- Designed specifically for the Apple Mini iPad with wake/sleep function
- Features a slim fit Leather case covered by Premium Litchi Grain Mark Leather, providing full body protection
- All the cut-outs of the leather case are specially designed so that all ports and buttons are accessible
- Full size bluetooth Keyboard built-in
The Zagg Mini 7 and 9 were nice. Both keyboards felt good when typing, meaning they felt like real keyboards. With the 9, as you can see mentioned on multiple online review sites, you're getting a full sized keyboard which feels natural when typing. However, as might be expected, quite a bit of bulk is added and although this won't bother some, when you snap the ipad mini into place within the case, there are these awkward empty spaces to each side of the ipad mini. Obviously this is because its a normal sized keyboard, which is longer than the ipad mini. Also, while snapping it into place is easy, taking it back out is a bit tricky. Its really jammed in there! Otherwise however, it provides a great typing experience. Still, I wanted to compare it to the Mini 7 and did. The Mini 7 fits the ipad mini perfectly (as does this case). So now, there aren't those awkward spaces to the sides of the ipad mini. Fitting it in is not as hard but again, removing the ipad mini from the case, while not as difficult as with the 9, was a minor chore as well as its also a tight fit. The typing experience, while not as good as the Zagg Mini 9 because of its smaller overall size was still very good with responsive keys that just felt natural. Some compromises were made including having to use function keys for apostrophes as such but this is to be expected given the smaller amount of real estate. But overall, still a fine typing experience. Like the Zagg Mini 9 however, the case added quite a bit of bulk. So to recap, both provided nice typing experiences that felt natural with the 9 being the best in this regard but both add unwanted bulk and required some effort in removal from the case. Otherwise, solid cases. Now finally onto the review for this case!
As readers will notice, I did like the aforementioned cases but they both still left some things to be desired. Therefore, I continued my search online and just a few days ago, noticed that Acase had released a keyboard case. This interested me because their other cases had garnered such high reviews. Still, I admit, I was hesitant at first because no reviews had been left. However, because the case looked thin and had a good looking keyboard (ie, not rubberized keys), I decided to purchase one. So as of right now, I am typing my review on the keyboard!
To start off, the ipad mini fits quite nicely into the case. There is an opening on the back of the case which is closed by a clasp, through which you can easily slide your ipad mini into. No snapping in and no difficulty in removing it. It just slides in and out of the case and to boot, it fits rather nicely within the case just like in the picture with the clasp closing after it is inserted into the case, to hold it in place. Next, there is minimal added bulk, which is another big difference between this case and the Zaggs. Of course this probably means its not as durable if dropped as the back is only protected by the leather backing of the case. Oh, and it pairs easily, needing a password to be entered initially to pair but not afterwards when using the keyboard.
Finally, onto the typing experience. One fear I had when purchasing this case was that this seemed to be Acase's first foray into keyboard cases for the mini (they have had a few out for the other ipads). Therefore, my concern was that the keyboard might not be as reliable or have a natural feel to it. While reliability will only be known after I've used it for a while, I can say that my typing experience has been great! The keys feel good with a nice tactile feel to them and importantly, they are responsive with no lag time. Also of note is that the keys are island style so they have some space between them which I imagine imitates the feel of a regular sized keyboard as opposed to having them flush against each other. However, as the keyboard is fitted to the ipad mini perfectly, its size is smaller than regular keyboards, as in the Zagg 7. Hence, not only do you have to get adjusted to the smaller size but compromises were made in terms of having to use the function key to access the apostrophe key and the ipad function keys. It did not take very long to get acclimated to the smaller size and I really haven't made many errors at all while typing at a fast rate. I do find myself having to look down when I type occasionally, as again, the keyboard is smaller than regular sized ones. The ipad function keys work as they should including a home button, brightness controls, and itunes music controls, to name just a few. Just in case anyone's wondering, I have medium sized hands. And the stand works well, without showing any signs of instability when using it to type on a flat surface. Using it on my lap seemed to be ok as well in the regard that the stand did not give out while typing.
So it looks like I'll be returning the other cases as for now, the Acase seems to be everything I was looking for; a good, natural typing experience with responsive keys, a good easy fit, a thin, minimalist case that has a closing mechanism and a reliable stand. As I think of other things or if problems arise, I will update this review.
Finally, I have NEVER left a review of a product before but since no reviews have been left, I figured this would be helpful. If anyone has questions, please ask and I will answer as best I can.
****This next part is new, having used the keyboard case for a few weeks now. Before, I had stated that the case was held closed quite well by magnets. I must addend this review however to state that unfortunately, this only appears to be so when the Ipad Mini is NOT inserted in the case. When you insert the ipad mini into the case, for some reason, the magnets do not work well to keep the case closed. Kind of defeats the purpose of having the magnets and as mentioned in another review, might cause issues if you're carrying the case in a loose setting (duffel bag) where it might open and close accidentally and drain the battery. Otherwise, my typing experience has remained good one on this keyboard case as I have been using it on and off for work. I can't say I'm really missing the larger real estate of the Logitech Keyboard Case for my Ipad 2!****Just what I needed.
Had several people ask where I got it.
Great product.
Looks great, stitching looks good on leather.Got this case for my iPad mini after reading the glowing review above, especially considering the price, but am disappointed with the product overall.
The case itself is great. Nice fake leather, it's feels top notch, and looks quite good with the mini in it. It has a nice magnetic flap that holds the mini in place which makes it easy to take the mini in and out of the case. So far so good.
The keyboard is about as good as you would hope for with a product at this cost. The keys offer good travel, and it's not impossible to type on this keyboard. But... I have to say it was pretty difficult: the keyboard is very cramped, and I have smallish fingers for a man. If you have large fingers, then you need to get a 9 inch keyboard or larger, because the seven inch keyboard just isn't going to remotely work for you. Some of the buttons are weirdly placed, and that hurts overall typing speed. Overall, I was faster with this keyboard than with the on-screen keyboard, but not by a huge amount. It did definitely improve the web browsing experience on the mini... But not as much as you might think. I can probably slam out 70-80 WPM with a full-size keyboard, and struggled to get 20 WPM with this keyboard. Sure it might improve over time, but I was hunting and pecking again because of the keyboard size.
The stand is pretty flimsy. It did a good job keeping the iPad upright on a solid surface, but even then I had to be pretty careful not to push too hard on the screen, otherwise it would collapse and fall over. Forget about using it on your legs while on the couch: it'll fall over too much to make it worthwhile. On the plus side, the case folds back pretty well, so when you don't want the keyboard you can get to the iPad pretty quickly by itself.
Unfortunately, the magnet closer on my case was defective. It would not hold the case closed, which meant that the iPad kept turning on and draining battery unnecessarily. That's not acceptable for a case that costs this much. So back it goes. If the magnetic closure works on your case then this is a pretty good keyboard case.The keyboard works fine, but it is not made of leather, but rather polyurethane (PU-Leather, as the manufacturer calls it).
The product description is deceptive.
I was looking for a case made of leather, leather defined as animal skin and not man-made material or plastic.
I gave it two stars because the keyboard otherwise worked fine.
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