Logi CREATE: Keyboard review for iPad Pro. Review of the Apple Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro

Can you turn your tablet into a laptop?

At the presentation of the iPad Pro, along with the tablet itself, two key accessories for it were also presented: the Apple Pencil stylus and the Smart Keyboard cover. We told you about the Apple Pencil in the iPad Pro review. Now we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the keyboard. For some unknown reason, it went on official sale in Russia much later than the tablet itself - only in the new year (whereas the tablet was available back in November). In addition, both in Russia and in other countries, the keyboard is sold without the letters of the national language. That is, in the case of Russia, we are talking about the absence of the Cyrillic alphabet. Nevertheless, the product is available and not without interest. Therefore, it's time to study it in detail.

To be honest, the very idea of ​​an iPad Pro keyboard caused some skepticism. It seemed that Apple could come up with such an unusual thing here and how much does this fit with the philosophy of the Cupertino company, which prefers to very clearly define the functionality of the device and almost never releases “crutches” for them?

It's no secret that there are many third-party accessories for the regular iPad, including keyboards. various types. Apple has never released such things. And the second doubt was connected with this fact: how necessary it is in principle - a keyboard for the iPad Pro. Third-party manufacturers, of course, strive to satisfy even the very specific needs of iPad users, offering accessories for every taste. But in the case of Apple's branded accessory, we are clearly talking about a much wider audience.

We will try to figure out how successful this solution turned out to be and how justified its considerable price ($170 in the US and 13,290 rubles here).

Equipment

The keyboard comes in a traditional white box with an image of an accessory.

In addition to the device itself, only a set of information leaflets is included in the kit.

Strictly speaking, the keyboard does not require any chargers or other auxiliary things, so it's even hard to imagine what else could be here.

Design

When closed, the Smart Keyboard looks like a twin of the Smart Cover. We also told you about the Smart Cover for iPad Pro, and in general it is one of the most famous accessories for the iPad line. The idea behind the Smart Keyboard is that it replaces the Smart Cover, and of course offers features that the cover doesn't have.

The material of the outer and inner surfaces of the closed Smart Keyboard is identical to the Smart Cover. It is very pleasant to the touch polyurethane and velvety microfiber.

Smart Keyboard connects to iPad Pro using a proprietary three-pin connector made on iPad Pro specifically for Smart keyboard.

In the photo below - Smart Cover (left) and Smart Keyboard (right). Here you can notice the visual difference between the Smart Keyboard and the Smart Cover: because of the keyboard, part of the Smart Keyboard is thicker than the Smart Cover.

But, of course, the main difference becomes apparent when you turn the Smart Keyboard over and open it completely. Here we see the keyboard itself, and above it is a magnetic chute for installing the tablet.

You may notice that the keyboard itself takes up about a quarter of the area of ​​the Smart Keyboard. At first glance, this is not much, but in fact, we have an almost full-fledged Mac keyboard.

Keyboard layout

Layout - as close as possible to the usual layout of the MacBook or iMac / Mac Pro / Mac mini (Apple Keyboard) keyboards. Below are photos of the Apple Keyboard and Smart Keyboard (ignore the proportions - the Smart Keyboard is actually a tad longer than the Keyboard, so the keys aren't that much smaller).

As we can see, in terms of layout, the five rows of Smart Keyboard keys are absolutely identical to the bottom five rows of the Keyboard. There is no top row of function keys on the Smart Keyboard, but iOS does not need it. Otherwise, the only difference is the layout switch key in the lower left corner instead of the Fn key. This is unaccustomed to getting in the way, because in OS X we are used to switching the layout with the Command + spacebar combination, but here you just need to press the key with the globe icon (it is most convenient to do this with the little finger of your left hand).

It is very important that many familiar combinations work: for example, Cmd + C - copy, Command + V - paste, Ctrl + Shift + hyphen - em dash ... But Command + Shift + 3 does not work to take a screenshot and some other commands, not related to typing.

Keyboard Ergonomics

The weakest point of most of these devices is the lack of tangible key travel, their too small size and insufficient distance between the keys. Often, because of these three features, touch typing on such a keyboard is almost impossible, even if the layout is completely identical to the usual one.

Fortunately, the Smart Keyboard has all these options in order. Of course, the size of the keys is slightly smaller than that of a full-fledged keyboard: 14 mm horizontally versus the usual 16 mm. But this is compensated by a sufficient distance between the keys, due to which there are almost no erroneous hits when typing blindly. Excellent result!

