Apple's iPad Keyboard Dock Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 13, 2010 2:35 AM ESTThe Keyboard & Using it
Setup of the keyboard dock is simple, it is just a dock with a keyboard attached to it. Slide the iPad on and everything is good to go. The OS was designed around the keyboard. The keyboard itself is a trimmed down version of Apple's standard aluminum keyboard that you get with desktop Macs. If you're a fan of the chiclet design, you get great tactile feedback and overall one of the best keyboards out there in my opinion. I'm also a fan of Lenovo's ThinkPad keyboards if that helps put my opinion into perspective.
The lock key on the keyboard immediately locks the iPad. Tap it again to unlock. There's a home key and a search key. You can adjust brightness, skip between songs in the iPod app, adjust/mute volume and even bring up the virtual keyboard by hitting one of the top row of function keys.
Many keyboard shortcuts work. Cmd + X/C/V still lets you cut/copy/paste. The keyboard has arrow keys so you can shift-select text and delete/copy/move it. Even some OS X keyboard shortcuts work. Cmd + Up/Down will move your cursor to the very top or bottom of a document. Others don't translate quite as well. For example, hitting option + delete will delete the first word to the left of your cursor. Unlike in OS X however, it will also delete the preceding space. Let's say I delete the word "something" in the following sentence using the option + delete keystroke: "The quick brown fox did something". In OS X my cursor would end up one space away from the last d in did. On the iPad, my cursor would be right next to the last d.
Deleting the space that preceded the word is silly. I'm guessing if you have to delete an entire word it's because you want to use a different one, not because you want to make the previous word longer or end the sentence.
Formatting shortcuts are absent as well. Want to bold text? Cmd + B won't do anything for you in Pages. You'll have to tap the B button at the top of the screen.
With the physical keyboard you retain the iPad's limited autocorrect functionality however I found myself generally typing faster than the suggested words had the chance to appear. For example, if you type netbook the iPad will by default suggest "net book". With the keyboard dock, if I want to type netbook and not have it autoreplaced with net book I have to type the word then wait a fraction of a second for the suggestion, then tap the X button to close out the suggestion and hit space to go on. If I just type at regular speed the iPad won't even have the opportunity to pop up the net book suggestion before I hit space, which means the OS will assume I wanted the correction and substitute it in for me. It's frustrating but this is one reason I'm thankful Apple toned down the autocorrect on the iPad.
That's not the only autosubstitution problem I found. In Pages if you put two spaces after a word using the virtual keyboard the app will automatically end the previous sentence with a period and begin a new one. Do the same with the physical keyboard and there's no period. Obviously you don't need the little shortcuts as much with a physical keyboard, but it's annoying.
More important than the missing auto-period is the fact that there's no easy way to switch between apps using the keyboard dock. Cmd + tab doesn't do anything (perhaps it will in OS 4?) so you're left with hitting the home key, tapping a new app and going from there.
You also can't do things like use the arrow keys to scroll through a web page and Cmd+L won't let you type in a new URL in Safari. There's no reply to email shortcut either. Despite the addition of a physical keyboard, the iPad is still all about a touch interface. Thankfully the screen isn't very far away from your hands given that it's docked about a centimeter away from the top of the keyboard.
The iPad Keyboard Dock (top) vs. Apple's Aluminum USB Keyboard (bottom)
Switching between the iPad's touchscreen and the physical keyboard actually felt more natural than I expected. I think it has a lot to do with the close proximity of your hands to the iPad while you're typing. Building the keyboard into the dock (or vice versa) was actually a very smart move in this sense. The whole thing, when assembled, works more like a mini iMac Touch rather than a silly tablet + keyboard combination. I'd say if you plan on making your iPad a permanent computing device in your life, the keyboard dock is perfect for getting work done while at home. At this screen size, I'd argue that a multitouch interface does work very well for a desktop. I do wonder how well it'd scale to a more iMac-sized device, but I smell potential.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the iPad keyboard dock is the fact that it doesn't work if you have your iPad in Apple's case. The dock connector can't make good contact with the port on the iPad. Meaning whenever you want to dock it, you have to take off the case and put it back on after you're done. This is a definite buzz kill for the grab and go folks.
And you'll need that case because the iPad keyboard dock only works in portrait mode. If you want to watch a full screen video on the iPad, you'll need the foldable case so you can prop it up in landscape mode. There are some elements of the whole keyboard dock setup that really do seem like Apple thought of everything. The keyboard shortcuts, the face that the virtual keyboard stays hidden when you have it connected. But then there are other obvious problems that weren't solved, like the issue of landscape mode and not being able to work with Apple's own case. My guess is that Apple thought of it but just saw the keyboard dock as a very focused device - for someone who wants to use their iPad for writing longer documents while retaining its portability.
