Brydge 12.9 Max Plus overview: One of the best Apple Magic Keyboard various which will even beat Apple

After shifting from my

Z Fold 3

 to an

iPhone 13 Pro Max

 at the start of the year, I’ve been further exploring the Apple ecosystem with

Apple Watch Series 7

 and

iPad Pro 12.9

 purchases. The iPad is the largest iPad I have ever owned and is proving to be a fantastic device for work, entertainment, reading, and so much more. ZDNet’s Jason Cipriani is a diehard iPad Professional consumer, and I’m studying the best way to optimize my expertise along with his articles.

For the previous month, I’ve been testing the

Brydge 12.9 Max Plus wireless keyboard case with trackpad

 and people that see me working away on the combo think I have a slick new laptop under my fingers. The keyboard takes full advantage of the size of the

iPad Pro 12.9

 and has the largest trackpad I’ve ever used on any type of computer. The hinge and connection design has evolved over the years, and this new keyboard offers an elegant solution for iPad users.

The Brydge 12.9 Max Plus is on the market for $249.99 in House Grey, Silver, and White. It’s appropriate with third, 4th, and fifth technology iPad Professional 12.9-inch fashions. Brydge additionally makes the identical keyboard in an 11-inch measurement for iPad Professional 11 and the latest

iPad Air

 models, available for $199.99.

Hardware

To use the keyboard, simply set down the bottom into the opening above the long hinge and then set the back of the iPad against the thick plastic back panel of the keyboard. Brydge calls this new design its SnapFit Case, where strong magnets secure your iPad Pro in place on the upper panel. There are small “wings” on either side up near the top of the iPad, so you can quickly and easily grab your iPad and then press back the wings while lifting your

iPad

 out for tablet use.

Unlike Brydge keyboards I used in the past where secure hefty hinges were built to cradle your tablet, the back panel holds the iPad in place while a long hinge, extending about nine inches, serves to support the iPad from something like 0 to 135 degrees for an optimal viewing experience. The hinge is well built and keeps your iPad secure and positioned throughout the range.

There is no Smart Connector on board like you find with official Apple keyboards. Still, Brydge has incorporated Bluetooth 5.0 with its intelligent Instant-On technology to create an experience that matches the Smart Connector performance for instant connectivity for up to four hours. You can watch the side-by-side video on the Brydge website and see the same performance with both technologies.

Brydge advertises up to three months of battery life with two hours of use without backlighting per day. The thing is, this keyboard turns your iPad into a MacBook Pro alternative, and you will likely find yourself using it for much more than two hours a day. Even if you use it for six hours a day, you should still get about a month of use out of it. In addition, both the iPad Pro and the Brydge 12.9 Max Plus have USB-C ports for charging, so it is convenient to charge up both with the same cable and charger. Both USB-C ports are found on the right side when the iPad is in landscape orientation.

The keyboard is constructed of brushed aluminum with a weight of 970g (2.1lbs). The Space Gray one is exactly the same color as my Space Gray iPad Pro 12.9, so they were clearly built for each other. The keys are black with white lettering.

There are four rubber feet on the bottom to keep the keyboard and your iPad from moving around a flat surface. There are also two small rubber pads just below the keyboard so that the iPad display rests on this without touching the trackpad in the closed position.

Also: Best iPad 2022: iPad Air, Pro, and Mini models compared

The keys are set down into the keyboard backside, so when your iPad is closed within the cowl, the keys usually are not urgent towards the iPad show. There may be ample spacing of the keys and a strong tactile really feel as you press down on every key. Six rows of keys are discovered on the keyboard, together with a high row of shorter keys for varied features, together with keyboard backlighting (three ranges can be found), show brightness controls, playback controls, quantity controls, and extra.

Utilizing the keyboard

The large trackpad (5.5 inches by 3.3 inches) is without doubt one of the most blatant options of the keyboard, and you need to spend a while making an attempt them out and incorporating them into your common utilization. After utilizing them for some time, you’ll come to search out the keyboard indispensable for getting work carried out in your iPad Professional 12.9.

The next multi-touch gestures are supported:

• Two-finger swipe proper: Opens In the present day view
• In an open app, three fingers swipe left or proper: Switches between open apps
• Two fingers pinch: Zooms out and in
• Swipe up with three fingers: Opens the app switcher
• Swipe two fingers up or down: Scrolls up and down the display screen
• Transfer the pointer to the underside of the show: Opens up the launch bar
• Transfer the pointer down off the show: Takes you to the House display screen
• Swipe the pointer to the highest proper nook: Opens the Management Middle
• Swipe down with two fingers: Opens Search

With most of those gestures, performing the gesture a second time reverses the motion. For instance, a three-finger swipe up opens the app switcher and one other three-finger swipe up whereas it’s open closes the app switcher.

Brydge additionally gives the Brydge Join utility to your iPad in an effort to preserve the keyboard up to date with the newest firmware. I’ve seen one replace since I’ve been testing the keyboard however am unaware of precisely what adjustments had been made with the replace.

Additionally: Apple iPad Pro (2021) review: Impressively powerful, but the hardware is only part of the story

Utilization experiences and conclusions

The Brydge 12.9 Max Plus keyboard is designed to enhance the productiveness of your iPad expertise in laptop computer configuration. It additionally has a brand new hinge SnapFit Case design that permits you to rapidly and simply take away the iPad for pill use after which return it to keyboard use in seconds. The Bluetooth efficiency has been flawless, and if I hadn’t been the one which made the preliminary reference to my iPad, I’d have thought that Brydge was utilizing the Apple Good Connector know-how.

The Brydge stays secure in common use, however in case you press the highest again to the total 135-degree angle, you may even see the keyboard elevate up a bit. For those who spend numerous time tapping away on the show with the iPad within the keyboard, then you may even see some tipping. When utilizing the keyboard, you need to attempt to spend more often than not utilizing the keyboard and the trackpad to navigate on the iPad.

The massive trackpad may be very good to make use of with a number of finger gestures, however it’s fascinating to see that press in clicks don’t actually work on the highest third of the trackpad. On condition that I take advantage of have a tendency to make use of my thumb to press down click on, it has not been a problem in every day utilization however is one thing to concentrate on on the trackpad.

The pure comparability that will likely be made right here is between the Apple Magic Keyboard case and the Brydge 12.9 Max Plus. The Apple keyboard is $100 dearer, half a pound lighter makes use of the Apple Good Connector, has a extra restricted vary of viewing angles, and has much less keyboard journey. The Brydge keyboard additionally has a full row of perform keys to manage widespread settings and a trackpad that appears to be thrice the scale of the Apple Magic Keyboard. The efficiency and responsiveness of the keyboards is similar, regardless of the totally different connection applied sciences. Whereas Apple’s keyboard has a cool floating design and is lighter, the Brydge keyboard provides extra and is $100 cheaper.

Some folks rapidly leap to a conclusion of the Brydge keyboard on account of using Bluetooth, however the firm had labored to create a considerably improved expertise to maintain the iPad and keyboard linked for as much as 4 hours with none giant measurable drain on the battery of the units. If you return to the keyboard inside that 4 hour interval, a easy faucet on the trackpad wakes up the iPad, and off you go. Don’t let using Bluetooth deter you from contemplating the Brydge keyboard, however take a look at the scale, weight, key journey, construct high quality, and different facets as you make your alternative of a keyboard to your iPad.