Review on 🔌 Logitech Combo Touch Keyboard Case for iPad (7th, 8th, and 9th Gen) - Trackpad, Wireless Keyboard, Smart Connector - Graphite by Darryl Blumenthal

(Shhh... If you're in a hurry, scroll down to read my resume) Do you have a "big" laptop with a 15" or 17" screen that you don't have want to carry around? always with you? Do you have a desktop computer and already use your iPad for mobile tasks, but miss your keyboard and mouse? Do you sometimes wish Your iPad would have a physical keyboard because typing a lot of text on the onscreen keyboard is uncomfortable? Then the Logitech Combo Touch might be just the thing for you! In a market full of competitors, Logitech has created a strong competitor for the best overall "keyboard case" for your 7th generation iPad. The case is also available as a standalone model for the 3rd generation iPad Air or 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Both types of cases are essentially the same, except that the cutouts for the camera, headphones, etc. are slightly different due to differences between iPad models. Therefore, this rating applies to any model, although it is specific to the 7th generation iPad model. So what is combo touch? These are two completely separate parts, which together turn the iPad into a kind of miniature portable computer. COVER The first part is the rear protective cover. Your iPad fits this piece perfectly, as do most other cases you've probably seen. The case has cutouts for all the speakers, microphones, charging ports, headphone jacks, camera, etc. and they all line up perfectly so nothing is blocked. It also has a very nice, fully adjustable kickstand on the back. This allows the iPad to be supported at almost any angle without predefined angle stops. It adjusts easily and won't slip off at other angles once you place it where you want it. This works great to view from a very high angle, like you might need it when watching a video, to a slightly lower angle that you might use when using it as a laptop and typing, to an even lower angle. which you can use for things that might require you to touch the screen, e.g. B. Sketching with your Apple Pencil or just typing on the onscreen keyboard. The outside of the cover is edged with a very nice thick fabric similar to tweed or other heavy fabrics. This gives the case a nice tactile feel and looks like it will wear well too. This part also has a handy stretchable material pen holder that can be used to store your Apple Pencil if you have one. Because the chassis uses a stand design, the stand requires additional space behind the screen. Compare this to a typical laptop, where the screen is supported by a hinge and keyboard. Many iPad cases, including this one, require a stand to be installed. because the keyboard and hinge alone cannot support the weight of the iPad. In practice, this shouldn't be a problem unless you're using a very flat desk surface or, more importantly, if you plan to use the Combo Touch on your lap like a MacBook. The design of the stand doesn't work well on your lap unless you have something underneath, such as a laptop. B. a separate lap table to support the stand in addition to the keyboard part. The other part is the actual "inside" of the Combo Touch. This part contains the keyboard and touchpad and a magnetic connector with electronic connections to the iPad. At first, if you haven't used a keyboard connected to an Edge port on an iPad, you might be a little surprised at how easy it is. You simply bring the keyboard close to the iPad and it magnetizes (or maybe magically) snaps into place. That's all. It automatically aligns itself in the right place and makes the right electronic connections. After that, you can use the keyboard and touchpad immediately. There are no batteries to worry about as it is powered directly from the iPad. There are also no extra pairing steps or anything else you need to do to get the iPad to recognize the keyboard and touchpad. Once you plug it in, it's ready to go! I should note that the keyboard can be quickly detached from the iPad, leaving you with only the back half of the case, which contains the real iPad. This is for when you want to use the iPad more like an iPad without a keyboard. You cannot fold the keyboard onto the back of the iPad when not in use. It must be separated and set aside. Some people might find this a disadvantage, but I actually prefer this setting. If you're sitting somewhere, like on an airplane or in a waiting room, you probably have a bag nearby and can easily tuck your keyboard in there when you're not using it. Or, in the worst case, just sit next to him. I have seen several other cases in which the keyboard folds around the iPad when you're not using the keyboard. This seems like a cumbersome way to hold an iPad since the back of the iPad that you're holding it on is the keyboard, not just a flat surface. Another important point to note is that this is by no means a lightweight device. The combination of back cover and keyboard itself weighs about 1 lb 6 oz. The iPad 7th Gen starts out at just 1lb 1oz, so when paired with this case you get a device that weighs 2lb 7oz. Compare that to the current-gen 13-inch MacBook Air, which weighs 2 pounds 13 ounces, and suddenly your iPad isn't the lightweight laptop alternative it once was. It's still smaller in length and width than a MacBook as the screen is of course smaller, but even the thickness becomes almost the same as a laptop if you have the Combo Touch on your