Review on 🔋 Brydge Air MAX+ Wireless Keyboard Case with Trackpad: Ultimate iPad Air 4th Gen & Pro 11" Protection by Alicia Fraser

As I use both the 2018 11" iPad Pro and the 2021 12.9" iPad Pro, I wanted to see if their Brydge Air Max+ would finally replace the Apple Magic Keyboard. I've always preferred Apple's offering and felt that the extra money made it worth the experience over other alternatives. They almost sold me this time, but the issues ruin an otherwise great experience. The Brydge Air Max+ comes in professional retail packaging. It consists of a keyboard, a protective case and a manual. It doesn't come with a charging cable, so you'll also need to buy one or use an iPad cable to charge the case. You may wish to add a charging cable as well as an additional outlet to your purchase. The body is made of hard plastic. It fits your iPad Air or iPad Pro 11 inch for extra protection. It's heavier than a standard triple, but not as worrisome. It adds some bulk to the device and, unlike Apple's offering, protects the iPad when it's not connected to a keyboard. The keyboard adds a bit of weight, bringing the total weight to nearly 3 pounds. Once you have placed the case on your iPad, you can connect your keyboard. When you first turn on your Brydge keyboard, it will be in Bluetooth pairing mode. By going to the Bluetooth settings on your iPad and selecting the Brydge keyboard, you will be connected in a few seconds. Brydge requires you to download their app, which also updates the firmware. Strangely, after updating the keyboard, you have to remove the keyboard from Bluetooth settings and reconnect it. The metal construction doesn't bend and the iPad holds up very well; This product is solid! There is no fear that the iPad will fall. You can always take out the iPad to use it, so you don't have to use it with your keyboard. The keyboard can also be used when not connected as it is equipped with Bluetooth. The keys have good travel and typing doesn't differ much from using a laptop. While the keyboard is a bit cramped, this is more a problem with the iPad's small size, which gives the Brydge a smaller area for keyboard layout. The keys are well placed and include a number of media/iPad shortcuts. I prefer typing on Brydge to the Apple Magic Keyboard. The touchpad is quite large and uses Apple's touchpad shortcuts, which is great. Two-finger scroll, one-finger click, two-finger click, swipe, and more. It also uses Apple's touchpad settings to disable or customize features. However, when Tap-to-Click is enabled and you touch the touchpad while typing, the touchpad registers and the cursor clicks on the screen. There's no way to set this up - just disable Tap to Click. Click on the bottom of the touchpad to click. The entire touchpad moves when clicked, but is fixed at the top and only presses down at the bottom. It can be pushed down easily, but moving it to another spot requires more force to bring the bottom down. Clicking above is not possible. It's not like Apple's magic keyboard that can be easily clicked from anywhere. Using the touchpad on less firm spots like a bed or lap pillow is even more difficult, as the entire keyboard moves down with force and requires a bit more force to press. There are some issues Brydge needs to address. First they force you to download the Brydge Connect app but all it does is update the firmware. You can't adjust the sleep time on the keyboard, you can't adjust the touchpad's touch sensitivity, etc. You also need to add palm recognition on the touchpad. Also, I had a few times where clicking outside of the text area caused the cursor to disappear. Having been using the Apple Magic Keyboard for over a year now and this just started with Brydge I can safely assume Brydge needs to fix this. If you turn the keyboard off and on again, the cursor reappears. Overall I think the keyboard is much better than what Apple offers. Unfortunately, the touchpad is much worse. If you don't use Tap to Click, this keyboard might be perfect for you. This requires some fixes, but most of them can be fixed in firmware. I only wish they had used a better quality touchpad.