As for the key travel, it is clear, moderately resilient and, as far as possible in such conditions, even quite high. There is even a click sound when typing fast (not particularly annoying). In general, the keyboard is really pleasant to type on (despite the objective disadvantages compared to full-fledged desktop keyboards).

Let's note one more detail: the surface of the keys and the surface surrounding them is rough and grainy. And in this case, this seems to be a very right decision, since such a surface does not collect fingerprints at all, is not damaged in any way (well, only if it is specially scratched) and does not slip.

On top of that, the keyboard is waterproof, so you can safely spill coffee or tea on it, and then wash it under water. There are simply no gaps through which water could penetrate inside. Unless interaction with moisture will not be very useful for microfiber. But if you spill coffee on the keyboard while typing, the microfiber cover won't get wet anyway.

Using Smart Keyboard as a cover

As we have already noted, the design of the Smart Keyboard was deliberately as close as possible to the design of the Smart Cover. Indeed, Smart Keyboard can replace Smart Cover in almost everything. With the Smart Keyboard, the tablet can be placed in one of two positions. The first is for printing.

In this position, the bottom of the tablet, to which the Smart Keyboard spine is connected, is installed in the magnetic groove, firmly fixing in it. And at the back, the structure is supported by three free sections of the Smart Keyboard.

The second position is ideal for reading or viewing content.

In this case, the keyboard unit is at the back, being pressed with the back to the “back” of the tablet.

Of course, all sections can be folded back, completely covering the “back” of the tablet, or you can close the screen with them. It will look like this.

Of course, the design turns out to be thicker than in the case of the Smart Cover, but in practice it almost never gets in the way and does not take up much more space in the bag than the iPad Pro in the Smart Cover. At the same time, when we open the Smart Keyboard on the screen, the tablet wakes up, just like when working with Smart Cover.

The only way to use the Smart Cover that is not available in the case of the Smart Keyboard is like the one in the photo below.

But in fact, he is not needed here. After all, in the absence of a keyboard, such an installation of the iPad is useful just for the possibility of convenient printing on virtual keyboard. And if we have a physical keyboard, why type on a virtual one?

Settings and additional features

Considering the fact that the Smart Keyboard turns the iPad Pro into a kind of laptop, it would be logical to expect some special settings for this accessory. But here Apple was true to its minimalism.

Everything related to Smart Keyboard settings is located at Settings / General / Keyboards / Physical keyboard. And this is just a selection of available layouts. Moreover, this menu subsection appears only when the tablet is set on the Smart Keyboard in the print position. If the Smart Keyboard simply closes the tablet as a cover, then there is no subsection.

Another thing is that for the physical keyboard, of course, those settings that are for the virtual keyboard also work. And here we highly recommend that you go to the "Keyboards" subsection and delete the emoji keyboard, which, it turns out, is the third one (after Russian and English). In general, iPad owners should do this in any case (well, except that you love to chat with emoticons :)), but with using Smart Keyboard Having a third keyboard (whether emoji or whatever) slows down typing significantly. Because then when you press the language switch key, we see this picture.

Therefore, to switch from Russian to English, you also need to click on the screen, selecting the desired keyboard from the three. Obviously, this is terribly inconvenient (at least if you regularly need to switch between Russian and English layouts). If there are only two keyboards, then this miniature menu does not even appear, but the languages ​​\u200b\u200bswitch immediately occurs, similar to what is done in iOS by pressing Command + space.

So, this completes the Smart Keyboard settings. In fact, to work with the keyboard, simply connect it to the iPad Pro and set the tablet to print mode (that is, with the keyboard facing you). And that's it. But there are still hidden possibilities. And these are the various keyboard shortcuts that we can find out about for a particular application by pressing and holding Command. For example, here is what opens in the browser.

And here it is on the home screen.

Curiously, this option even works in some third party applications. For example, in Microsoft Word.

Of course, we were interested in how well the Smart Keyboard would work in Parallels Access, with which you can remotely connect to your MacBook and work on your iPad Pro in an OS X environment. As it turned out, there are no obstacles here, except for the fact that Parallels Access is still not properly optimized for the iPad Pro (this is manifested in the screen resolution, as well as in some glitches). That is, if the program is correctly launched through Parallels Access, then the physical keyboard will also work normally. Up to the point that using Command + Shift + 4 you can take a screenshot (and it will be saved on the MacBook), and the layout can be switched with the globe key.

Impressions from use and conclusions

We've been using the Smart Keyboard with an iPad Pro for about two weeks. At first glance, this is an optional accessory, especially if you have a MacBook Pro. And it is clear that even if you have a physical keyboard, it is better to do serious work in the OS X environment than in iOS. But still, you don’t want to part with the Smart Keyboard at all, and, as it turns out, this device can really be useful.

