I bought two keyboard cases to test out with my iPad Mini 4. The new Logitech Focus and the Zagg Slim Book for the Mini 4.
I'll get right to it. Both of these are bad cases but for very different reasons.
The Zagg has an amazing keyboard. It's backlit, although considering the brightness of the iPad I'm not sure why you'd really need to use that all that often. But the key spacing is gracious, the travel fully acceptable and the keys are pretty much all where they need to be. As a keyboard, it's great.
As a keyboard + case combo, it's the worst piece of craptastic engineering I've ever seen.
The unit ships with a plastic cover for the iPad Mini 4. You pop it on the back of your Mini and then you can easily use the Mini 4 without the keyboard and still have the back protected, or just simply slide it into the hinge mechanism of the keyboard and you've got a nice little laptop form factor. But both the plastic for the hinge and the plastic for the back cover are horribly designed. Extremely brittle, the hinge literally cracked the first time I opened the unit. The case fits the Mini 4 very rarely....I actually returned it 3 times before I got one that would snap on fully to the Mini 4. I highly suspect Zagg made these from pre-production releases of the Mini 4. And once you DO manage to get one to fit, it starts to crack away in small chunks almost immediately. Less than two days of use and I had all four corners cracked and the entire bottom breaking off in little pieces. Terrible, terrible quality for a $120 device.
I contacted Zagg (I had been buying/returning from BB) and they offered to send me a new one. So I accepted...and that one also did NOT fit the Mini 4 naked.
Great concept, absolutely horrid implementation. Do not buy.
Now for the Logitech Focus....the case fits nicely, the keyboard works well. You only get one angle to work with, unlike my older Belkin keyboard/case model, and that angle may or may not work well for you. And while the keys are nice with little cupping features, they are spaced together very closely and some don't register all that well (I'm looking at YOU Shift key). But compared to the Zagg, it's at least a functional unit. The Mini is nicely protected, the case outer material is durable and textured well, and the unit properly turns off the iPad when you close the lid. It's also cheaper than the Zagg by a good $40 (it was on sale at BB this past week).
So for now....the Focus will be my keeper until/unless Belkin comes out with their older unit updated for the Mini 4.
I'll get right to it. Both of these are bad cases but for very different reasons.
The Zagg has an amazing keyboard. It's backlit, although considering the brightness of the iPad I'm not sure why you'd really need to use that all that often. But the key spacing is gracious, the travel fully acceptable and the keys are pretty much all where they need to be. As a keyboard, it's great.
As a keyboard + case combo, it's the worst piece of craptastic engineering I've ever seen.
The unit ships with a plastic cover for the iPad Mini 4. You pop it on the back of your Mini and then you can easily use the Mini 4 without the keyboard and still have the back protected, or just simply slide it into the hinge mechanism of the keyboard and you've got a nice little laptop form factor. But both the plastic for the hinge and the plastic for the back cover are horribly designed. Extremely brittle, the hinge literally cracked the first time I opened the unit. The case fits the Mini 4 very rarely....I actually returned it 3 times before I got one that would snap on fully to the Mini 4. I highly suspect Zagg made these from pre-production releases of the Mini 4. And once you DO manage to get one to fit, it starts to crack away in small chunks almost immediately. Less than two days of use and I had all four corners cracked and the entire bottom breaking off in little pieces. Terrible, terrible quality for a $120 device.
I contacted Zagg (I had been buying/returning from BB) and they offered to send me a new one. So I accepted...and that one also did NOT fit the Mini 4 naked.
Great concept, absolutely horrid implementation. Do not buy.
Now for the Logitech Focus....the case fits nicely, the keyboard works well. You only get one angle to work with, unlike my older Belkin keyboard/case model, and that angle may or may not work well for you. And while the keys are nice with little cupping features, they are spaced together very closely and some don't register all that well (I'm looking at YOU Shift key). But compared to the Zagg, it's at least a functional unit. The Mini is nicely protected, the case outer material is durable and textured well, and the unit properly turns off the iPad when you close the lid. It's also cheaper than the Zagg by a good $40 (it was on sale at BB this past week).
So for now....the Focus will be my keeper until/unless Belkin comes out with their older unit updated for the Mini 4.
