Home Reviews

Snow Lizard XTREME 8+ iPhone case review

As Apple releases new products, case manufactures rush to add protection and fashion. Some add charging. I was recently sent a case that not only allows plugging into a charger but also has solar cells to charge your phone! It’s called the SLXtreme 8+ (because it’s from a company called Snow Lizard and is for the iPhone 8 Plus). I was sent a unit in Black to try with my new 8 Plus. It also comes in a Mossy Oak camo pattern.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

The Xtreme 8+ is a case, screen protector, and charger all in one. The case requires a totally naked phone but fits like a glove. You clamp the bottom on, which contains a Lightning connector and a link to the solar PV cells on the back of the case. There are clear covers for the full screen and a thinner cover over the home button which also allows the phone to read TouchID. There is also a large sealed clear aperture on the back which protects the rear camera and flash unit.

Hardware specs

  • Solar powered: Features a built-in trickle charger to keep your battery replenished. The solar indicator helps you position the case for best solar power Collection.
  • Integrated battery: built-in 5000 mAh battery boosts your phone’s power up to 185%, adding 16 hours of Talk time or 12 hours of app activity.
  • Waterproof: fully submergible to 6.6ft (2Ml for L hour). IP-68 Ingress protection rating. Water, mud, dust, snow, ice and sweat proof.
  • Rugged: handles drops up to 6.6ft (2Ml military Spec 810G certified). Newly rubberized grips provide protection against drops, bumps, spills or hammer misses. Screen protector prevents scratches.
  • Packaging reusable as an IP67 watertight, crushproof and dustproof dry box.
  • Compatibility: this SLXtreme case can be used to protect your iPhone 7Plus or iPhone 8Plus.

What’s in the box?

The packaging itself in a reusable, IP67 waterproof box. Inside it are the XTREME SL 8+, a USB A to microUSB cable, a 17” (doubled) lanyard loop with a detachable leash, an extra “O”-ring for the seal, and an instructional card.

Design and features

The Snow Lizard Xtreme is a 7.5” x 3.75” x 0.875” sealed case of hard PVC plastic. There are ridges down both long edges for gripping. On the face is a full-view clear touch-through screen cover that allows full view and control of the iPhone screen. There is a thinner membrane over the home button that allows TouchID to function (at least when it’s not underwater, according to the literature.) The bottom has a stopper-sealed USB port and a membrane-covered speaker/mic opening. There are passthrough controllers for every function except the ringer mute. The phone fits in snugly since the screen needs to touch the front for the touch-through to work. No skin or screen protector can be on it when in this case.

On the back, there is a solar panel about the same size as the iPhone 8 Plus’ screen fit flush. At the bottom, there is a rubberized on-off switch for the charger, and 4 blue LED battery capacity indicators. The microUSB connector (which has a waterproof plug) will first charge the phone through the case, then charge the battery.

When it came, I put the iPhone 8 Plus in straight-away, and was really blown away that the TouchID worked without any hesitation. It actually didn’t register with me at first, because I just turned on the phone in the usual way. (And isn’t that just the best way for tech to be implemented? It just does what you expect, NBD.)

Sound through the speakerphone or playing from Spotify is not quite as loud as the naked device or what it would be in the leather Apple case I usually use, but it was plenty loud. I noticed no delays or problems using Bluetooth devices through it.

There is a loop in the plastic on the lower right side for the lanyard to connect with. Be aware that this is a 16.25-ounce package, and that thin ribbon may be tough on your neck, but it’s pretty durable. There is a split-ring loop at the end that you could use for your company ID. It would allow you to unclip your phone and leave your lanyard/ID in place, should you need to set the phone down or connect it to a charging source.

What I Like

  • Smooth, precise fittings
  • Solar charger and battery work together with USB for full charging options
  • Mic, Speaker, and TouchID pass-throughs work very well.

What needs to be improved

  • Can’t think of a thing.

Final thoughts

There are few folks, in my opinion, who really need a full protective case like this, but there are loads of folks who use one anyway. My younger daughter is one – she’s rarely on a bike, kayaking, or doing anything more dangerous for her phone than walking to work in the rain. Yet she has a full-tilt Defender case, “just in case.” This one, however, with the solar and battery option, may be better than her current case.

