Now that Apple has finally released excellent cursor support for the iPad, there are now
a lot of people looking to buy an iPad Pro to use it like a laptop, and by far the best
way to do this is to buy a keyboard case that features a built-in trackpad.
And for that, you’re gonna want to choose between Apple’s Magic Keyboard case and
the brand new Brydge Pro+, since they’re both very high quality products that match
up to the quality of the iPad Pro.
Now here is where it gets tricky, you can get the Brydge Pro+ for $100 cheaper than
the Magic Keyboard Case, and by quickly glancing at the spec sheet, it seems like it actually
gets you the same features as Apple’s Magic Keyboard, and maybe even more, so it’s a
no brainer, right?
Well, here’s the honest truth about the Brydge Pro+ keyboard case for the iPad Pro.
The all-metal design is nice and it makes it feel like a high-quality MacBook.
The hinge design is pretty awesome since you have a much wider 0-180 degrees of angle adjustability,
so that’s great. The keyboard also feels excellent and works very well.
The backlighting options work great, and you even get the top row of function keys that
are important to a lot of people, and that’s something you don’t get with the Magic Keyboard
case.
It also has a trackpad, albeit a bit smaller than the one on the Magic Keyboard, but it’s
definitely there, so it seems to be more feature-rich for a much better price.
However, the truth is that there is a major flaw with this keyboard, and it happens to
be the most important feature of this keyboard, and that’s the trackpad support.
And it’s not the fact that the Brydge Pro+’s trackpad uses a diving board design, so it
isn’t as nice to click as the Magic Keyboards unique floating trackpad design which gives
you a much easier to click feel anywhere on the trackpad, even near the top, which is
close to impossible to click on the Brydge.
It also has nothing to do with the trackpad’s hardware, since it uses a glass touchpad just
like the Magic Keyboard.
The major flaw is actually the cursor and trackpad software support that is extremely
lacking compared to the Magic Keyboard case, and yes, this is after the brand new firmware
update that just got released for the Brydge Pro+.
For example, pinch to zoom does not work on the Brydge, at all, so you can’t zoom into
photos, you can’t zoom out to exit full screen mode on a YouTube video, you can’t
zoom in to view small text on a webpage, and you can’t zoom out to view and switch between
tabs in Safari.
With the Magic keyboard, these pinch to zoom scenarios work perfectly.
Another issue is that swiping side to side between home screen pages is very glitchy.
A lot of the time, one swipe registers as two, so it entirely skips over a page. And
sometimes, it doesn’t even register at all, so you have to try to swipe again.
With the Magic Keyboard, it registers every time.
Another issue is when you’re trying to scroll through web pages or apps like facebook, and
the scrolling is very inconsistent. It scrolls in large chunks where it speeds up and quickly
stops, and it’s hard to control the scrolling speed.
Whereas with the Magic Keyboard, scrolling is incredibly smooth, so you can read and
scan the page as you scroll, and you can easily control how fast or slow you want to scroll,
as well as being able to easily switch directions.
But the most important trackpad feature that you don’t get on the Brydge is three finger
gesture support.
For example, swipe up with three fingers on the Magic Keyboard to instantly get to the
home screen. Swipe up and stop to get to the app switcher. And swipe left and right with
three fingers to instantly switch between apps so you don’t even have to use the app
switcher.
These are the most important gestures if you want to boost productivity while using your
iPad Pro, and just like pinch to zoom, you simply don’t get those features on the Brydge
Pro+.
And on top of that, the entire trackpad experience isn’t smooth like you expected it to be
when you bought it, with swipes sometimes not registering and scrolling and swiping
not being half as smooth as it should be.
Now if you’re wondering why there is such a big difference between the two, I have two
reasons why I think the Brydge Pro+’s trackpad support is so flawed.
The first reason is the fact that the Brydge uses bluetooth to connect to the iPad Pro
compared to Apple’s Smart Connector which comes on the Magic Keyboard, which basically
makes a direct, lag-free and very reliable connection between it and the iPad Pro.
And of course, bluetooth on the Brydge uses a wireless connection which introduces lag
and reliability issues, which is why some swipes and gestures simply don’t register
each and every time like they do on the Magic Keyboard case.
And since the Brydge doesn’t use the smart connector, it has to have a built-in battery
which needs to be recharged or else it won’t work at all.
So that’s one reason why the trackpad support is flawed, but the even bigger deal that I
think a lot of people are underestimating is the fact that Brydge does not have access
to the same trackpad support API’s that Apple made for the Magic keyboard.
Yes, Brydge did mention that they will continue to make the trackpad work better with future
firmware updates, but if they could have added three finger gesture support and pinch to
zoom, they would have done it already in this new firmware update that just got released,
but they didn’t, because they can’t.
Apple has to give them access to these unique API’s, and doing this would make the Brydge
Pro+ a much better value, and ultimately, less people will buy Apple’s Magic Keyboard
case, and that would obviously be bad for Apple, so don’t expect the Brydge to get
these trackpad features any time soon, or ever.
This also forces Brydge to have to write their own custom software based on the old API’s
that they have access to, which is why the swiping and scrolling isn’t nearly as smooth
as on the Magic Keyboard.
Now where it gets really interesting is when you look at the new Logitech Combo Touch keyboard
case for the iPad and the iPad Air.
That keyboard uses the Smart connector, and it gets all of the trackpad features like
smooth scrolling, pinch to zoom and three finger gestures.
The only reason Logitech can do this is because they have a deal with Apple, and they pay
Apple a licensing fee to use the Smart Connector on that keyboard case.
And if you’re wondering why Logitech doesn’t make one of these for the iPad Pro, it’s
probably part of the deal because Apple wants the Magic Keyboard case to be the only high
end option that gets perfect trackpad support thanks to the Smart Connector.
So don’t expect Logitech to come out with a Combo Touch for the iPad Pro, and don’t
expect Apple to give Brydge the access to their new trackpad API’s.
The truth about the Brydge Pro+ keyboard case is that the trackpad will most likely never
be as good as the trackpad on the Magic Keyboard case, so if you care about the trackpad, invest
the extra $100 into the Magic Keyboard and enjoy perfect scrolling, all of the gestures
you’ll need, and the rest of the features we discuss in our full review which you can
check out after this video.
But if you don’t really care that much about the trackpad, we strongly suggest buying the
much cheaper Brydge Pro keyboard case that doesn’t have a trackpad, which is currently
on sale for only $100 on Amazon.
And if you do want a trackpad but can’t afford the Magic Keyboard, you can go for
the new Brydge Pro+, just don’t expect to get an excellent trackpad experience.
So whichever option you choose, we’ll have links in the description to the best deals
on each of these keyboard cases.
And if this review helped you out, go ahead and click the circle above to subscribe for
more videos like this one. And be sure to check out our review of the Magic keyboard
right over there. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you in the next one!