However, the result exceeded expectations. First of all, the accessory itself turned out to be very successful. Typing on the keyboard is almost as pleasant and comfortable as on a regular Apple keyboard and incomparably more comfortable than on the iPad Pro virtual keyboard. But at the same time, the Smart Keyboard takes up almost no space - with it, the iPad Pro becomes only a little thicker than with the branded Smart Cover, and a little heavier. To be precise, the weight of the Smart Keyboard is 335 grams, and the Smart Cover is 164 grams. But even in the case of home use, and in the case of some trips, this almost does not entail any inconvenience. True, the mass of the tablet still becomes more than the psychological threshold of 1 kg, and it is no longer so easy to casually take it with one hand from the windowsill or shelf. However, it would be unfair to say that this somehow limits the scenarios for using the tablet.

But the opposite is obvious: Smart Keyboard significantly expands the possibilities of using the iPad Pro, turning it into a full-fledged laptop replacement when it comes to typing, working with mail, communicating in in social networks and messengers... That is, if you have a laptop and an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard, then there will be much fewer cases when you need to take a laptop with you, and not an iPad. Do you like to write text in transport? Please. Do you want to work outdoors or in a cafe, sorting out mail and communicating with colleagues via the Internet? It's also possible. More to the point, if you have the cellular version of the iPad Pro, then the iPad Pro becomes an even better option because you won't be tied to Wi-Fi hotspots.

Perhaps the main thing that does not allow you to forget when working with the iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard that this is still not a full-fledged laptop is the lack of a mouse, which can be very useful even in text editor not to mention other professional tasks. For example, selecting large chunks of text with your finger is still not as convenient as with the mouse. But this remark has nothing to do directly with the Smart Keyboard.

As for home use, here too the Smart Keyboard turns out to be an unexpectedly useful accessory. Imagine lying on the couch surfing the web or watching YouTube using an iPad Pro. And now you have received some kind of letter, to which it is desirable to respond in detail. Or a friend started chatting in the messenger. Or wanted to comment on a post on a social network. It seems that you don’t want to get up for this, turn on the computer and change seats for it, but typing any extended phrases on the virtual keyboard is not pleasant enough. It is in this situation that Smart Keyboard comes to the rescue. By the way, the tablet in the Smart Keyboard is quite stable even on your knees or other uneven surfaces (which, by the way, not all external keyboards can boast of).

In general, this, of course, is not a matter of prime necessity. But it's a very welcome and in many cases useful addition to the iPad Pro, and far exceeded our expectations and allayed our fears. Three things can keep you from buying a Smart Keyboard: firstly, the high price (although Apple accessories have never been cheap), secondly, the lack of Russian letters on the keys, and thirdly, the mass - despite the success of the keyboard, the tablet with it becomes is, of course, harder. And whether these moments outweigh or not - depends primarily on how and where you use the iPad Pro, whether you type blindly and whether you are ready to spend 13,290 rubles on such a thing.

As a conclusion, we offer you our video review of the Smart Keyboard, which clearly shows the possibilities of using it.

P. S. For worthy appearance, water resistance and great functionality, we give the Smart Keyboard our Editorial Original Design Award:

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro needs just as much protection as the iPhone or classic iPads. In addition, a sufficient number of ways have now come up to supply the giant with armor and turn it into a typewriter due to an external keyboard. Therefore, we rolled up our sleeves and collected seven of the highest quality iPad Pro keyboard cases, among which both combined and separate specimens were found.

Apple Smart Keyboard

Apple Smart Keyboard- the first branded keyboard-case, created by the Cupertino team specifically for a specific gadget. When folded, it resembles the time-tested Smart Cover with its velvety microfiber. Only a magnetic chute designed to accommodate a tablet gives out a smart keyboard. The layout of the keys resembles that of a MacBook, but with the upper row of function buttons cut off, that is, you will get a full-fledged printing unit. The key travel, however, is smaller, however, there are no complaints.

The most important feature of the Apple Smart Keyboard is the rejection of Bluetooth due to the physical, one might say, iron connection through the Smart Connector - three points for docking devices. No pairing, no additional power consumption, no breaks. This moment strikingly distinguishes the apple accessory from some competitors.

In the minuses, you can write down the unsightly appearance when folded and, of course, the price. You will have to pay 13,290 rubles ($169) for the Apple Smart Keyboard.

Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case

Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case- the latest accessory in the line. He became famous for the fact that, firstly, the guys from Razer themselves got behind the wheel, secondly, the ability to turn a large iPad Pro into a full-fledged laptop, and, thirdly, a mechanical keyboard with a warm lamp keystroke and built-in backlight.

