Kensington's KeyFolio carries iPad and keyboard with style

 

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The iPad does a lot more than play video games or stream movies. It's an incredibly portable device for trading emails and getting some work done while you're on the go. Of course, if you need to do any serious writing on your iPad, you'll end up needing a keyboard. It's not that the on-screen keyboard doesn't work well; it's just that banging away at that unyielding glass screen will eventually take a toll on your fingertips. For long sessions of writing, communication, and plain old work, a traditional, laptop-style keyboard can't be beat.

The Kensington KeyFolio Expert for iPad not only provides you with a convenient keyboard, but it also serves double duty as a case and an iPad stand. Let's talk about how the KeyFolio performs when you wrap it all together. The KeyFolio Expert connects to your iPad through Bluetooth, so you won't need to carry any extra cables or wires around with you.

A more capable successor to the Smart Cover

The KeyFolio Expert feels like a spiritual, if not literal, successor to Apple's own Smart Cover. Most of the case is made from black microfiber, smooth and soft to the touch with a textured, attractive appearance. That's good. When closed, the KeyFolio Expert wraps entirely around your iPad, protecting it from floating dust and accidental dings and bumps.

The downside is that the microfiber material does exactly what microfiber does best — it collects dust and specks like a magnet. When I used the KeyFolio Expert in sunlight, I could literally watch dust motes leap across the room to land on the cover. Any time you use the KeyFolio Expert on a dusty table, you're likely to pick up little bits and specks from the table surface. To be fair, the KeyFolio Expert shares this problem Apple's Smart Cover. Thankfully, it doesn't take much work to remove dust from the KeyFolio.

Turning your iPad into a laptop

The KeyFolio Expert enjoys the same fold-and-customize style of iPad stand as the Smart Cover. Folding the segmented cover allows you to adjust the stand to your own perfect angle. In fact, the KeyFolio Expert is so good at this, your iPad quickly ends up feeling like a miniature laptop. That feeling is so strong that I found myself regularly looking for a trackpad around the keyboard. Of course, the iPad doesn't have one, but I still appreciate the effectiveness of the layout. You will probably use the case most often as a business tool when writing, but the folding cover is equally good as a media stand. You can really get the iPad to any angle you need.

How's the keyboard?

Ultimately, you buy an accessory like this for the keyboard, and the KeyFolio's keyboard itself is packed with features and shortcut keys. The keyboard is the appropriate size for an iPad, so it's about the same width as the keyboard you would find on a netbook. If you're picking up the KeyFolio Expert as an upgrade from writing on a netbook, you might find the extra room a luxury. If you're accustomed to the keyboard of a full-sized laptop, the KeyFolio Expert will take some getting used to.