If your iPad keyboard isn’t full-sized and centered at the bottom of your screen, you probably turned on one of these features: Spread your fingers apart to enlarge the keyboard back to full size, then let go. The split keyboard is available only on iPad models that have a Home button.
Use your Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard with your iPad
The Smart Connector is on the back of your iPad, and has three small, magnetic contacts.
The Many Keyboards of Past, Present, and Future iPads
The best feature about the iPad Keyboard Dock is that, despite being a ten year old product, it can still be used by Lightning-equipped iOS devices as long as you have the 30-pin to Lightning adapter. An early prototype of the iPad featured two 30-pin connectors, the extra one being on the left edge.
Yet, when the original iPad shipped in 2010, there was only one Dock Connector along the bottom edge of the device. Combined with the Smart Cover ($99), the iPad Pro can be raised to a comfortable angle for typing.
This configuration is useful when drawing with the Apple Pencil, which was released at the same time as the original iPad Pro in 2015. The iPad Pro Smart Keyboard has the much maligned butterfly switches encased in a splash/dust-proof fabric.
It connects to the iPad Pro using the Smart Connector alongside the bottom edge of the device. In order to draw, one would either take off the case or close the keyboard and flip the front cover to the back. While the butterfly switches are more reliable than those in the 2016-2019 era of MacBook notebook computers (because there is no chance for exposure to dust and debris), the Smart Connector on the original iPad Pros is prone to failure. Despite being regularly cleaned, my iPad Pro 12.9″ (2015) constantly displays a warning that the attached accessory is not supported. In general, I’ve been very happy with this keyboard, with the only thing marring the product is the peeling and rippling of the outer case. iPad Pro 12.9″ (2018) in a Viozon Tablet Stand with a Keychron K1 and Anker wireless mouse
This makes working on the iPad for extended periods more comfortable from an ergonomic perspective, since I do not have to hunch over the screen and keyboard. The K1 made quite a splash on Kickstarter a few years back about being a low-profile mechanical keyboard with Bluetooth and a macOS-specific layout. It requires a wireless receiver attached to the USB-port and lacks the multitouch gestures on the Magic-line of Apple input devices. The scissor-switch keys feel nice and are an upgrade over the fabric-covered butterfly keys of the Smart Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio (at the expense of splash and dust resistance).
The cantilever design of the hinge allows for more viewing angles than the two in the Smart Keyboard Folio. The trackpad is a welcome addition; the improvements made in iOS 13.4 make editing and manipulating text so much better than before.
Once I stop using this particular iPad Pro — or if a future iPad Pro has a significant design change to its physical dimensions — this Magic Keyboard is going to become a paper weight or museum piece. The Smart Keyboard Folio has effectively become this, since there’s almost no reason to use that unless I am planning to go to some dusty environment like Burning Man. iPad Pro 12.9″ with Magic Keyboard on a Roost Stand with Keychron K6 and Anker wireless mouse The way the hinges work makes it impossible for the iPad Pro to flip 180 degrees and be used like a tablet, like you can with the Smart Keyboard Folio.
With the Magic Keyboard, one can flip the whole thing upside down to have a quasi-slate mode, as you can see in the photo below. I have filed a feature request with Apple to have them disable the keyboard when in this orientation, and I encourage you to do the same!
This setup would be bulkier than the Magic Keyboard, whose dimensions are perfectly matched to the iPad Pro, but I think the utility would trump any extra bulk. If you have one of these venerable keyboards, read this article for details on how to resuscitate it and get it working with your modern devices.
Amazon.com: Apple Smart Keyboard: iPad Keyboard and case for iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Air (3rd Generation), and iPad (7th, 8th, and 9th Generation), Comfortable Typing Experience, US English
However, it ends up having a slight advantage by not being a folio — the cover is removable easily and quickly when you don’t need it, and there is as little bulk as possible. When the cover is folded over either way, the hard plastic of the keys does NOT touch either the front or the back of the iPad.
The other, much cheaper, folio I bought and reviewed scratched my screen when it was closed. The way the cover connects is securely via the magnets on the side of the iPad.
Honestly, I don’t do that much writing on the iPad, but when I do, this works much better than the onscreen keyboard. The action is pretty stiff, but the layout is such that you’re not randomly hitting extra keys or functions.
The Amazon price is decent, especially if you want to have a very slim, very convenient keyboard that you never have to charge right at your fingertips.
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