ZaggMate iPad Keyboard: A Review

My wife had mentioned to me,, that if the iPad had a keyboard she would likely not need a laptop anymore. So I took the opportunity to purchase her a ZaggMate iPad keyboard for $99 at Best Buy
After letting her play with it for a while, I borrowed it from her, so I could give you my honest impressions with the unit.



First of all, it is beautiful. Made of aluminum and it matches the iPad perfectly. It looks very stylish on the iPad and offers decent screen protection when it is closed up. The inside of the ZaggMate is soft rubber and does a good job of keeping the screen off the keyboard and snugly holding the iPad when it is closed up. However, my standard Apple iPad book case will offer much better overall protection I think.

Our first impressions with setting up the blue tooth keyboard, was it is amazingly simple!! For example, my wife has absolutely no experience with blue tooth. This was her first BT device. She had it up and running in a matter of moments. She charged the keyboard, because it has a built in Lithium Ion Battery, turned it on and turned on blue tooth on her iPad. It popped up that it had found the device and prompted her to enter a string of numbers. That was it! It was now up and running.

Typing on the little keyboard of the ZaggMate does take some getting used to. This is to be expected though. You don't want to have a full sized keyboard with a 10 inch device. It just would not look right and would make it much less convenient to carry around. The ZaggMate does however, have a very good keyboard. The keys are real plastic scissor hinged keys, like you would find on most laptops. Not those cheap rubber, pressure keys that you find on a lot of cheap portable keyboards. So they have that nice familiar clickity click feel when you type. However, in order to protect the screen form the keyboard, the keyboard is sunk into the case. This means you have to type with your hands in a slightly odd position and you have to rest them on the metal corners of the case, which for me in a little uncomfortable. I am sure I could get used to it though. But initially it was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was hoping for a more comfortable typing position. With that said, My wife is a touch typist and has absolutely no issues with the hand placement.

The next issue I had with it is that is does not secure the iPad in place when in use. There is a little tab that you flip up and you can then stand the iPad up against this tab. The bottom of the iPad rests in a groove behind the keyboard. This puts the screen at a nice angle for typing, but unless you are on a flat stable surface, you can and will drop your iPad out of the cradle.. Ask me how I know!! This case is not ideal for those who want to type on their laps. It could really use some type of locking strap to hold the iPad in place. Now, if you plan to always be at a desk or table when you use it, then it works very well! But if you hope to use this while on the morning train, or in the passenger seat of a car, you will be a bit disappointed. Being the forever tinkerer that I am, I may try to come up with a method of securing the iPad to the case when in use.

Beyond the issue of it not being secured, I must say I am really impressed with the ZaggMate. I have looked at various other models and the fit and finish of the ZaggMate is leaps and bounds over the current competition. I would however, like to see them address the couple of issues I have mentioned. Would I buy it again? Yes i think I would. If you are the type who wants a keyboard with a built in case, I would get this one. But remember, you either need to use it at a desk, or be very very careful not to drop your iPad out of the cradle, when you shift positions and it is on your lap. The ZaggMate iPad Keyboard did live up to my expectations.. It actually surpassed them.

Typed on my iPad, using the ZaggMate Keyboard

Source: ZaggMate