets and the smart connector, it's extremely easy to attach and detach the iPad from the Smart Keyboard. So I can be typing something, then when I want to get up and walk around with the iPad in hand, doing so is just a quick tug away.
I type a lot of emails with it. I type in pages (since a lot are notes in lessons that I don't have to share outside of the lesson). I type in Notability. I type in notes. I post to Macrumours via tapatalk on my iPad (so many of the longer responses you see from me are likely to have been hammered out on the iPad's Smart Keyboard; they will usually be accompanied with emoji). I have even taken meeting minutes using it, and am currently playing around with "type to Siri" on my iPad as well.
I also have a K380 keyboard at my desk, but I rarely use it with my iPad these days. It's just too troublesome to set up when you want a portable solution that fits easily in your backpack.
The typing experience also seems much improved from the 1st gen Smart Keyboard. Keys are more clicky, less mushy, and have a comfortable amount of travel for me. I have no issues with it.
The case is also starting to get a little dirty, and it's been only about half a year. I guess we will see how durable the Smart Keyboard is as well, since I take it out of my bag frequently and it sees a fair amount of abuse. But for something I see myself (hopefully) using for up to three years, I think it's well worth the convenience and ease of use. Which seems to be a recurring theme with the numerous Apple products such as the AirPods I own. Yes, they cost a pretty penny, and yes, they aren't without drawbacks, but when it comes to the whole integrated experience, I find there just isn't a comparable alternative elsewhere.
I love some of the things that you have to say in all of this, your content seems to merit some value. I couldn’t get past the nature of how you wrote it though. Paragraphs and putting ideas together better in that regard would really help you with what you have to say. I’m not trying to be the grammar police here, but it was difficult to follow the flow because of the run on paragraph that you had in your response.
Back on topic, I like my iPad Pro 11” and the Logitech Bluetooth keyboard that I use for it on occasion. Typing on the touch screen is a pretty good experience for me. My biggest complaint about any of the keyboards (virtual or actual) is the fact that on screen keyboard does not split for the thumbs like the Air and Mini on screen keyboards do.
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I disagree completely.
My experience on my iPad mini is much different than my iPhone. The iPad mini is not an iPhone XS Max Max. Different use case situations for each one. The iPad mini is a better device for doing e-reading and newspapers and comics. I find that the iPhone is more for social media and quick texts back, etc.
The Smart Keyboard Folio is an adequately functional and completely uninspired design. No way to hold the Apple Pencil. No lighted keys. Barely stays on when in a bag and shuffling around stuff. One totally boring color.
I AM really bad at not putting paragraphs when it comes to writing on forums and i guess i take it in the same regards as texting where I dont worry about format for some reason; which is ironic because I actually make a living off writing. I guess i just kinda zone out when typing casually but you arent the first person to mention this, so I think it is time I make a better effort. =)
And I agree with you one hundred percent on the iPad being great for newspapers and comics but that's really not Apple doing anything to make iOS more tablet friendly and just a benifet of having a larger screen. As for e-books, I have to have my Kindle Paperwhite, for some reason I cant get into reading a book on a tablet. Don't know if it is the screen bothering my eyes or what.
That’s a valid point. Not as needed in my case. Still an excellent keyboard in my opinion.
I'm less hating on the actual keyboard then I am about Apple just not making trackpad/touchpad/mouse support in iPads... =)
The Apple Key Board is awesome. Types well, never needs a charge and comes off in a second. If they could put backlit keys on this thing, it would be perfect for me. But such much nicer than the Logitech, which I tried for a week. Just to bulky and thick.
On the Apple Smart Keyboard folio for an iPad Pro 11”, I got one with the case last week. Apple store is almost an hour away, got it at Best Buy.
In the store the keys felt like cloth/rubber. Didn’t pay it too much attention. When I got home and opened it I noticed the keys felt like plastic with almost a canvas weave type finish to the material.
Doesn’t feel nearly as smooth. It perhaps the one in the store had been used enough to smooth out the plasticy texture? Idk. Can anyone comment on that?
In the store the keys felt like cloth/rubber. Didn’t pay it too much attention. When I got home and opened it I noticed the keys felt like plastic with almost a canvas weave type finish to the material.
Doesn’t feel nearly as smooth. It perhaps the one in the store had been used enough to smooth out the plasticy texture? Idk. Can anyone comment on that?
I actually enjoy typing on the Smart Keyboard Folio for the iPad Pro 11”.
However my biggest issue is limited screen adjustments. Specifically when the keyboard is folded flat against the back of the unit so the device can only sit flat on a table.
Are there any Keyboard cases that also provide a slightly propped up angle (like 15%?) similar to what the regular Smart Folio cases allows? I find that to be an optimal way to view for simple viewing, or when using the pencil for drawing...
However my biggest issue is limited screen adjustments. Specifically when the keyboard is folded flat against the back of the unit so the device can only sit flat on a table.
Are there any Keyboard cases that also provide a slightly propped up angle (like 15%?) similar to what the regular Smart Folio cases allows? I find that to be an optimal way to view for simple viewing, or when using the pencil for drawing...
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