If you need a “weekend” case for your hiking, biking, kayaking or just picnicking by the river, this would be one to strongly consider. If you’re in construction and away from power outlets, the solar charging is going to keep you charged up all day without having to worry that your phone is sitting on the hood of your truck while you’re 30 feet down a hill taking survey measurements when that sudden shower soaks everything.

Price: $129.99 on company store, slightly less on Amazon
Where to buy: Company website or their Amazon store
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Snow Lizard.

The post Snow Lizard XTREME 8+ iPhone case review appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Snow Lizard XTREME 8+ iPhone case review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2018 at 11:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

SparkMaker Mini Desktop SLA 3D printer review

I know nothing about 3D printing, except for little models my son has brought home from summer “tech” camps. This tiny desktop 3D printer caught my eye, and only required an SD card for printing. Pretty slick, right? Let’s take a look.

What is it?

The SparkMaker is billed as a compact, user-friendly desktop 3D printer that doesn’t use the usual filament to “build” models. Instead, it uses a liquid resin to build “up”, and UV lights under the vat harden the model slice by slice. A motorized platform raises the model up from the goo, sort of like the T-1000 Terminator from the second movie.

Hardware specs

  • Height:  10 inches
  • Width: 6.7 inches diameter
  • Print size: 4 x 2.2 x 5 inches

What’s in the box?

My sample came with just the power supply, hex wrench, and red cover. The resin (LCD-T) and some dyes were shipped separately.

Design and features

There is no screen on the printer. The only user interface is a single round knob on the front with an LED ring. There’s not even a power on/off switch.

A very long screw extends from the base of the printer. This moves the silver metal platform up and down. The metal platform has no “smarts”. Its only holds the model upside down.

Setup

There is a Windows program called SparkStudio where your’e supposedly able to edit files, but I was unable to get it to work. Fortunately, there were several sample 3D files to download. They’re all in “print.wow” file format, which you simply drag and drop to an SD card. The printer recognizes nothing else.

Next, you pour the resin into the vat. Don’t spill any. This is nasty, sticky stuff. I wasn’t exactly sure how much to pour in so I just guessed.

For my print sample, I chose this stout little head. What could go wrong?

The SD card inserts under the button (upside down, mind you).

Is it working? The flashing red circle says it’s working. That’s it!

Performance

If you’re looking for Star Trek replicator speed, forget it. At first, I thought the printer was dead, as the light blinked red. However, the platform did move ever so slowly, as the cooling fan hummed away at the base of the printer.

The fan noise isn’t too unpleasant. It’s similar to a noisy laptop at full load. Here you’ll see the UV lights blasting away through the ventilation holes.

A few hours later, I could see the printed objects “rising” from the primordial goo.

About 4-5 hours later I had two tiny little heads. Two? Apparently, the file was set for two, and I had no way to change that as far as I could figure out.

Next, I scraped off the heads from the metal platform and gave them an alcohol bath…

…And let the bask in the California sun to cure under some UV light.

And here are my two heads. Two heads are better than one, right? They sure turned out smaller than I expected. That’s an AA battery for size comparison. They remind me of novelty guitar knobs.

What I like

Very small and compact. Zero computer skills necessary with the SD card interface.

What needs to be improved

This product is not for first timers. I could not figure out how to edit, find, or upload any other 3D models. This is probably due to my lack of experience in 3D modeling, but the printed documentation is poor which does not impart confidence. Also, liquid resin is just nasty to handle.

Final thoughts

From what I understand, this type of 3D printing provides a higher degree of precision and the SparkMaker is quite a price breakthrough for this medium. Some of the filament-printed things I’ve seen look completely rough-hewn compared to the twin heads I printed for the first time. If you’re a hobbyist in this field and you’re not afraid to dig deeper, the SparkMaker SLA 3D Printer might just whip something up good for you.

Price: $289
Where to buy: OGadget or Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Ogadget.

