OMG, This Keyboard Case...
Sometimes a cheap product is still not good enough for the money.
First off, I think it is fair to establish that this keyboard case is intended for a person who has the speaker dock with which Pixel Tablets were originally bundled. I do not own the speaker dock as I bought the tablet on its own. I already have a 10” Echo Show and two Nest Hub Max speakers. I didn’t even have a place to put an extra speaker dock; it would have been a waste of money. Many of the cases designed for the Pixel Tablets have cutouts for the speaker dock and unfortunately, these cutouts look silly when the tablet is not on the dock. I would venture to guess that many of the cases, especially the ones that are folio-style, also look silly when the tablet is on the dock, but clearly, I have no personal experience there.
When you are just using the tablet in the case on a desk, the cutout isn’t too annoying because you can’t see it. It’s only when you want to carry it around when one is more likely to feel self-conscious about walking around with a case with a hole in it. I tend to think Google got it right with their tablet case that allows for mounting on the dock but still being usable without a giant hole on the back when not on the dock. But that’s a different blog post. This case is a typical cheap-feeling folio case with an extra flap on the front to keep everything closed. There is a pen loop and a cutout for the camera. If you aren’t offended by the cheap look of the “vegan” leather, then it’s a very standard and in fact, quite boring, case.
The excitement comes with the keyboard. There is a magnetic keyboard that is neatly thin and fits well into the case. You can slide it down toward the end of the case when typing to allow use of all of the grooves for the most standing positions, or you can use it in the most upright position for the most minimal footprint on your desk. The keyboard connects via Bluetooth and in my experience, keeps a solid and continuous connection when in use. Or at least I think it does? To be honest, some of the problems I’ve had might be understandable if in fact the keyboard isn’t keeping a constant connection. However, I tend to think that it’s more a shortcoming of the keyboard in that I consistently experienced drama with the spacebar. Sometimes it would work as you would expect, but most of the time I’d hit it and the thing would fail to register a space on the screen. Sometimes autocorrect would attempt to fix the missing spaces, but autocorrect is not reliable enough to handle the problem of a temperamental spacebar. I tried to think of a use case where even a keyboard like this one might be useful, but outside of typing complex passwords, none come to mind. As it turns out, spacebars are pretty integral to the typing experience.
But you don’t just have to take my written words for it. Check out the video to see it in action.
