Posted in Essay — 07 May 2020

Magic Keyboard Follow Up

<p>It’s been more than 14 days since I received my Magic Keyboard. The time has flown by and I hadn’t even realised it had been this long until I checked back on my post history. Two weeks that seems like the blink of an eye, and the biggest compliment I can give this keyboard is I have not regretted it once.</p>
<p>I sat down to write a full review about a week ago after seeing a few start to pop up such as <a href="https://birchtree.me/blog/magic-keyboard-review/">Matt Birchler’s post</a> and really struggled to write it. You see, the best thing about a bit of technology that is exactly what you want, is that nothing stands out. There are no downsides, there are no emotions and very little to say bar “its great”.</p>
<p>My second problem with writing a full review is that I wrote so many words (1143) in <a href="https://gr36.com/ipad-pro-magic-keyboard-forst-impressions/">my hands on</a> and very few have changed. I’ve never written so many after so little time before, simply because all of the feels I had about the device came at once. After all, this is only a keyboard, what is there to write about?</p>
<p>In fact there are loads of things I can talk about, which I already have, but things boil down to only a few points you need to consider if deciding to buy this thing.</p>
<h2>The Weight</h2>
<p>It is surprisingly heavy. Using it does bump the weight of the overall device to around the same as a MacBook. In exchange it is perfectly balanced and feels like a proper keyboard (more on this in a moment). It sits on my lap on the couch or in bed and gives me a laptop when I need it.</p>
<h2>Ease Of Use</h2>
<p>The keyboard is ridiculously easy to remove when needed. Mine has spent its time unfolded on my desk when I am using my iPad as a tablet. The magnets are safe and secure, but easy to snap off when you need to, giving a much better experience than keyboard cases that clip all the way around the body. You wont want to keep it attached all the time, and you wont have to.</p>
<p>I moaned a little about a function row of keys, but haven’t needed them at all. There may not be a key to adjust the key brightness but I am happy to report there doesn’t need to be. I have never ventured into settings once in any light condition and trust the software to do its thing.</p>
<h2>Typing</h2>
<p>The most important thing is what it feels like. I have never not liked the Smart Folio or Smart Keyboard before it, but the Magic Keyboard is a different beast entirely. <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2020/04/the_ipad_magic_keyboard">Gruber summed it up best</a> when he described previous attempts iPad keyboards as covers you can type on. There was nothing wrong with these versions, I used them very happily for a long time. Whereas this is a proper, full sized keyboard with backlight and decent key travel. It is a delight to type on. I would be hard pushed to find fault with the typing experience, it even rivals the Mac Magic Keyboards which are my favourite for writing.</p>
<h2>Wants For The Future</h2>
<p>There are very few complaints from me, this simply doesn’t feel like a first generation device like it should. Many of my immediate concerns have gone, and even those pointed towards the <a href="https://thedent.net/grimegate/">outer material and GrimeGate</a> are short lived and the pretty much the same as previous versions.</p>
<p>If i could be really picky, I’d love for the charging port to also be able to transfer data, but that’s a small want. All these words are to say that i am very happy with my purchase, the Magic Keyboard has meant I have ditched my MacBook and made me fall in love with the iPad again — well done Apple.</p>