The post SparkMaker Mini Desktop SLA 3D printer review appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged:

SparkMaker Mini Desktop SLA 3D printer review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 15, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Newton Mail review

If you’ve been reading The Gadgeteer for any length of time, you know how I like to drone on and on about how I can’t use a tablet or smartphone as my only “computer” when I travel because of one main reason. That reason is Gmail. I use Gmail as my email client of choice and I consider myself as a power user. On my laptop, I can use multiple inboxes, canned replies, all the stars, and 100’s of labels to organize and keep track of things that I need to get done using the web version of the Gmail app.

The problem is that I can’t completely unplug from tech when I travel because my inbox would quickly become a disaster within a day due to the number of emails that I receive. Yes, I know that there is a perfectly fine mobile Gmail app. I’ve used it for years. But for some insane reason, Google doesn’t provide the mobile version of the Gmail client with the same power user features as the desktop version of the app. With the mobile Gmail client, I can’t create multiple inboxes by using a dozen different colored stars, I can’t use canned replies, and worst of all, I can’t easily search for messages with certain labels or file emails with existing labels or create new labels. So I end up taking my laptop with me whenever I travel which means that I easily get sucked into wanting to work when I am supposed to be relaxing. Or at least I did that in the past. I’ve recently come one step closer to being able to leave my laptop home since discovering Newton Mail.

What’s Newton Mail?

Newton Mail is an email client for iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS that you can use with different mail services like Yahoo, iCloud, Hotmail, Outlook, and others including Gmail.

Features and usability


Newton Mail has all the features you’d assume an email client should have like the ability send and receive emails. Duh. But it has other features that make it the perfect email client for me and my obsessive compulsive email filing disorder. Yes, that’s a thing… or it should be a thing.



Newton allows you to tag an email to a label without having to scroll through a list of 1000’s of labels just to get to the one you need. Instead, you can start typing the label’s name to narrow down the list. AND, you can create new labels. It sounds so trivial, but this is the first mobile Gmail client that I’ve found that allows you to do this and that’s why I’m so happy to have found it! Being able to type in the label name without having to manually find it saves me a LOT of time.


In addition to that very important feature, Newton Mail includes other great features that you I haven’t found with other email apps. One of those features includes the ability to snooze a message. When you snooze a message, it will disappear from your inbox and reappear later at the time, date, or on the platform that you specify. I’ll admit that this isn’t a feature I use because I like to take care of things as they appear. But I do see it as a useful feature that I may add to my workflow at some point.


Newton will also allow you to save messages to your favorite productivity apps like Evernote, Todoist, and more.



Calendar access is integrated into Newton Mail too, which means that you can easily pull up your calendar without leaving the app, and you can even create events from within an individual email.


I also like that the app suggests people to send an email to when you compose a new one. If you click the little blue clock icon, you can toggle read receipts, reminders if the person doesn’t get back to you in a specified time, or you can schedule the email to be sent later.


I really like the read receipts so you’ll know when someone has read your email after you’ve sent it to them. You can toggle the read receipts to happen for all emails or on an individual basis if you don’t want to be bothered with too many notifications.


Speaking of notifications, you can even customize how those are handled when you swipe them in the inbox. There are 4 types of swipes for each message and each one can have its own action. Cool right?

All of these features help me achieve email nirvana, which for me means inbox zero or for those who haven’t heard that term, it just means that my inbox is empty and all the messages are stored where they should be.

I’ve been using Newton Mail for the past month and love it. They recently introduced a new feature that they call conversation view which they say gets rid of the sent folder because all the emails to the same person are grouped together including the message that you sent to start the email thread. This keeps you from having to go into the sent folder to look for messages.

I tried this new feature for a few days and didn’t care for it so I turned it off because it made my inbox more cluttered than I liked. I can see the advantages of having your original email in the same place as the responses, but that’s not a priority feature that I care about.

But all this yummy email goodness comes at a price

I’m not a penny pincher, but I don’t like paying for a 100 different subscription services. That’s why I ditched Nest security cameras in favor of WyzeCams and it’s why do regular audits on services I pay for but don’t use enough to justify the monthly or yearly subscription price. Some examples include Hulu. I dumped it when I started using Chromecast from my phone to watch shows on my 65-inch TV and it wouldn’t cast the audio along with the picture. So it went bye bye. I also dumped Evernote when I realized that I was paying $50 per year for a service I was rarely using.