The case is made of polycarbonate, it looks very, very protected. The mechanical stand provides a stable position on the table, and it folds very solidly - with the Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case, it's not a shame to walk under your arm.

We think that those who cannot imagine life without high-speed printing have already run to place an order. This step is easy to understand, because the keyboard and the case itself look just gorgeous! But we are confused by one piquant moment - this is a wireless Bluetooth connection. Due to intermittent failures, many users have developed allergies. If Razer did everything qualitatively, there are no questions. Power consumption, by the way, is adequate: 10 hours with the backlight at maximum brightness and 600 hours with the lights off.

Zagg Slim Book

Price per Zagg Slim Book is $ 140, and the connection with the tablet is via Bluetooth. Are you already turning around and leaving? Do not hurry. The keyboard case continues the tradition of the Transformer line from ASUS and allows you to use the iPad Pro in four ways: a tablet; keyboard; book and video. Zagg Slim Book adapts flexibly to the needs of the user, is easy to detach and carry. In the combined form, the device resembles a MacBook Pro - it only displays the inscription ZAGG. The backlighting of the keys, we think you already noticed.

Logitech K780

Let's be honest: good keyboard cases for the iPad Pro are over, only enchanting Chinese designs remain. Therefore, in order not to spoil the "Seven Most" section, we decided to supplement the article with separate keyboards and covers. Logitech K780- a universal novelty that supports a bunch of devices and allows you to quickly switch between them thanks to the Easy-Switch button. The connection, of course, goes via Bluetooth (what kind of Smart Connector can be here?). For mobile devices a rubber stand is provided - 12.9 ″ iPad Pro fits like a glove.

The keyboard is able to work 24 months from one pair of AAA batteries, it can switch to sleep mode, has a power button and a charge indicator. Stylistically, the device is quite modest, but it seems that typing on it is a pleasure.

Keyboard

Completing the selection of "Seven Most" with some exotic copy is a good tradition of AppStudio. For some reason, accessory manufacturers are not too fond of the Smart Connector or the large iPad Pro in general, but there are gadgets that can please without it. Collapsible and comfortable keyboard TextBlade just one of them. With the help of magnetic fasteners, it quickly turns into a sandwich and stows away in a pocket/bag/backpack/case.

TextBlade is a kind of ergonomic split keyboard, the most efficient for typing. With a modest keystroke, the characters are driven in perfectly, the fingers lie as they should, and the stand ensures the correct position of the iPhone, iPad or any other device, but there can be problems with piling up a large iPad Pro.

You will have to pay as much as $ 99 for pleasure, and then spend money on engraving. Either way, it will be worth it. Proof - .

An interesting accessory for the iPad Pro - unlike other manufacturers of portable keyboards, which often adapt ordinary accessories to tablets, Apple has created a gadget anew and only for the iPad Pro.

Design, construction

The most correct way to test this device is to write a review of the keyboard directly on the keyboard, which is what I'm doing now. I note that in Russia, tablet owners almost never use such accessories with tablets, at least in real life I have seen such people once or twice. In other countries, and especially in the US, third-party keyboards are very popular. People on the road answer letters, work with documents, write books - in general, they do a lot of very different things. This is surprising, especially at first, but the answer is simple - the tablet takes up a minimum of space, works for a long time, plus practical Americans often want to get the most out of the purchased gadget. Which is quite understandable. If you follow my thought, you will understand why Apple decided to create such a device as the iPad Pro at all. In corporate America, he found a place, on the one hand, it is an accessory for creativity and the creative class, on the other hand, an essential accessory for a middle manager. Why not a laptop? Well, many people like to work with a mobile OS more and there are no special tasks that require special programs. For some reason, it often seems to people that working with mail, correspondence, calls, parsing and correcting documents is some kind of fictional use case and there is no such thing in real life. How, yeah. For me personally, correspondence and sorting out various issues takes at least an hour a day, and the iPad, even Pro, even regular, even with a physical keyboard, even without it, always comes in handy, helps in everyday activities. Yes, I agree with those who stigmatize the Pro as a device from the series “would have done without it” - I easily agree with this, but I myself will not return to the Air. The company's niche devices like the iPhone 6 Plus, MacBook or iPad Pro are aimed at a limited audience, but it is always there and happy with its toys that help to live and create. In addition, someone who, and the gentlemen at Apple, can definitely afford the most daring experiments - why not? It turns out well.