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Exodite - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
What if there were some commonly available and widely used port standard that would allow a device such as the iPad to make use of any number of readily available keyboards, mice, printers etc.Oh wait...
A computer for someone that doesn't need a computer indeed.
I'm not an Apple and I can't see myself ever becoming one but I can see the point, and allure, of several of their devices. It takes a certain kind of user to enjoy an iPhone or Macbook but these devices have their niche well in hand.
I do not get the point of the iPad however.
It combines part mobile device, part media player, part computer and part eReader into a whole that somehow ends up being less than any of the former. And it does this while lacking any unique functionality and 'killer app' of its own.
What's the point?
Even more so when you add a peripheral such as this.
So it's a very limited, shiny and expensive desktop now?
I can build, or buy outright, a device with three times the functionality and power and a multitude of exotic connectivity such as USB, HDMI and card readers for half the price. Likely even less if push comes to shove.
Heck, if I were worried that all the massive functionality and resources available on a real, actual, computer would confuse poor granny I could install any number of dumbed-down-for-the-masses-interfaces on top of the OS to hide it.
I've tried my best but I'm really struggling to see the point of the iPad. To be fair that's not Apple's fault though, while the device could have been so much more I just don't think there's any place for a tablet computer at this time. Regardless of manufacturer, at that.
hughlle - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
all this for a keyboard. makes you wonder why companies don't just add a keyboard into the thing as standard. wait.Some1ne - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
Because they'd rather be able to force everyone to pay an extra $69 in order to use the only non-bluetooth keyboard that is actually compatible with the device. Because supporting all those other USB keyboards that everyone has lying around would have been too difficult. Because, you know, backwards compatibility and supporting industry standards just isn't cool anymore."It's too advanced to be compatible with anything else!"
Some1ne - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
Just noticed that all the articles that get posted here are tagged.Given that, how about implementing a feature that allows logged-in users to specify what tags that are/are not interested in seeing. That way, all the users who have no interest in Apple-related reviews don't have to see them at all. Probably the filter would have to be exclusion-based, such that users see everything until they explicitly say "do not show anything with this tag on it", as otherwise introducing new tags becomes problematic.
Should be simple enough to implement. You'd just need a new DB table to store the exception list, a minimal configuration UI to allow users to manage their list (like just a page listing all the tags that exist, with a checkbox next to each one), and some logic to do the filtering. The filtering step is simple enough that it should be doable in javascript (just set 'display: none' on any post which has an excluded tag), which means the server-side performance impact of this change would be negligible.
Anyways, just a thought. If such a feature existed, I would certainly use it to turn off anything with an "Apple" tag. I'm just not interested in such articles.
Hsuku - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
Thanks for a whole article dedicated to .. well, not very much. If you're going to actually review a keyboard and dock, why don't you get a little more technical with your reader base and supply comparisons such as the quality and size of the keyboard, key depth, key spring responsiveness and the like, instead of spending three pages saying, "It helps typing on a device on which it was terribly difficult to, but ignore the price and other negatives; it's just so cool!"A little hissing from the line out? Is that acceptable to you now? Few basic keyboard shortcuts?
And is it just me, or is actually reviewing this item seem a little bit over the top? I can't recollect a time when you reviewed my favourite ThinkPad Business Topload Case, or BlackBerry Multimedia Headset. You're actually reviewing a dock accessory, without providing technical details about the keyboard itself, and ignoring or accepting the line out faults and lack of common shortcuts. And you say you like it, no less. Why? Because this one necessary accessory makes using the iPad usable for what you want to do with it?
Have you sold out? Is this meant to be advertising in disguise?
I'm actually posting this because, honestly, I don't know what's going on with my favourite tech site.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - link
My apologies for not going deeper into the keyboard comparison - I just realized I didn't make it clear in the article but the keyboard here is virtually identical to Apple's standard aluminum keyboard, which in my opinion ranks up there with ThinkPad keyboards in terms of typing feel.I don't believe I ever stated that the hissing from the line out as acceptable, nor the missing keyboard shortcuts. I do like the device as a basic addition to the iPad that simply makes typing easier while at a desk, no more, no less. As I said in the review, it doesn't make the iPad any better for you if you aren't sold on the base product.