So would I pay $50 per year for Newton Mail just for a handful of features that are missing from the free Gmail app from Google? While I wish the price was less than it is, I think that Newton Mail is completely worth it for me just for the time I save dealing with email when I’m mobile.

What I like

I like Newton Mail because it’s similar to the Gmail app that I know and love but on steroids. The easy label lookup, filing, and the creation of new labels is my absolute favorite feature, but the read receipts is a close second. Add in the ability to snooze emails and send them later and all the other little extras and Newton Mail has swiftly become my favorite email app.

What needs to be improved

While I really enjoy Newton Mail, it isn’t perfect. There are a few features I wish it had to make it even better. Canned responses and multiple stars like the Gmail web app would be awesome as well as Gmail’s reply prompts. Those features would just be icing on the cake though.

Final thoughts

If you consider yourself a Gmail power user and have been let down by Google’s stock Gmail mobile app, you should definitely try Newton Mail. I think you’ll be impressed. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. You can test it for 14 days for free.

Price: $49.99 a year (14-day free trial)
Where to buy: Newton
Source: A free membership for this software was provided by Newton.

The post Newton Mail review appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: , ,

Newton Mail review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 14, 2018 at 1:00 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Brainwavz Audio B200 dual balanced armature earphones review

Beyond simple classifications (over-ear, on-ear, in-ear) one tends to either really care about in-the-weed-level details, or generally be okay with what’s easily available. As a brand, Brainwavz Audio clearly falls into the former category as you can get lost in the specifications of their products. Let’s pull back the veil a bit and wade through some tech.

What is it?

The B200 model from Brainwavz Audio are in-ear monitors or earphones that use a dual balanced armature design to maximize performance and comfort. “Dual balanced armature”? Read on…

Hardware specs

  • Drivers : Dynamic, 8 mm
  • Rated Impedance : 16Ω
  • Frequency Range : 20 Hz ~ 20 kHz
  • Sensitivity : 100 dB at 1 mW
  • Rated Input Power : 20 mW
  • Cable : 1.3 m Y-Cord, Copper
  • Plug : 3.5 mm, Gold plated

What’s in the box?

  • Earphone Hard case
  • 3x Sets of Silicone Ear Tips (S M L)
  • Set of Comply Foam Tips T-100
  • Shirt Clip
  • Velcro Cable Tie
  • Instruction Manual
  • Warranty Card (24 month warranty)
    ** Brainwavz includes a 3-button mic and remote as the standard cable. Our review unit came with the optional 3.5mm stereo cable and an extra set of silicone tips as well as a third comply tip. Non-remote cables are available optionally from Brainwavz.

Design and features

The B200 earphones are visually stealthy and nondescript at the same time. From a color standpoint, they’re black, clear with a small hint of gold on the 3 connectors. The two features that stand out most are the clear monitor enclosures and the matte twisted MMCX cable which actually refers to the gold micro-miniature coaxial connectors that attach to the monitors.

The cable on these earphones is removable, which is relatively common on high quality in-ear monitors. The MMCX connector is tiny and one of the reasons it’s such a good fit for in-ear audio. Another is that there’s a very positive snap when you connect and then the connector is able to rotate 360º radially.

Now, let’s talk about the monitor enclosures. They’re a slightly frosted clear material and each one has subtle differences from the other. Brainwavz actually uses a liquid-resin 3D printer to print every pair. Very cool. Because of the process, each enclosure has small visual differences due to flow of material while having the same dimensions and profile. Alas, they didn’t send the printer along for review so here’s a picture from their site.

The cable uses the up-and-over ear wrap. Kind of a secret service look, but it serves an important function. Any pull or tug on the cable pulls on the top of your ear, not a direct stress on the connector. That section has a small bendable wire inside so you can form them to your ear shape easily.

The 3 button mic/remote, yoke and the 3.5 connector both use a smooth sturdy aluminum body.