I note that before I got the described keyboard, I used (tried to use) the good old set of the Apple wireless keyboard and the Incase Origami accessory. I have been recommending it to all iPad owners for a long time, a case with a keyboard stand, you can put a tablet there and work - but the Pro has one caveat, for some reason switching languages ​​​​using the usual keyboard shortcut does not work. Until I figured out the problem, if you figured it out, please write how to solve it. The keyboard and stand can be seen in the photo, this is, let's say, the best budget set for the iPad Pro, the keyboard will serve you with other devices. True, it will have to be worn separately, but it does not matter.

Now let's look at the keyboard for Pro. At first I’ll tell you about the device, I ask you to forgive me for using official data, but it will be more correct this way. The keyboard does not require any manipulations with Bluetooth, it connects to the magnetic connector on the end of the iPad. I must say right away that it sits very tightly in place, you can print on your knees or on unstable surfaces. It is immediately clear that during the development they paid attention to this, thought about those who work in flight, on small tables and in other places. strange places. When folded, the keyboard turns into a cover and does not take up much space, although the tablet becomes noticeably heavier. Naturally, you can use the accessory as a stand for watching movies. The thing turned out to be unpretentious, special attention was paid to protection from an aggressive environment. If you look at the buttons, you will see that there are no gaps here - that is, you can spill coffee or something else, then clean the accessory and forget about the incident.

Now the official data, plus a little from myself:

• The top layer of the keyboard is made of a special durable laser-cut fabric that follows the shape of the keys. The fabric provides a spring tension to the buttons, eliminating the need for traditional mechanisms.
• The thickness of the keyboard is 4 mm, while the buttons have excellent travel. There is no feeling that you got into the country of Lilliputians, took away a laptop from one of them and try to work. There are decent places for hands, although I periodically press the screen with the fingers of my left hand, everything is fine with the right hand, I never reached the screen.
• The keyboard has 64 keys, one layout, QWERTY, there are no special options for any country yet - although our craftsmen have already got the hang of engraving without damaging the fabric. I have a negative attitude towards such experiments and I advise you to learn to type blindly, such a skill will always come in handy, and you will be able to work with QWERTY, at least with anything.
• The keyboard surface consists of three unique materials, the top layer is polyurethane, the bottom layer is microfiber - a soft material that cleans and protects the screen (I want to believe). The middle layer is made of a new conductive material, it is responsible for transmitting signals between the keyboard and the tablet. An interesting approach, not at all similar to the experience of other manufacturers of similar accessories. Usually, after all, how, but let's take regular keyboard and we will remake it a bit for a tablet, make it smaller, add Bluetooth, well, maybe add a stand or something else. It usually turns out awful. Another thing is when an accessory is created from scratch, from nothing - and it is intended for one device, and not for all.
• The keyboard sits securely on the table, does not move from side to side, the ports are open - you can charge, connect an audio cable and listen to music. Please note that here they sacrificed the “laptop” buttons for controlling playback and adjusting the sound, in general, fair reasoning: the screen is touch-sensitive, switching between applications is fast, the buttons on the end are available - there is nothing to load the keyboard.

Finally, the main feeling - done sensibly. Connected - you can immediately start working. Although we must once again make a reservation about the skill of blind input, but this is nothing, you can spend a couple of weeks on training, and everything will work out - without engraving. In addition, any third-party engraving (non-Apple) looks disgusting.

In work

Here I would like to draw your attention to several points. Firstly, in the settings (General - Keyboards - Physical keyboard), I personally chose Russian-PC, over the years of using "poppies" it is more familiar to me. Secondly, if you plan to use the keyboard, you should remove the emoji layout, it will interfere when switching languages. Thirdly, switching the language here is not through cmd + space, but using a special key in the corner on the left, it works quickly and efficiently, the habit appears after ten minutes of typing. Finally, all keyboard shortcuts work as expected.

Actually, I did not encounter any problems when typing, I liked working. Of course, it's not as convenient as a MacBook Pro keyboard, but it's quite possible to work on the road or somewhere in the city - and what do I mean by work? Let's say I can write an article with an iPad Pro and this keyboard, reply to mail, publish a blog post, see what's happening on social networks and add posts there, then fold the keyboard and go on holding the tablet under my arm.

conclusions

In retail, the keyboard costs 13,290 rubles, the accessory turned out to be durable and extremely attractive to its audience - no problems with connection, feeling like from a miniature laptop, no special size restrictions. Yes, you need to master blind input - if you haven’t mastered it yet, you should do it, the skill is really necessary. A good and useful thing for owners of the iPad Pro, I recommend buying it right away with the tablet if you are purchasing a device just for the use cases described above - for example, raking mail in any conditions.