Apple Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro 10.5

Mathieu Hendey
Jul 30, 2017 · 3 min read

Despite being a software-developer by trade, I’m always looking for ways to migrate as much of my work to my iPad Pro as possible.

  1. It’s faster. Believe it or not, I find my iPad Pro 10.5 faster in basically every way that’s not compiling code than my maxed-out 13” MacBook Pro.
  2. It’s more comfortable. Watching a video? I reach for the iPad. Reading the news? I reach for the iPad.
  3. Shopping? Reach for the iPad.
  4. Researching holidays? Reach for the iPad.
  5. Sketching out my preliminary solution for a problem? Reach for the Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro.

The form factor lends itself to casual web-browsing, and with the advent of iOS 11 and the bonkers amounts of apps you can have both on the screen and saved in memory, ready to be instantly switched back to, means the hanging around for apps to load from secondary memory into main memory is essentially gone. So little of a problem is it that I can’t remember the last time that waiting for my iPad to catch up with me stuck in my mind.

Niggles

The one thing that sticks in my mind time and time again is the lack of a speedy way to enter mostly text-based content. I don’t think anyone would argue that, while improved, the onscreen keyboard of the 10.5 iPad Pro leaves much to be desired.

The light at the end of the tunnel

With this in mind, I plumped for the Smart Keyboard and I haven’t looked back. It truly is amazing how enjoyable of a typing experience Apple have managed to cram into a 10.5 keyboard.

  • The key travel is delightful, it feels better than on my 13” newest-form-factor MacBook Pro. If this keyboard were on the MacBook Pro I would have zero-complaints.
  • Shortcuts. As a life-long macOS user, it was about 30 minutes in when I realised I was using cmd+tab, cmd+l, all the keyboard shortcuts I’ve got used to.
  • The space between keys. The keys are well-defined and I have no issues discerning where one key ends and the next begins.
  • That click though. While slightly mushy, I would say the tactile feedback on depressing keys is on par if not better than that of MacBook keyboards.

Downsides :(

Despite all these great features, there are a number of detractors. Not enough that would stop me from buying it again were I to lose mine, but definitely some to keep in mind.

  • It is bulky. It easily doubles the thickness of the iPad, and while this might not be an issue for some, as someone who commutes to work weekly via aeroplane it is definitely a hassle.
  • The angle of the screen. It’s unadjustable, and for me it could do with being leant back slightly. As it is, I’m forced to have the iPad quite far away from me in order to type comfortably.
  • It kills compatibility with Apple’s other accessories. With the keyboard attached, it won’t fit in the leather sleeve or the Smart Cover. Not a big deal as the keyboard itself has some protection built in, but with the extortionate price of Apple’s other accessories it’s something to be aware of.
  • Price. This thing is not cheap. At £160 you have to be sure you’re going to get the user out of it. Remember, any Apple Bluetooth keyboard, including the ones made for Macs will work with the iPad and offer much the same functionality.

Conclusion

And that’s it really. All in all I’m really happy with it. Perhaps with more time to play with it and see how it holds up in work I’ll have more thoughts, but right now it’s difficult to see how Apple could have done any better given the space constraints they were under.

I don’t have any experience with any competitors’ keyboards, but I can say with certainty that if you go for the Smart Keyboard you will not be disappointed.

Mathieu Hendey

Written by

Software-developer, fantasy/SF nerd

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