Balanced armature drivers are tuned to sound good in a specific frequency range. Brainwavz uses a dual balanced armature design separating out two different frequency ranges for the highs and lows effectively increasing their ability to work with more types of music.

Lastly, there’s the extras. S, M. L silicone tips as well as red Comply™ tips, a shirt clip, velcro tie and a durable, zip-close hard case.

Setup

Ears are not a one-size-fits-all affair as much as some companies may ignore that fact. Thankfully Brainwavz understands this. They provide different sized tips that are easy to press on and remove so try them all until you find a fit that feels good to you. You’re looking for easy to insert into your ears, a good seal in your ear canal and then comfort over time.

You may need to play some audio to really be able to tell. Pick something with some strong bass and you’ll hear the difference between a good and not-good seal. Try the Comply tips if the silicone ones aren’t working, or if they want to work their way out on you during wear. They’re a bit trickier to push on as the inner core is pretty firm. Comply uses a memory foam, so just squish them small in diameter, insert into your ears and then give them a moment to rebound and seal. On to performance.

Performance

To start, the B200 drivers are tuned to produce a balanced, accurate sound signature. Brainwavz states that this provides little-to-no coloring on the music so you can hear it the way the Artist intended. This is great in theory, but in the end, you’re the one listening. If you start to research how to test earphones you’ll get a lot of conflicting information.

I’m sure my approach will also draw some ire, but here goes…

Start by playing a few songs you know well. It’s the best way to tell if something is missing from the audio response or if you’re suddenly hearing things you never knew were in the recording. Here’s a Spotify link to the songs I mention if you’re interested.

My go-to is “Lingus” by Snarky Puppy. It’s epic in length with amazing musicians, clean sound, insane solos and grins that I think I can hear. I’ve watched their video so many times it pretty much plays in my head while I’m listening.

Next is something like “Ground On Down” by Ben Harper. About 25 seconds in the guitar dives into reverb, low feedback and then some distortion. The rest of the song puts any earphones to test for me.

I then like to listen to something new by an artist I know, followed by something by an artist I’ve never heard before. I’m sure it sounds weird, but it forces me to consciously listen to the music trying to figure it out instead of letting my memory fill in for me. For these earphones I listened to “Eat the Elephant” by A Perfect Circle, “Blood Thinner” by Royal Coda and then “Bellbottoms” (Soooo good!) by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

In the course of testing, I put these through their paces in some different locations. A crowded, very loud BART ride from Oakland into SF, a United flight to Shanghai, the Metro in Shenzhen and in the hotel room writing this review.

As far as overall fit, the driver enclosures tucked into my ears really well, even to the point where I could place a flat palm against my ear and not feel pressure on my ear canal. (Please excuse the hexagonally rotated photo crop)

The fact that the MMCX connector rotates allows for that extra level of adjustment for fit. On the tips, I went back and forth between the small silicone ones which provided a slightly better bass response and the ones from Comply which were more comfortable for longer listening sessions. If Comply works best, you’ll want to pick up some extras as they do show wear and grime faster. If you’ve got a good seal these are great noise-isolation earphones. They don’t actively cancel any outside sounds, but definitely block enough. I do wear glasses sometimes, either prescription, sunglasses and yes, reading glasses now. The cable wrap over the ear is pretty minimal and shouldn’t cause too much trouble.

The cable did a good job of not transmitting too much noise up to my ears. Taking a thumbnail and dragging it down the cable produced a rumble, but general motion on a shirt or jacket was nice and quiet. Might want to use the included shirt clip if you’re wearing something with a big toothy zipper. It also coils well for storage without too much memory when you take them back out again.

You’ll also want to consider your music source. The earphones you choose are only as good as they work where you want them to. Playing music from your mobile phone is quite a bit different than from your computer or stereo with a headphone amplifier. I did both using the stock Apple lightning adapter with my iPhone to listen to downloaded (not streaming) music and through iTunes on my Mac with a FiiO Q1 Portable USB DAC Amplifier I’ve had for a couple years. The B200s sounded great on both. The good news is that balanced armature drivers don’t take as much power to drive as they aren’t pushing volumes of air so performance directly from a mobile player is pretty good.

