We have a possibly unhealthy obsession with keyboards, but no plans to do anything about it -- we're not going to swap to pens and pencils, for instance. Plus, our addiction means we automatically know the two things that make a great keyboard -- or we thought we did, until we used the
Logitech Keys-to-Go keyboard for iPad.
This is a rather incredibly slim keyboard, practically a piece of paper with bumps on it, which is meant to be used with your iPad. It is a keyboard -- it is not a case or a cover, but it's a similar size to Apple's Smart Cover. The red version we tested also happened to match the red Smart Cover on our iPads. There are also black and teal models, but we'd bring this all out to work in coffee shops and look stylishly color-coordinated.
We wouldn't say that looks are irrelevant, it's always better to like the look of what you're carrying around, but feel is crucial. The thing you look for more than anything else, even long before the price, is how it feels when you're using it. That's a hard thing to describe, and it is impossible to measure: all you can say is what you think of it, and acknowledge that everyone is different. Going purely by that subjective issue, then, we'd say we aren't keen on the Keys-to-Go. You may well disagree, but for us there was something in the feel of the keys themselves that we just didn't like against our fingers.
Keys-to-Go is like Apple's new keyboard for the iPad Pro, in how it's apparently one piece of material with keys built in. Rather than a metal frame with holes that plastic keys poke through, it is a single unit with raised areas for the keys. It's the kind of keyboard that you know is resistant to spills, not that you're going to intentionally try that. It's the kind of keyboard you can take to a coffee shop.
We very much like how we could slip this keyboard into our bag, and readily slip it out again when we needed to do more typing than we're comfortable doing on the iPad's glass. It's so slim, and it weighs nothing at all, so it might just be the handiest iPad keyboard we've known. We do keep saying iPad: you can use this on iPhone, too. There is an Android version, apparently, but what there isn't is a model you can use on several machines. Unlike many other Bluetooth keyboards, including excellent ones from Logitech, you can't press a button and swap between writing on your iPad and then on your iPhone.
Instead, you pair this keyboard with the one device, and the idea is that then you're set. Take it everywhere with you, get it out whenever you need, slip it back in your bag when you're done. While you're using it, you will find it's easier and quicker to type on than the iPad's glass, but it'll also take you a little while to get up to speed. The keys are all in the right places -- that sounds peculiar unless you've tried others that attempt to squeeze down the keyboard by moving certain keys to odd spots -- and the typing action is good. It's not great: you're never going to get brilliant typing with keys that hardly move.
The keys hardly move, but you can roam about all you like: the speed and handiness of this keyboard is first rate. We just don't happen to like the feel of the keys under our fingers: there is something about the overall canvas of the unit that bothered us. It bothered us enough that we got normal, regular people to try both this Keys-to-Go and
Logitech's K380. They tried both, and they looked at us: if they registered the differences, they didn't care. They'd use either keyboard, depending on what was handy. In that case, the Keys-to-Go keyboard wins for them.
What we thought we knew was that feel trumps everything, but actually sheer convenience is an issue. We wouldn't necessarily choose to write thousands of words on this keyboard, but we realize that we could, and with it handily tucked in our bags, we would.
Logitech Keys-to-Go retails for $70, and is
typically on Amazon for around $46. Watch that you order an iPad one: there are several near-identical models, but some are for Windows and Android. That Amazon link takes you through to the red iPad one we tested.
Who is Logitech Keys-to-Go for:
Despite our little panel, we'd say this is for the traveller who only very occasionally needs to type something substantial on their iPads.
Who is Logitech Keys-to-Go not for:
The reverse: if you are a traveller who needs to do a lot of typing, we'd not go for this. That's despite its excellently handy small size and weight.
-- William Gallagher (
@WGallagher)
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