iPad. THE KEYBOARD So, let's dig into the keyboard. For starters, it's covered in the same tweed material as the other piece, so they match perfectly. It also has matching magnets inside so it turns your iPad on and off as you open and close it. The keys themselves are very good and it's a real plastic key with a separate key and the usual physical key mechanism, just like on a laptop. This is a lot better than some other iPad keyboards that use a simple membrane keyboard where the keys are literally made of rubber and therefore have a rubbery feel. The keyboard is very responsive and easy to type, although it is smaller than a standard keyboard. Of course, size is limited by the small size of the iPad itself, which doesn't have the width to accommodate a full-size keyboard. Despite the size, I found typing on the keyboard to be very comfortable and much better than trying to use the onscreen keyboard when typing long emails or other typing-intensive tasks. The keyboard has many keys, iPad/iOS specific. and they are all very helpful. The top row contains buttons: - "Home" - performs the same functions as the "Home" button on the iPad. You don't have to touch the iPad itself if you have this key right on your keyboard. - Keys to decrease screen brightness and increase screen brightness - Keyboard key - used to show or hide the on-screen keyboard when using an application that supports it - Search - opens the global search box of the iPad. I've found that having a button dedicated to this feature actually motivated me to use it a lot more than ever before. Keys to decrease keyboard brightness and increase keyboard brightness The keyboard is fully backlit like a modern laptop (although for some reason the Logitech decided to omit the spacebar) and has 4 levels of brightness to choose from. You can also turn off the backlight completely by simply turning it down to its lowest level. - 3 media play buttons (rewind, pause/play and fast forward) - They are pretty self explanatory and work when playing music or video. - Mute/Volume Down/Volume Up Buttons - These work the same as the physical volume buttons on the side of your iPad. Adding a dedicated mute button is nice, since there's usually no physical mute button on the iPad itself. Lock button - This works the same as the screen lock button on the iPad and can be used to quickly toggle it on and off. on the screen. In addition to the special keys on the top row of the keyboard, there are several others: - Globe/World key - located in the lower left corner of the keyboard and allows you to quickly switch to alternative keyboard configurations. For example, if you're using the Combo Touch keyboard to type a message and you press that key, the on-screen keyboard will pop up and show you the Emoji keyboard (or other keyboard types, like other languages, depending on what keyboards you're using on your set up your iPad). This is handy for inserting emojis or other special characters while doing most of the typing on the physical keyboard. Control/Option/Command Keys - These are set up the same as on a standard Mac keyboard (3 on either side of the keyboard). space and 2 on the other side). The Ctrl key can be used as part of a standard Ctrl-click like on a Mac and opens the edit menu, when you ctrl-click on the selected text (among other things I'm sure). I haven't found a use for the Option key in iOS yet, but it could probably be used for something. However, the Command key is very useful because it lets you use standard keyboard shortcuts like Command-C to copy and Command-V to paste. This is very convenient on the iPad compared to the usual method of using an on-screen pop-up menu to select these types of commands. Arrow keys in 4 directions. Another useful addition that makes text editing easier as you can just move the mouse pointer to the exact spot you want and also use the standard keyboard-based text selection methods. B. Hold down the Shift key while using the arrow keys to select text. TOUCH PANEL The touchpad is of course new to the world of iPad cases. Touchpad support was recently added to iOS, and this is one of the first times you get both a keyboard and touchpad. First, using the Touch Bar on your iPad for the first time is a pretty unusual experience. After all, the iPad is inherently a device where you use your finger on the screen to select items, so the sudden appearance of the equivalent of a traditional mouse pointer on the screen is a bit alien. As soon as you connect the Combo Touch and use the touchpad, the touchpad pointer appears on the screen. On iOS, the pointer is usually a translucent disk, but it changes shape depending on what you hover over. For example, when you hover over text, it becomes a larger rectangle. Not only is the pointer a bit confusing, but it also disappears completely when you're over something you can click. Instead of simply hovering the mouse pointer over the clickable element, the element itself, e.g. B. an icon or button, slightly enlarged and moves smoothly with the touchpad. Sometimes this can cause the pointer to get lost for a second until you realize which icon or button is currently selected. It would be nice if the pointer was just a standard arrow like the mouse pointer, but that's an iOS feature, not Combo Touch. The pointer works much like your finger does when touching the screen. Click the touchpad to perform the same actions as touching the screen with your finger. By default, the touchpad only works with a physical