Review on Brydge 10.5 Keyboard for iPad Air (2019) and iPad Pro 10.5-inch – Aluminum Bluetooth 4.2 Keyboard with Backlit Keys in Silver by Brandon Barrett

The look and feel of the device is very nice and like the others it matches the iPad very well. The inclusion of a toolbar is a welcome bonus over the Apple Smart Keyboard or Apple Magic Keyboard. My triple reasons for poor vision: 1) It takes a long time to wake up, wake up the iPad and unlock the iPad. It usually takes more than 4 keystrokes for the keyboard to work again. I don't think I'm getting impatient, I'll even go so far as to pause between each keypress to see if that helps. However, nothing seems to speed up this process. 2) At its core, this is a Bluetooth keyboard. I've been using the Apple Magic Keyboard with my iPad since the original came out. The number of clicks this keyboard skips is truly unacceptable. I could put it down to a tighter keyboard/smaller keys or a difference in key travel, but it seems to reduce about 5-10% of my keystrokes. Typing this review on the device was tiring as I watched the autocorrect keep adding missing characters or having to go back to the correct words. I haven't experienced that with the Magic Keyboard or other much cheaper Bluetooth keyboards. 3) Given the design of the hinge, one of the iPad features I use the most is now unusable if the iPad isn't fully seated in the hinge. I'm a split-screen user all the time, but the hinge design pushes the edge of the iPad under the edge of the keyboard, making it extremely difficult to invoke split-screen. I rock the iPad up and down the hinge, which is annoying to say the least and dangerous at worst. Finally, this isn't an issue with this keyboard, but it's something to consider if you decide to purchase a back cover. Also: The optional back cover does not support the use of the Apple Smart Cover. It would be great to change the back cover to remove about 5mm of case material and allow users to remove the iPad from the keyboard while still protecting the screen when not in use. Since this keyboard doesn't rotate fully, using the iPad as a tablet is inconvenient and this option would be a huge plus. I'm sure they have marketing reasons for this design choice, but this seems like a missed opportunity. I'm 90% sure it'll be returned given these issues, which is unfortunate as it seems like a solid alternative to Apple's budget Smart Keyboard or Logitech's bulky options. But when I've invested nearly $150 in a product and had a bad experience, I can't justify anything else.