Before iPad Pro, our only choice to use physical keyboard with iPad is by using Bluetooth connection. There are tons of Bluetooth keyboard products available, from the cheap non-branded products to the ones made by world-famous brands including Microsoft. Using Bluetooth keyboard with iPad was not bad, but it also has its quirk and annoyances. Disconnection and the slight waiting time on re-connection are the ones immediately come into my mind.

iPad Pro has special connector on its side to connect with smart keyboards without the issues of wireless connection. There are only a few products available for this new connector, but I believe more third party products will appear later. My choice goes to Apple’s own Smart Keyboard that also doubles as iPad cover. As a cover, this keyboard protects the screen of our iPad, but it does not protect the back side. There are many third party cases out there that are compatible with Smart Cover and could protect the back side.

Apple Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro 10.5″ connects using strong magnetic to the left side of our iPad. The keyboard is not really full-sized keyboard, but it’s good enough for me to get comfortable within few minutes of first use. The material for the keyboard surface uses custom-woven fabric coated in a water-resistant finish. It feels good on my finger and it’s nice to know that it would survive minor water accidents. The keys don’t actually have real spring mechanism, but it feels close enough thanks to spring-like tension for each key made possible from the custom nylon fabric.

This keyboard weighs 237 gr, reasonably lightweight for its purposes and does not feel overly bulky. Thanks to interesting design choice, the keyboard folds facing the cover when not used, so we don’t have the issues of the keys leaving marks on iPad screen. There’s a magnetic line on top of the keys allowing the cover to fold into typing position with strong magnetic attachment. I could even type using my iPad on my lap when this Smart Keyboard is folded in “Type” position. There’s another folding style called “Watch”, which is good to give us good angle to watch movies in our iPad.

I like the built-in emoji key on the bottom left of the keyboard, allowing me to quickly toggle emoji screen easily. Sure I’ll have to touch the screen anyway to choose the emoji, but so far having the key on my keyboard was proven to speed up the process a little bit.

One thing I love the most is the fact that my keyboard now reacts instantly as soon as I type something. There is no connection issue and no waiting time. Even half second waiting time could feel annoying when we’re in full productive mindset and need to do fast multitasking. Since this is no Bluetooth, there is no battery to worry about and there is no charging ever. It gets the power directly from the smart connector and so far I did not notice any significant impact to my iPad Pro’s battery life.

Definitely a really good product to complement iPad Pro. Too bad they only offer it in one color. More color choices would have made this more attractive. Admittedly, this color is not too bad either and it does look somewhat professional. Love my new Smart Keyboard. Definitely will keep it attached to my iPad Pro.