Turn Your iPad Into A Mini MacBook!
In my humble opinion, the BrydgeAir iPad keyboard case may be one of the best iPad Air keyboard cases you can get for your iPad. It’s an aluminum Bluetooth keyboard made for the iPad Air and the iPad Air 2. I’ll give you my pros, cons, final verdict and then you be the judge.
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If you’ve seen or read any of my other iPhone or iPad accessory reviews, then you know that I will use a product either weeks or sometimes even months before I do an un-boxing. I’ve used this case a little over 6 months, so I think it’s fair to say that I’ve gotten to know this Bluetooth iPad keyboard quite well.
What’s inside the box?
The box comes equipped with the keyboard, charging cable, warranty and product information card, and mine came with adapters for my iPad Air 2 to accommodate for it’s thinness. I have a Clearcoat screen protector on the front and back of my iPad Air 2, so mine fit great even without the adapters.
Now, this keyboard is just one piece, in fact it will be the bottom piece that attaches to your iPad Air similar to a Smart Case, well sort of.
At first glance, it’s very thin. One of the other things that I like about this keyboard is that it’s made of solid aluminum. I really like that because I’ve had iPad Air keyboards in the past that have been made of plastic and that wasn’t really a good look for me. It seemed like those cases attracted scratches like sh*t attracts flies.
It’s also got built-in speakers that are supposed to amplify sound, backlit keys and 180-degree hinge. The folks at Brydge say that it’s “lighter than an 11″ MacBook Air when it’s paired with the iPad Air”.
The power, keyboard and Bluetooth pairing buttons are located in the front of the case on the left hand side and they are extremely easy to both access and pair with your iPad. Also on that same side near the corner, you have the charging port. The BrydgeAir is said to be able to go up to 3 months in between charges and I’ve found this to be true, I’ve only had to charge it once since my purchase.
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Installation of the BrydgeAir is as easy as it gets. The first thing you want to do is pull up the hinges, attach the adapters (if needed), then insert your iPad in between the hinges on both sides. Once installed, it looks just like a a mini MacBook and that’s another one of the reasons that I really like this case!
Pairing
To pair the BrydgeAir you’ll need to pair the keyboard and the speakers separately. In order to pair the keyboard, open Settings on your iPad and scroll to Bluetooth. Next hold down the keyboard button located on the front of the case until you see it appear under ‘Other Devices’. Click on “BrydgeAir Keyboard and it will connect to your iPad.
To pair the speakers, you’ll hold the speaker button in the front of the case until you hear an electronic tone. Once that happens, it’ll pair on its own.
Keyboard Functions
Let’s quickly go over some of the key functions of this case. the top row keys of the iPad keyboard case are setup pretty similar to a MacBook. You’ve got your Home key, next to that you’ve got your Lock Screen key, so if you hit that it will turn off your iPad. You’ve also got the Backlit keys button which features 3 levels of brightness. You can control the brightness levels of your iPad screen and also access the iPad keyboard if needed. There’s also the Rewind, Play/Pause, Forward, and Volume keys as well. Another cool keyboard key is the Siri key located on the bottom left side of the keyboard (it makes it really easy to access Siri).
Pros
Now let’s get into what I really like about this Brydgeair iPad keyboard case.
- The looks, this thing looks like a mini MacBook and it’s also pretty lightweight.
- It’s made of solid aluminum, front and back so it’s solid.
- It’s easy to set up and pair.
- The battery life. It’s says up to 3 months on the box and I’ve only had to charge it once in about 6 months.
- 180 degree angle. This is another huge thing for me, especially when typing, I like to type from different angles, this thing bends 180 degrees! On some of my previous iPad keyboard cases, although they were good, they just couldn’t give me that range of motion.
- The backlit keys–I love that aspect of it! They’re spaced out very nicely, well built and there are 3 levels of brightness.
Cons
Now, let’s talk about a couple of things that I didn’t like about the Brydgeair.
- The first thing is that the 2 little rubber bumpers on the front corner of the case keep coming off. This is my second time ordering these from the manufacturer.
The good news is they answer their emails very quickly. The bad news is that it ships from overseas, so it takes about 10 days before you get them. It’s kind of minor because it doesn’t impact the use of the keyboard just the aesthetics and I didn’t notice any scratching on my iPad because the bumpers were missing. - The price is another downside to the case, this thing is $169 although sometimes you can find it on sale for $149.
- Slow shipping, it took around 2 weeks for me to get the iPad keyboard after I placed my order. I’m one of those people that want my stuff like yesterday. That was a minus, but once I received it, I was so glad. They say, “Good things are worth waiting for.”
- The other thing that I don’t like about this case, is that I can’t (when I have this case on) pull up my Control Center. To solve that issue I use the AssistiveTouch feature. You can learn how to enable that by clicking here.
- There’s a little lag when you start typing. I’ve noticed this with other Bluetooth keyboards as well so I don’t think this is something exclusive to the BrydgeAir.
That wraps it up guys! I love this keyboard and I’m giving it thumbs up all the way, I would buy another one in a heartbeat! Have you tried the BrydgeAir iPad keyboard case? If so, let me know what you think in the comments below. Also what’s a ‘must have’ feature that you’d want in a Bluetooth iPad keyboard case?