So what’s all this add up to? In my opinion, for my listening needs, the Brainwavz’s B200 is a solidly built pair of earphone that fits into and around my ears comfortably while providing a good acoustic seal. The music I listened to sounded really good with enough bass to keep me happy and mids and highs that still came through clearly. Any subtleties that certain types of music might need, I’ll likely be able to dial in with some EQ settings. The cable remote worked well with buttons that were easy to find without looking and enough tactile feedback to know that they’d been pushed. Overall I only had two small annoyances that were both trivial. First, the ear hooks make wrapping, storing and unwrapping the earphones little tougher as the hooks would get caught on the cable, although the same earhook feature lets them hang on a shirt collar easily. Second is that I’d really like to see an optional cable that was lightning cable specific. Definitely not a dealbreaker, but adapters are annoying and with more phones foregoing the headphone jack it would be a welcome option. Ok, let’s wrap this up.

What I like

  • The sound. Accurate and clear
  • Comfort, especially with Comply tips
  • Secret service up-and-over ear wrap
  • Replaceable cable
  • The price. This is a lot of earphone for the dollars

What needs to be improved

  • Would like to see a lightning connector cable (just say no to adapters)
  • Wrapping for storage is an annoyance with the SecretService wrap

Final thoughts

Earphones/headphones are intensely personal. It’s hard to know if you really like a pair until you’ve tried enough varieties to know what you’re looking for. They should work for the music, movies, and content you like, your daily environments and above all they should be comfortable. The B200 earphones work very well for me across all of those metrics and it really is a great price for what you get. The ear hook is a bit more of a commitment over a simple earbud, so they’re best suited when you can plan for uninterrupted listening which I’d encourage anyone to find more time for.

Price: $119.50
Where to buy: Brainwaves Audio and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Brainwavz Audio

The post Brainwavz Audio B200 dual balanced armature earphones review appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged:

Brainwavz Audio B200 dual balanced armature earphones review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 14, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Logitech Slim Combo iPad case with Detachable Backlit Keyboard and Smart Connector Technology review

Keyboard cases for the iPad arrived very shortly after the device itself. We’ve covered many here at The Gadgeteer. Most of these have incorporated a Bluetooth keyboard. I’ve usually not been interested in these, because the typing surface of the keyboard is so much smaller than a standard keyboard. With the release of the 10.5” iPad Pro last year, the idea of a Smart Keyboard-equipped model became more interesting to me. The surface of the screen is just a touch larger, so I’ve kinda gotten used to typing on a smaller than normal keyboard. Recently, the Logitech Slim Combo caught my eye, and they sent one to us for review.

Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.

What is it?

The Slim Combo, as the name implies, is a two-piece keyboard and case for the 10.5” iPad Pro. The Case is interesting in that it has a kickstand a la Microsoft Surface built into the back. It has padded corners, which are also raised so that the screen cover/keyboard fits into it and makes a flush, snag-free whole.

Hardware specs

  • Two-piece cover and keyboard for iPad Pro 10.5
  • Keyboard is backlit with ambient light sensor and control keys
  • Cover has a kickstand, adjustable from 90º to 30º
  • Loop for Apple Pencil
  • All edge buttons (volume and sleep/wake) are covered, all ports are open.

What’s in the box?

  • Smart Connector keyboard screen cover
  • Form-fitting protective case with built-in kickstand

Design and features

The cover is made from a hard plastic. The fit is tight and secure, without being difficult to put on or take off. The back cover is mostly slightly textured plastic with generous, well-placed cutouts for the mic, camera, speakers, and ports, as well as an exposed edge for the Smart Keyboard. Opposite this edge, there is a fabric ribbon loop 3.25” wide. It is not stretchy but fits the pencil precisely. The area over the kickstand is of a different texture and patterned to mimic the fabric on the front cover. There is a “Logi” logo debossed into the center of it, but there is no color or other markings. The action of the kickstand feels smooth and well-constructed, and there are rubber bumpers on each corner. There is a good bit of heft in this cover, which does add weight, but you feel your iPad is well-protected. The cover weighs 8.4 oz. by my kitchen scale.

