[NewsPoster]

The iPad Pro's larger size means that the on-screen keyboard has more room than you're used to on previous iPads. It is close to a full-size Mac keyboard and the size plus the addition of many keys you used to have to dig for mean that you will inevitably end up typing a lot more on this glass than on the iPad Air's. However, as good as it is, it's not the same as having a proper keyboard. Cue the Logi Create Backlit Keyboard Case with Smart Connector for iPad Pro.

The title isn't a mistake: this is the Logi Create, not the Logitech one. It's the first Logitech product we've seen that carries this new hip version of the company's name and it's interesting to see. The brand –– really a sub-brand as the company retains its fuller name for other products –– is meant to be for home and automotive products and we're meant to "expect bold colors and simple designs" from Logi products. The Logi Create does look simple but it's a tiny bit trickier to use than you'd imagine and while there are many colors, the one we tested was black.

Looks matter and that is really the sole place where this keyboard case falls down. When closed it obviously adds to the size of the iPad Pro but not gigantically so. Yet when it's open and you're typing, it's pretty gigantic. Somehow it's enough to make the iPad Pro look enormous: perhaps because like the Apple Smart Keyboard the keys are at the front and with only a short distance to the screen. It's like the iPad Pro has burst out and is coming to get you.

Having said that, Logitech has pulled off getting a backlit keyboard where Apple didn't. We're on our own in this but we're not fussed about back lights on keys. We touch type and even in the very darkest of rooms we can find the keys from the the light of the iPad Pro screen. It's very bright, very big and it's right there abutting the keys. Yet there's no denying that many people like back lights and we do absolutely think that Logitech has done the lighting well.

The lights don't stay on, they are really only active whenever you start to type something and then they switch off after some period of inactivity. We did find that occasionally the back lights would switch back on by themselves for a moment but usually by the time we'd looked over to our iPad Pro on a desk, the lights would go off again. It's distracting, then, but not enough to be an issue with, say, battery power.

The keyboard itself is not battery powered: it uses Apple's new three-dots Smart Connector to draw power directly from the iPad Pro itself. However, the iPad Pro is battery powered so the lights do drain that. You can very easily dim, brighten and switch off the lights: there is a top row of keys on the keyboard that are for this back light control, for iPad Pro screen brightness, volume and so on.

What's not very easy is getting the iPad Pro into and out of the case. We can't quite describe the movement you need as it feels like we have to keep trying different ways but broadly you need to snap the iPad Pro into a certain place. We usually got this right but one time we didn't push the iPad Pro right up into the corners and though it looked secured, when we tilted the device up to start typing, the iPad Pro slipped out. When we want to get it out, it feels like we have to tug and while we saw no damage to the iPad at all, you worry that you're going to do something to it.

All in all, then, you would expect to get the case on and leave it there forever but you probably won't. You'll want protection and you will want a keyboard but you'll prefer holding the bare iPad Pro in your hands.

We sound like we're not in favor of the Logi Create keyboard case but, really, the worst we could say about is that the keyboard feels a teeny bit plasticky compared to some of Logitech's others. You can type very well and very quickly on it and there's no question but that having the case makes you feel better about carrying this expensive and enormous iPad Pro around.

Yet we're not in love with it. This is functional, strong, sturdy but we're right back praising its utility when we'd like to also relish using it. Maybe that's just us but as excellent as it is to be able to type properly on the device, the case feels like it takes away as much from the iPad Pro as it gives. It was the first keyboard case for the iPad Pro, beating even Apple's own to market, and it will remain among the best even when more manufacturers release models but it isn't something you'll desire.

Logi Create Keyboard for iPad Pro costs $150 from Amazon though at time of writing it is sold out. Note that it is currently only available in black.

Who is Logi Create Keyboard for iPad Pro for:
Right now it's a strong protective case and it's a very good keyboard: if you travel and you use your iPad Pro a lot, you need both of these things and the Logi Create delivers. It's just not brilliant.

Who is Logi Create Keyboard for iPad Pro not for:
If you're getting an iPad Pro case you've got the protection already and can type on the glass.

-William Gallagher (@WGallagher)

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