Logitech Ultra-thin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air review

Apple’s iPad Air is thinner, smaller, lighter and more powerful than earlier iPads.

Smaller means third-party add-on makers like Logitech either have to rework existing keyboard cover designs, come up with something new or miss out on potential business.

Logitech chose the first option. The Ultra-thin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air is suitably slim and lightweight. It is less than 10mm thick and a little over 400 grams.

The keyboard fits snugly as an iPad Air cover and protects the screen but not the rear of the tablet.

Like a laptop

At NZ$129 it seem expensive yet it turns the iPad Air into a powerful device. The pair can do 90 percent of the work a laptop does yet in a smaller, elegant package.

Together an iPad Air plus Ultra-thin Keyboard weigh a rounding error under 800g. If you want a comparison, for what it’s worth that’s about 120g less than a Microsoft Surface 2 coupled with the Type Cover 2.

When used as a cover, the keyboard attaches to the iPad with magnets like a conventional Apple cover. In keyboard mode, you sit the iPad in a groove just above the keys and then connect the two with Bluetooth.

Bluetooth pairing is simple, you just press a button then change the settings in your iPad’s settings.

Cramped typing, but that’s not too bad

My only criticism is that the tiny keys feel a little cramped. That’s mainly a function of the size and in practice I can type away with only the odd miskey.

Logitech says the battery lasts for six months. I’ve only had the keyboard three months and it still chugs away so we’re not near testing that limit yet.

Overall, Logitech has come up with an elegant pairing. Its close to what I’d imagine Apple would come up with if it created its own keyboard for the device.

How much do I like it? Immediately after testing this model, I went out and bought Logitech Ultra-thin Keyboards for the other iPads in the Bennett household.