No article on AnandTech is ever advertising in disguise. I do not employ any sales people on staff, all ads are handled independently of content by a third party with no access to our editorial calendar. We publish what we want, when we want to :)
As I mentioned before, this article shares the top of the site with a number of other pieces including our Nehalem EX review. It takes no time or focus away from anything else we're working on and simply addresses a portion of our readers who might be interested in such a thing. It's not intended to harm anyone, just give iPad users access to the same sort of content we provide elsewhere :)
Take care,
Anand
Hsuku - Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - link
I hate to say this, but this isn't the norm in terms of your standard articles. Open up your Opteron and Nehalem EX review and put these two articles side by side: the differences are clear. There is clear and evident bias in the Apple article write-up, and none detectable for Intel/AMD. There are facts laid out for your readers concerning the new chips, and feelings concerning your new Apple iPad. The iPad just feels right? Why run SAP benchmarks at all? We could say this Opteron feels good and be done with it.There were numbers on your original iPad review itself, mixed in with your feelings. The feelings? They rubbed me the wrong way, but at least you catered in part to your primary (or did that change along the line?) audience with some benchmarking. This review doesn't cater to people who want to know the technical details. It tells me what I already know from the specifications. It doesn't dig to see what the cause of the line out issue is. Is this a standard Anandtech review or a blog?
I doubt I am in the minority on this site hoping for real meat in technical excellence. I have no qualms with Apple content -- I simply want it to be as technical as everything else, not just feel-good stuff. I don't want to know that "it just works," I want to know that you broke it down to show us this UI design is efficient, snappier, or what have you. Sure, add in that you like it, but I want to know why.
And that's what I come to this site for: the why. Why is this new chip doing better? Why should I opt for multiple rails on my power supply? Why is a monolithic chip design not the way to go? And then yes, I want to see the numbers as support for those statements.
I am upset, I admit. Heck, upset enough to rant twice, but at least we know it wasn't a temporary feeling. I am but a single reader, and I've been here for the last ten years (give or take) now. I read every article here, and I expect the majority of Anandtech's core fanbase (because that's what we are!) does. Yes, you've helped some fellow on his quest to purchase an iPad, but what about us folk that don't care to purchase, but still want to know every technical detail? Is your title now meaningless?
"Anandtech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News."
I need more analysis. I need data. I need the why. No one else does it -- or at least I'd given up on them when they demonstrated clear bias. Don't let the magic of Apple mar your methods; it's what's kept me here all this time.
AnnonymousCoward - Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - link
I totally agree that this belongs in the blog section. At least there used to be one; is there still a place for Anandtech writer blogs? It's not on the top bar.As if the iPad wasn't dumb enough, this keyboard took it to a new level of dumb. It forces 768x1024 res (that's less width than 800x600!). The first picture on the Final Words page makes it look like text is too small to read (and this is a "desktop writing station"??). You can't adjust the angle, and there's no portability, so why would anyone write on this thing at home as opposed to using their main rig? Hmmm, do I write on low profile keys and a 9.7" screen, or a real keyboard and a 30" screen. That is a real tough call. And it must be used on a desk since there's no way you could balance this on your lap or on a bed...but you can with laptops!
This thing doesn't even have a USB port, so good luck with transferring files. If I hand my iPad friend a flash stick, what does he have to do--use a desktop PC along with iTunes?
In a sense, iPad is to laptops as Segway is to bicycles. It's about versatility, cost, practicality, and novelty.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, April 15, 2010 - link
I do believe there's a difference between our Apple coverage and something like a CPU article. The OS is much more closed, the company less willing to give us access to engineers (believe me, we try).The trick to reviews like the iPad, Nexus One or other more consumer facing devices is to balance the user experience (feelings as you put it) with scientific benchmarking. That's why those reviews read differently than actual component reviews which are much further away from the user experience side of the spectrum.
Ultimately this is a keyboard, so the review leans more towards the user experience side rather than quantitative benchmarking.
There's a balance that must be struck for every type of review, but I'd argue that it's a moving target. As you pointed out, discussing user experience in an Opteron review doesn't make sense - but it does in a SSD vs. HDD article and user experience matters even more when you're talking about a smartphone, or something like the iPad.
This review is for users who've already decided upon the iPad as a platform they're interested in, it's not for everyone but it wasn't positioned as such either. I believe we provided the analysis and data you're looking for in the iPad review itself, this was simply something for those users who liked what they saw.
Take care,
Anand
Hsuku - Friday, April 16, 2010 - link
I agree there's a difference between your Apple coverage and your CPU article. However, the comparison you make is that, similar to SSDs/HDDs, it's about the user experience. User experience is not undefinable, hence why we can break it down to see the how and why, and the relevant benchmarks that give a good indication of how much a product can be appreciated.It's not magical. It's definable, and therefore testable.
I implore you, hold Apple in the same light. Define what that user experience special sauce is, break it down and attack it, whether it be consistency, fade timings or pre-cached user operation paths. I've already heard Apple's line of, "it just works." I come to Anandtech to know more.
As an aside, though, I wanted to say I appreciate your willingness to come out and butt heads with me. I sincerely hope my criticism is taken as constructive and doesn't come across as abrasive. And as always, I look forward to reading more of your articles.