click, not just a surface touch, but this can easily be changed using the touchpad controls in Settings > General > Trackpad. You can also adjust the tracking speed and scrolling direction in this area. On the same screen there is an option to enable a two-finger secondary click, but I couldn't get the secondary click to work with combo touch, so it may not be something supported by any given device, although iOS one has the opportunity to do so. . However, you can perform a secondary click by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and clicking. This brings up the edit menu when the text is selected. Sometimes I found that the click is not recognized by iOS. Most of the time it works fine, but occasionally you have to tap multiple times before the iPad recognizes the click. I suspect this is actually an iOS issue and not the Combo Touch, but no matter what the issue is, it's unfortunately still a minor issue. Having used the touchpad, I'm wondering if there's an advantage to having a pointer instead of just touching the screen for what you want. On a small device like an iPad, the entire screen is within easy reach to touch the controls you need. Using the touchpad pointer actually requires more effort as you have to move the point to the right place first than just touching the screen. Gestures (see below) were much more valuable to me in terms of touchpad usability. The touchpad supports gestures, and gesture controls really enhance the keyboard experience with your iPad, allowing you to quickly navigate web pages and other screens without having to reach for the screen. All of the standard gestures that normally work on the iPad screen are available through the touchpad. You can use two fingers to scroll up and down, switch between multiple home screens, page forward and backward in Safari, and more, and you can also use three fingers to to quickly access the task switcher to navigate between apps or return to the home screen. screen from the application. Zoom also works the same as on screen. Logitech has a companion app for Combo Touch, but functionality is limited to controlling how long the keyboard backlight stays on after you've stopped using the keyboard and how quickly it dims while you work. turn off. All key features like tracking speed, tap on/off, and scroll direction are controlled via the aforementioned standard iOS setup screen under Settings > General > Trackpad. Because there's really no reason to install a companion app unless you're really picky, how the backlighting of the keys behaves. SUMMARY So, should you get Combo Touch for your iPad? I think if you're someone who uses your iPad to type a lot all the time, or if you don't have a regular laptop and want to turn your iPad into one, then yes, you should buy Combo Touch. The occasional touchpad click issues are outweighed by the excellent keyboard, touchpad gesture controls, and overall build quality of the chassis itself. On the other hand, if you just want them to have an iPad keyboard every now and then, then I suggest considering an entirely separate compact Bluetooth keyboard instead. Logitech makes several models of compact keyboards and I think they are more suitable for non-complex users, as you keep your iPad in a thin and light design most of the time and you can easily take out the keyboard when needed. This makes your iPad easy to carry and costs less than buying the Combo Touch. PROS: - Very well folded case fits perfectly and offers great protection for all sides of your iPad - Stunning keyboard with fully backlit real keys. and any special iOS keys you need. The touchpad offers all the familiar gesture controls without having to reach the screen when reading documents, switching apps, etc. iPad connects instantly, meaning no batteries to charge or pair CONS: This makes your iPad easy to carry and costs less than buying the Combo Touch. PROS: - Very well folded case fits perfectly and offers great protection for all sides of your iPad - Stunning keyboard with fully backlit real keys. and any special iOS keys you need. The touchpad offers all the familiar gesture controls without having to reach the screen when reading documents, switching apps, etc. iPad connects instantly, meaning no batteries to charge or pair CONS: This makes your iPad easy to carry and costs less than buying the Combo Touch. PROS: - Very well folded case fits perfectly and offers great protection for all sides of your iPad - Stunning keyboard with fully backlit real keys. and any special iOS keys you need. The touchpad offers all the familiar gesture controls without having to reach the screen when reading documents, switching apps, etc. iPad connects instantly, meaning no batteries to charge or pair CONS: - Very well folded case fits perfectly and offers great protection for all sides of your iPad - Stunning keyboard with fully backlit real keys. and any special iOS keys you need. The touchpad offers all the familiar gesture controls without having to reach the screen when reading documents, switching apps, etc. iPad connects instantly, meaning no batteries to charge or pair CONS: - Very well folded case fits perfectly and offers great protection for all sides of your iPad - Stunning keyboard with fully backlit real keys. and any special iOS keys you need. The touchpad offers all the familiar gesture controls without having to reach the screen when reading documents, switching apps, etc. iPad connects instantly, meaning no batteries to charge or pair CONS: