Don’t want to be pedantic but I think you’re referring to the new Magic Keyboard, right? (The old folio without trackpad or backlit keyboard is called the “Smart Keyboard Folio” and the new product is called the “Magic Keyboard”).
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I bought one of the new Magic Keyboards for my wife. She has had her 12.9 since late 2018 and it is basically the only computer that she uses. I was impressed to see how quickly she started using the trackpad. She has mentioned that she didn’t realize how useful it would be and she has been very happy with the product thus far. Apart from the price, I think it is a great product as well. This is a running theme for Apple in general! 
When I have used her iPad in recent days I find myself thinking about how nice an iOS laptop might be. Given the rumored changes coming down the pike in Apple hardware this could be a real possibility. Adding a keyboard to the iPad makes it top heavy and a bit unwieldy when compared to a traditional laptop.
I think Siracusa said it best in last week’s episode of ATP. The title “Wobbly Goblin” says it all.
Here’s a link to the part of the episode where he talks about it: https://overcast.fm/+R7DWcwip8/33:25
I am disappointed, because it doesn’t protect the iPad’s edges sufficiently and forces you to use the iPad bare, if taken off the Magic Keyboard.
I have the same issue with the iPad Pro’s Folio Cases. And I do not think that having both, a Magic Keyboard and a Smart Folio case (or even a Smart Keyboard Folio) around is the solution.
I’ve only used the first generation iPad Pro (9.7") without a case and the edges were full of scratches and minor dents after just a short period of time using it at work, for presentations in seminar (especially on angled speaker desk, where the iPad has to rest on the small ledge at the bottom of the angled desk), on my usually crowded drawing desk in my studio and putting it in and out of my bag several times per day.
I basically had to gift the iPad to a family member, because nobody wanted to buy it anymore on Craigslist.
I used the 10.5" with an edge protecting case and it was easy to sell once the new generation was released.
With the lastest iPad Pro design refresh I switched to the 12.9" to have more drawing space for sketching, which is part of my job.
While I see my iPad as a tool it is still a hefty price to treat it carelessly. If I am able to sell it off after a year or two of use and upgrade to a new generation I want it to remain in good condition.
Apple’s approach to not providing a sufficient encasing option for the iPad disappoints me. The only solution provided is: Downgrade to the iPad that supports the old gen. Pencil and use the school-rugged Logitech keyboard case. – Yeah, no.
At least provide an optional bumper that could protect the sides for those that run in and out of workshops and studios all the time. 
Or downgrade to the air and use the combo touch case by Logitech. I do that with my 10.5 pro. The Combo Touch arrives on monday and I will post some thoughts pn it that evening.
I think Siracusa misses or dismisses a few things. First, this optional keyboard/trackpad combo allows the iPad to be the best tablet possible, while also offering a good desktop/laptop experience. Second, it’s not really wobbly. Third, his proposed solution is the road he admits every other PC maker has gone down (with numerous variants) - all of which have resulted in a lesser tablet experience, which he acknowledges then hand-waves away by saying AppleSomethingsomethingMAGIC can definitely do it better (but he doesn’t know how). That’s pretty weak tea.
Fourth, it’s both amazing and amusing how he interrupted two people who had the keyboard before they spoke about it in order to dismiss the new keyboard as insufficient or inferior when he hasn’t tried one or even seen one in person.
That said, I think that his wish will actually come true in 12-24 months, and live alongside iPads. While I believe this keyboard makes perfect sense as a tablet-focused iPad keyboard, as part of the migration to ARM-based Macbooks I have long speculated Apple will make them dual-boot laptops, meaning we’d possibly see some variant of Lenovo Yoga or Microsoft Surface as a Mac-focused device that also runs iOS apps.
You can still magnetically attach an iPad to the open Magic Keyboard with a slim case on it (I saw a video of it being used with a 3rd party silicone case) but then you cannot close the keyboard over the iPad and have to carry it separately.
Apple sell cases because people buy them but they have never capitulated to any device designs to accommodate cases. You’ve never see an Apple ad for iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Macbook inside a case, even one of their own, any more than you see cars advertised with bumper guards on them (or built with any accommodating hardware for them).
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I love the iPad perched up higher, better viewing angles, backlit keyboard, trackpad, and the charging port on the left side. Sure the trackpad could be better, but it is a huge leap IMO, especially for a 1.0.
It’s just. so. heavy.
Can you point me to the video? Thanks a lot in advance. I’m really curious to see how well this works, especially how the “smart connector” connection is bridged.
Since the magnetic force is reduced to the second power of the distance the retention force will be reduce quickly.
Well there was the iPhone 5C ad with cases, the iPhone 6 or 6S ad also had some and to my knowledge in other countries, such as Mexico, India and South Korea for example as more price-sensitive and more customization driven (especially South Korea) markets, local ads are used with cases shown. I think there were also ads, when the flip-leather cases were introduced. I currently don’t have the time to find the individual videos, but they exist. Some were in the Apple Archive that recently was taken down.
Furthermore the sheer pride that was shown in the Apple design book on how the leather cases are manufactured, shows me that there is more to it than profit.
As a trained mechanical engineer and industrial designer I would even go so far to say that many design choices point me to believe that part of the iPhone 6 (and onwards) design was heavily influenced by the fact that cases were at that time used ubiquitously. Especially since the iPhone 4 antenna debacle catapulted the third party case market to a new level.
An issue that Apple had with the boxy iPhone 4 to 5S design was that the squared off corners made it necessary that cases protrude above the screen to be able to hold the phone in the case. On the original bumper for the Apple iPhone 4 a stiff – I assume – polycarbonate frame was used with injection molded rubber lips to wrap around the stainless steel frame of the iPhone. As a result even the official Apple iPhone 4 bumper raised above the screen by at least 1-1.5mm.
Let’s not forget that only with the iPhone 5 Apple released a range of original Apple cases for the first time. Let’s also not forget about the “scratch-gate” issue of that time.
With the iPhone 5S and the huge redesign that iOS 7 brought on the software side the gesture of the edge-swipe became a more prominent feature. A often heard complaint of that time was that used cases interfered with this gesture in particular.
Unarguably, along with the iPhone 6 Apple got into selling their own leather and silicone cases. A wide range of colors was introduced.
The iPhone 6 rounded off corner design made it possible that the cases snap onto the upper part of the rounded off case and only merely protrude the screen, if even at all.
Surely, this was not the only driver for the rounded off design decision, but from my experience working in that field, it was a well liked side-effect.
What I am more than certain about is that the protruding camera bump of the iPhone 6 was not only a technical requirement, but also an accepted compromise by the fact that the majority of users will put a case on the phone anyways, which evens out the protrusion and therefore mostly is a “non-issue”. Yet, Apple got ridiculed for that choice at first by the tech-press.
Only with the X generation (and onwards) the camera bump has been emphasized as a feature to differentiate phones. (“Oh, you’ve got 3 lenses, then you must have the newest version …”) The technically unnecessary excessive bump – technically for the 11 the cameras protrude from a general camera area protrusion (“bumps on a bump”) – has now become a design feature to emphasize the strong photo/video-capabilities.
Cases have become a decision driving tool. Apple know how many customers love the leather cases and only provide them for the “pro models” since the XS/XR generation and the 11 Pro/11 generation now. With the XR this was obvious since at first no case at all was offered officially by Apple to use it as a driving force to upgrade into the higher priced models.
That this plan didn’t fully pan out is clear by Apple steering back and offering at least silicone cases for the 11 now. Still the story is that the leather option is only reserved for the high-end model.
Apple has for a long time captured the high-end market. The user group for whom money doesn’t play any role is almost entirely a subset of Apples target group. That growth potential is exceeded since many years. Apple is now fighting for the more price sensitive market and Apple’s strategy is to upsell them to higher priced devices.
Apples knows the leveraging power of cases and uses it.
It is short sighted to think that cases do not influence design decision in times where the majority of the user base uses them for two reasons: Protection and expression of individuality.
Sure, Apple sees and intents to show their hardware as “pieces of art”. The majority of users do not necessarily. The narrow group of self-proclaimed Apple enthusiasts, of which you’ll hear phrases like “I only use my devices naked, like intended by the Apple designers”, “my devices are tools that I use and I write it off as running cost for my business” or “I do not care about or I can afford scratch marks of my keys on my devices” etc, are not the notion of the majority of people and therefore not the best group to represent the majority of the entire Apple user base.
Yet another n=1 point of view, but in my circle of friends and colleagues I only know a single person that uses their phone (not necessarily an iPhone) entirely without a case and that is a professor I occasionally work for and know that she does this purely to justify getting a new one once in a while as an institute’s expense, since you can’t buy AppleCare via the complex purchasing process of the university.
For MacBooks Apple doesn’t provide cases since the aluminum unibody design is an integral feature of the device’s thermal management. Apple therefore only has provided sleeves.
For iPads the initial notion with the release of the first generation was that those devices are to be used mainly at home as a reading and web-browsing device.
It then quickly became a media device and there was a necessity of some way to not hold it in your hands, but prep it up on a flat surface. The triangular fold of the smart cover was a great solution for that.
Why did Apple never release full cases, until the release of the iPad Air 2 Smart Case and up until that moment only released front-covers that attached via an hinge? – Weight.
The older iPad versions simply were too heavy by Apple’s standard. The iPad’s story was to introduce a lighter and more casual way to interact with a computer. The device weight was one carrier for that story.
The 9.7" and later 10.5" and 12.9" iPad Pro came the introduction of the Pencil. They heavily pushed on it being used to take handwritten notes, mark up text or draw. With this the iPad gained capabilities and developed more and more to a professionally used device. Keyboard covers became the norm.
Yet storing (and charging) the Pencil was an unsolved issue of that design.
As a designer you usually carry a small pencil case around. I always have some pencils, a few Copic markers, as well as Bic ballpoint pens with me for quick sketches. This hasn’t changed with the iPad. I’m fairly certain that the notion of Apple’s design team was that you throw the Pencil into your pencil case or one of the pen loops of one of your nicely designed bags. This also driven by the branding and story that clearly differentiated it from a stylus. However, this imposed problems for the users that wanted to keep together what belongs together and you saw a lot of third party cases with partially hideous solutions to store the pencil pop up.
The current design’s iPad Pros with 11" and 12.9" are clearly marketed as professional working devices that cater to a larger market of people that work digitally. The 10.5" iPad Air (3rd Gen.) and the last year introduced budget 10.2" iPad (7th Gen.) with Pencil support are the cheap-skate and educational solution and provide both Apple cases, covers and the third-party Logitech one with a keyboard and a keyboard and trackpad. Yet, they are limited to the smaller screen sizes. The screen size now has become a lever to make you upgrade.
The new Pro design brought the inductive charging capability and the magnetic storing option as a reaction to most people’s desire to keep both together.
Apple’s iPad Air 2 case surrounded the entire corner area of the device. With the inductive charging a break in that protection was a requirement. Instead Apple decided to embrace this by the introduction of 100+ magnets, which also add weight and enforced that the Smart Folio and Keyboard Folio now attach on the back. An option to protect the edges has been ruled out for purely aesthetic reasons.
To the least with the Magic Keyboard and the integration of the trackpad the weight limitation has entirely been thrown over board. The story now is that you use it as a mostly stationary device. Most user reports testify that using the Magic Keyboard as a quintessential docking station proves that point.
The marketed story now is that you switch between the docked keyboard/trackpad mode and the more so mobile reading or handwriting touch/pencil modes often. Surely the design makes this easy, yet forces you into using the iPad bare or not being able to use all the current features of iPadOS.
To summarize: This is the iPhone XR moment for the iPad Pro and this is what I criticize. The screen size is used as a lever to force you to upgrade to the 12.9" Pro model, but then – due to the essentially proprietary smart connector – you are locked into buying the 400€ device from Apple, if you want a way to type and use the trackpad conveniently.
If you want protection for your device you are left out. You could buy a third party case that protects the corners, but it leaves you with no option to connect the so far only functional keyboard + trackpad combination. Your only option is to carry around a bluetooth keyboard and a desktop Magic Trackpad.
I furthermore doubt that Apple is opening up to third party bluetooth trackpads in the near future. This is a strategic move to rule out Brydge and others and establish demand for their Magic Keyboard, where they can control the story told and dictate the price.
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Thanks for your reply, sadly this is not an option due to the reduced drawing area that I need for sketching. Coming from working with Wacom Cintiq displays of 20" this already is a significant change.
The fact that I can physically move and turn the iPad around on the table like I would with a piece of paper it makes up for the lack of screen real estate a bit. I used the 9.7" and 10.5" Pros before and it is really hard to keep sketches lively on a size-wise limited canvas.
If Apple would release an iPad Pro in the 14-16" range, which would accommodate an a A4 page easily (13.5" diagonally + toolbars etc.) or even a 19-20" iPad Pro (A3 page size equivalent), I’m sure that designers would go for it. This could push Wacom out of the market in a lot of fields from 3D motion and game design to traditional graphic or industrial design up to architecture and even engineering, if the professional tools catch up or via sidecar. (At least if you ignore that a lot of software of the fields last mentioned do not even run on macOS. 
)
No sorry. It was one of the major site reviews with a seeded unit whose video was posted once the embargo date passed. Maybe Dieter Bohn’s review, cant be sure
Can you point me to that? To my knowledge Apple itself never advertised iPhones in cases.
Frankly I wish you had, but TLDR.
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Where’s the commercial showing the 5C in a case?
Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m more frustrated or disappointed by this keyboard. Apple has done nothing to solve my biggest problem with lap-based use while working on the couch! Nothing! How am I supposed to work like this?
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I’m surprised you can even manage one typing hand vs. that professional cuddler!
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Thanks. I stand corrected. So Apple did produce one commercial with a case on a product; it just happened to be the worst case they sold (holes randomly and unpleasantly covering text and logo) for a phone that did most poorly compared to Apple’s expectations. (First - and last- iPhone sold that was “unapologetically plastic.”) Wonder if they took a lesson from that…
Received mine today. I have the iPad Pro 2020 11 inch. First impression is that the quality is great. The keyboard is better than the one on my Macbook Pro 13 2017. The touchpad is very good, but not as good as on my Macbook. The reduced trackpad size is also something I have to get used to.
Right now I could definetly use my iPad for everything I do at work on my Macbook. Might go for at 12.9 iPad Pro instead of a Macbook next time. For now I plan to use my iPad at home. Mostly as a tablet without a case. When writing I will simply put it in the Magic keyboard and write with style.
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Neat trick. I read about “drafting mode” on MacRumors, I think. It works well!
(not sure why Discourse rotated the image. weird. edit: apparently it’s a known bug in iOS 13)
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I tried really hard to make the 11 inch keyboard work for me but I just sent a second one back (I ordered the Arabic keyboard at first but found the keys too cluttered and the shift key was impossibly small). I wanted to agree with everyone that the weight of it is not an issue but I found it impacting the circulation in my legs sporadically (oddly, my MBP 13 doesn’t do that, perhaps because the weight is better distributed). I was also starting to feel RSI issues (which I don’t normally have) in neck and wrist. I wanted to love the trackpad but it ultimately felt too cramped. I think I hold an ipad on my lap closer to me than I do a laptop and that was part of the problem. For me being able to fold the Smart Keyboard folio back on itself while using the pencil is important. I don’t actually really like using the ipad on its own (I tried a lot this weekend. It gets heavy to hold and the edges are kind of sharp).If I didn’t have a laptop I probably would have kept it. Also, if I did a ton of writing and editing on my ipad I’m sure I would have kept it. In fact, it was my hope that the keyboard would be so nice that I would use if more for writing, but in the end it feels more cramped to me than the 11 inch smart folio keyboard cover’s keyboard does. Maybe it is because on the latter there is more space between the keys. I am not a fan of the butterfly keyboard on my 2018 MBP, but somehow I like it on the smart folio.
Hey gang, let’s keep it about the keyboard, and be cool toward each other. Have had a couple of comments flagged as inappropriate.
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@ismh it was Folly (my greyhound) wasn’t it? The adoption agency did tell us she was a “flashy and flirty diva.”
More on topic: Gruber and Dieter Bohn discuss the keyboard on the latest episode of The Talk Show. In particular, they dive into the difference between the 11” and 12.9” experience. (Stephen gets into this a bit in the latest episode of Connected, too, but Gruber and Dieter really get into the details.)
https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2020/04/30/ep-283
The difference between the 11” and the 12.9” is apparently substantial. It might explain the polar differences in experience between people in this thread. I noticed some of the things Gruber mentions immediately—the various squeezed keys are definitely weird. I am getting used to it pretty quickly, though. Perhaps I have a higher tolerance… I did just try to go ortholinear.
Otherwise it’s been a lovely addition to the iPad. I’ve used it on couches, armchairs, and on lawn chaise-type chairs in the backyard (great timing to get this just before summer!). It reminds me of the 11” MacBook Air that was my entry into macOS. Super joyful to just pick up and take somewhere comfortable to escape the desk.
I initially was worried about the limited viewing angles. The moment you first tilt it back as far as it can go is jarring. But then, in actual use, it hasn’t seemed to matter. I imagine this is the kind of thing that was heavily tested and addressed in Apple’s design labs.
One caveat: I have had shoulder pain after 2/2 solid typing experiences. As I write this I’m trying to be conscious of my ergonomics beyond the wrists—I have a hunch that’ll help. (Pun intended.)
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