It actually takes a pretty good tap to get the USB charging chip to come out of the battery, so I don't think it's going to come out in your pocket.
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Hands-On With the Collapsible Magnetic 'TextBlade' Keyboard for iOS Devices
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It actually takes a pretty good tap to get the USB charging chip to come out of the battery, so I don't think it's going to come out in your pocket.
For an umlaut or a degree symbol you can use the same type of key combinations you use on your Mac (or iOS device with a keyboard or Windows machine) to get them now. There's also an app that lets you set up macros, so if you're using umlauts all the time, you can map the code (option + u) to a specific key press to speed things up and insert one faster.
There's support for multiple languages, so you can use the app to change the default language of your keyboard to get easier access to the keys you need. WayTools is going to be shipping free key plates for other languages a few weeks after the product launches that can be swapped with the english key plates.
First real good idea (maybe) that I have seen for this product. While it looks cool, it doesn't look functional at all for me.
If I want a keyboard and an iPad, I'll get a MacBook Air. Unless I'm writing a book, why would I not use the softkeyboard? And if I'm writing a book, why would I be using an iPad? Seems like its trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Who is typing letters all day on their iPad? 99% of people use the iPad keyboard for quick emails/texts and to input their iTunes password when buying stuff. Get the tool for the job. Get a MacBook Air if you want to type a lot.
It takes days to better my iOS typing speed. That's far too long.
I'm also wary of rare earth magnets that close to my electronics.
I'm also wary of rare earth magnets that close to my electronics.
For some people, the iPad and/or the iPhone 6 Plus have largely replaced full-on MacBooks, mostly due to their portability. The MacBook Air is thin and light, but the iPad Air 2 is even thinner and lighter. And with keyboards, we *can* replace our MacBooks with iPads -- they're capable enough machines now.
On short trips, I only bring an iPad and a keyboard. And at night when I'm watching TV, I use an iPad and a keyboard for writing. It's just easier to carry around and it has all of my other media like TV shows, books, apps, etc.
How did this get down voted?? I thought they took that functionality out a long time ago.
Yeah, it does, because you can map the keys in any way that you want. Once it's shipping out to customers, WayTools is going to make key caps (which snap on in place of the existing keys) for different layouts like Dvorak. I believe they're going to be sending these out for free to customers who want them.
Thank you for the in-depth review. I'd read about this keyboard a few months back and was wondering about it. I do have a few more questions.
How long does it take to fold out the keyboard for use, and to put it away?
Would you consider using this with a desktop computer?
How long does it take to fold out the keyboard for use, and to put it away?
Would you consider using this with a desktop computer?
Some of the TextBlade employees use this as a replacement for a desktop keyboard, so it's certainly something you can do. You basically have all of the same keys, plus it's programmable, so you can set it up to do whatever you want.
I think I'd have to use it for a longer period of time to decide whether I'd make that replacement myself. After spending a few hours with it, I can say that I feel like it's an improvement over any iOS keyboard that's available (portability, ease of use, key spacing, and build quality are huge factors in this), but I'd need more time typing on it to say the same for a desktop keyboard.
Folding the keyboard out and putting it away only takes a couple of seconds. It's all magnetic, so you snap the two key portions together and snap that onto the space bar/battery to activate the Bluetooth and it's ready to go (and by snap, I mean you connect the magnets). Folding it back up is just as easy -- snap all three pieces together and slide the stand over the bundle and it's ready to go back in your pocket.
It's a little more work than just opening up a keyboard case, but not so much that it's a chore.
I have to ask myself why it would be such a big deal if some were. We come to this site and read/post on it at no cost. So what if there is the odd ad?
Meh, I could see this being awesome for smartphones but not for tablets, at least not after using a surface pro 3 and seeing what a tablet keyboard should be exactly like. If I get a tablet I'm going to want something to cover and protect the screen, the SP3 keyboard fits that bill perfectly and it's not a compromise like this collapsible one is. But once again, for my smartphone it seems pretty awesome, but grossly overpriced at $99.
Adertisement
Sorry, but I'm going to have to weigh in that this seems like an advertisement.
Look, it is very common for companies to deliver press releases with lots of information. And those press releases get slightly rewritten and published on the web or even in "real" magazines. My company distributes a press release whenever we do something neat.
But if this is a press release, then it should be indicated as such. I have a very hard time believing that a macrumors editors sat down with a blank page and came up with these sentences.
But is this terrible? No, not really. Macrumors needs to come up with content. If interesting and appropriate content is emailed to a macrumors editors in the form of a long article, then I can see how they end up taking the convenient way out. It isn't a major issue as long as it doesn't happen often. And considering how much this article has been called out, I doubt it will happen often in the future.
Sorry, but I'm going to have to weigh in that this seems like an advertisement.
Look, it is very common for companies to deliver press releases with lots of information. And those press releases get slightly rewritten and published on the web or even in "real" magazines. My company distributes a press release whenever we do something neat.
But if this is a press release, then it should be indicated as such. I have a very hard time believing that a macrumors editors sat down with a blank page and came up with these sentences.
But is this terrible? No, not really. Macrumors needs to come up with content. If interesting and appropriate content is emailed to a macrumors editors in the form of a long article, then I can see how they end up taking the convenient way out. It isn't a major issue as long as it doesn't happen often. And considering how much this article has been called out, I doubt it will happen often in the future.
I definitely understand concern over advertisements masquerading as posts. That does happen on a lot of sites that do paid reviews and sponsored posts, and it's disingenuous -- that's why we don't do it.
Obviously writing content and running the site costs time and money, so we're supported by the ads you may see on the sidebar, between posts, and on the forums, but we always make it clear that these are ads. Any advertising on MacRumors is distinctively labeled because we're not out to trick you.
I think I've said it before, but we write for our readers, not for whatever company we happen to be writing about. Any content we post on MacRumors was shared because we thought that it would be useful, entertaining, or informative in some way to those of you who are reading our posts.
For example, with the TextBlade, there was a lot of interest in it when we first posted, so we did this follow up because we knew a lot of people were curious about it.
I know that I speak for the rest of the MacRumors staff when I say that we are genuinely invested in this community and in this site. We love this site. We love our readers. We're a small team and I think we all appreciate that we're writing for one of the best communities on the Internet.
I'm not going to tell you something is cool unless I really, truly think it's cool. We don't write about things that we don't think are worth writing about, and we don't let anyone dictate what we should write. You're always getting our honest opinions because you deserve nothing less.
Multitouch keys. Large physical buttons representing multiple virtual keys. Where you put your fingers depends on which key is pressed.
I'm very surprised by the negative comments here. This keyboard is GENIUS!
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The magnetic field won't affect your portable electronics that much, but could affect other devices, such as traditional hard drives and credit cards.