The keyboard is a separate piece, with a Smart Connector placed on a tab that magnetically attaches to the iPad, just like Apple’s covers and Smart Keyboards do. This piece weighs 10.4 oz. Above the keyboard’s top row and below the connector is a thick, soft strip of rubber that prevents the keys from making contact with the iPad screen when it’s folded. The palm rest is also raised a bit from the keyboard level in order for it to hold the bottom of the keys clear of your screen as well. The “outside” of the keyboard has a strip of hard plastic running up the keyboard connector edge for just over an inch. The remainder of it is a fabric glued on inside a slightly lower area of the plastic. The fabric and naked plastic edge is precise, and you can’t tell where the two meet except for the change in texture.

There is a magnetic connection between the keyboard and cover that pulls them together and activates the built-in sleep/wake feature of the iPad, if you have that turned on. This also keeps the keyboard from starting up and using battery power. Given the pair weighs 18.7 oz. together, you’re looking at a doubling of the weight of a naked iPad.

The backlighting of the keyboard is sufficient for use in dimly lit areas, and adjustable from totally off to a good brightness even when the room is lit. Key travel is very shallow, and while each key has its own individual travel path, there’s a visible movement of the whole keyboard when you type in the area around the space bar. Keys are cupped and separated and of equal size and level, except for the media/control keys across the top. These are half size, and include all the standard Apple items – screen brightness, keyboard brightness, previous/play/next playback controls, volume up, down, and mute, plus a key to pull up the software keyboard. Two that are added are a home button and a lock key. These quit the current app to reveal the Springboard and immediately lock the screen, respectively. Each of these are good additions and worked as expected reliably.

Setup

There is no setup other than putting the iPad into the back cover. Connecting the Smart Keyboard makes it active and removing it deactivates it.

Performance

Performance varies on occasion. I’m not sure if it’s the keyboard layout or the Smart Connector or the feel of the keys, but I found myself getting random spaces and random periods rather than commas. I tend to type very quickly while looking at my fingers, but I’ve been typing this way for decades, and haven’t seen this on any other keyboard. Perhaps I’m not as used to this size keyboard as I thought I was. Or maybe it’s the slight difference in the layout and size of the keys. This issue lessened as I used the keyboard more and paid attention to those issues.
If you’re one who likes to chat via video in Portrait mode, you’ll find this a great case. When you pull the kickstand out fully and turn the iPad 90º, the kickstand holds the iPad at a 72° angle that is perfect for video chats. It’s also great for reading the news or email, if you’re not wanting to reply.
Even with the magnetic latch, I found the unit would come on in my bag frequently, making the battery run down a bit. This could have happened because of the keyboard being disconnected or because the closure slid open a bit.

What I Like

  • Kickstand is a nice feature
  • Case is very protective
  • Portrait mode for video calls and no-hands reading
  • Keyboard never touches screen

What needs to be improved

  • The case doesn’t stay together very well in a bag
  • The connection with the keyboard is flimsy
  • Smart Connector means keyboard must always be connected to iPad.

 Final thoughts

The Slim Combo is a solid performer. The Smart Connector means there is no battery to replace or charge for the keyboard, but the trade-off is that it must remain connected while using. The flimsy connector between keyboard and iPad needs to be addressed so that the keyboard doesn’t wake up during transport. This connector also affected the performance of the keyboard itself.

While I’m sold on the Kickstand, I don’t think it’s quite the be-all-end-all that Microsoft made it out to be in early Surface marketing. But with it, I can use a Bluetooth keyboard and have the iPad in portrait or horizontal. I may invest in a standard Apple cover and try just the case with my trusty K811. Watch this space for updates.

Price: List price $129.99 current price $112.75
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Logitech.

The post Logitech Slim Combo iPad case with Detachable Backlit Keyboard and Smart Connector Technology review appeared first on The Gadgeteer.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Logitech Slim Combo iPad case with Detachable Backlit Keyboard and Smart Connector Technology review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 13, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.