Brydge has announced the Brydge Pro+ keyboard for the 12.9-inch (3rd Gen) and 11-inch iPad Pro that features an integrated multi-touch trackpad.
The Brydge Pro+ includes an oversized trackpad that is optimized to make the most out of iPadOS’s Assistive Touch features. Available for the 12.9-inch and 11-inch iPad Pro models and launching in Space Gray, the Brydge Pro+ is engineered from machined aluminum to match in design, quality, and color of the iPad Pro. LED Backlit keys provide the ultimate typing experience in low to no light conditions. 3 levels of back light to meet your visibility demands.
The Brydge 11.0 Pro+ will retail for $199.99.
The Brydge 12.9 Pro+ will retial for $229.99.
More info here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier this morning, here’s yet another fine example of what we wrote about back in 2017:
We find that there are many older users longing to make iPad work like a laptop, because that’s what they know.
Take a look at a twelve-year-old who’s only really ever used an iPad for personal computing. It’s an eyeopener. It’s like looking into the future.
The answer isn’t to try to make the iPad into a MacBook. The answer is to provide all the tools possible in iOS for developers to make robust apps that can take advantage of the multi-touch paradigm. — MacDailyNews, May 16, 2017
I would be embarrassed to show you all the cases I’ve tried, just to finally make my way back to the APPLE iPad/Keyboard case. There is just something about how it maintains the sleekness and mobility of the hyper-thin devices. Everything else just adds bulk. Most other cases add more protection as well.
I could see the Brydge keyboard if you’re an iPad only set up. You could keep the Brydge setup for your office and use the Apple Keyboard cover for mobility, but that’s like $400 worth of keyboards.
Hey, MP. Off-topic, but I meant to ask you your opinion on the new Mac Pro. Not so much about its performance, but you were worried that Apple trying to “understand workflow” was going to result in a probably-shitty machine. Are you pleasantly surprised with the end result or still disappointed?
All those years of iPad, iOS and keyboard evolution and in the end you come full circle to a Frankenstein Macbook Pro, the original (especially the 16″) is still better than the mish-mash.
Re MDN take: some of us make our living with words. Writing anything much longer than a tweet on a virtual keyboard is excruciatingly slow if you are a touch typist. Hence the market for keyboards, pointing devices and the like. The raw iPad is wonderful for what 12-year-olds mostly do, and even for content creators most of the time. Not even your enlightened 12-year-old would want to use it without a keyboard to write a novel, though.
I wouldn’t say it’s excruciatingly slow, especially with the text popping up that helps to finish your text AND the autocorrecting which is a little bit better than the last time I tried screen typing. As I type more and more I trust that my fingers know where they are (delete key and letter p) and just type. Number row is still harder, but then I never learned to touch type number row LOL
Only thing I corrected above was my parens