Sackei Magnetic Suspension Keyboard Case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9/S10 Ultra

I have always wanted an Apple Magic keyboard style case for my Ultra. Ever since I saw the Lenovo Extreme Tab, with its amazing looking keyboard case that in some ways looked even better than Apple's offering, I have wondered why no one made one for the Ultra.  I assumed it was because it was just too big and heavy and no one could quite get the balance right.  These magnetic cantilever suspection keyboards tend to be very heavy, and no one wants to carry around a giant tablet and case that weigh as much as the average gaming laptop. I never bought that Extreme Tab, nor did I ever even get to see one in real life (why didn't Lenovo push that thing harder? It should have been in Best Buy stores right next to the S8 Ultra), but seeing that keyboard case showed me that it was possible to have a giant tablet with a good keyboard case.  The keyboard cases I'd seen for the Ultra were all just OK.  Not great - certainly not as good as the Magic Keyboard.  And sure, when you pay less you expect less, but there seems to be an aversion in the Android space to making truly great cases.

So when I saw this case pop up when I was looking for a keyboard case for my new-to-me Tab S10+, I was surprised.  After all, we're on the 3rd generation of this giant monster tablet.  I had looked and no one was making this kind of keyboard case.  When I clicked on it, I realized it was relatively new and there wasn't a lot of information on it on the internet that I could find.  So I bought it,  thinking that if nothing else, I could review it and tell other people whether it was worth the money.

So the important thing to keep in mind is that as I'm writing this review, this is the only magnetic cantilever suspension keyobard case for the Tab S9/S10 Ultra.  I do hope that others will appear, but for now this is it.

The texture of the keyboard case in the places where you touch is very vaguely leather-like.  You know it's definitely not leather, but the texture is intended to be reminiscent of it.  This gives it a decent feel under your wrists.  It's not slippery but neither is it particularly grippy.  When you open the keyboard, there is a sticker on it that tells you how to make the initial connection with your tablet.  I did not remove it for a couple of days, worried about having to remove sticky residue.  But I did finally remove it and I need not have been concerned; there is no sticky residue.  After a wipe, I can't even tell that the sticker was ever there.  Thank you, manufacturer.  The leather texture does not, unfortunately, make the case look more expensive.  It still looks like plastic.  But it does set it apart from the smooth texture of my other cases, much less the very smooth look of the Apple Magic Keyboard - which to be fair, also looks very much like plastic.  My biggest gripe with the textured finish is that the tiny grooves can trap tiny lint and dust particles.

According to the very basic manual, the battery in the keyboard takes 2-3 hours to charge fully and should allow for more than 100 days of standby time or more than 5 hours of continuous working time.  Five hours is not a lot of time for using a keyboard.  You could easily run it dry in a day if you were using for your regular workday.  I haven't used the keyboard continually for five hours, but I did have to charge it within the first couple of days as the red light came on, indicating it needed to be recharged.  I wish that the keyboard offered at least 8-10 hours of continous use so you could get a reasonable day's use out of it.  The manual outlines how to connect the keyboard, what gestures are possible, how to control the backlight, and what the shortcuts keys and lights indicate.

The keys feel much like any other Android keyboard case I've used.  They are perfectly serviceable and I'm able to type quickly and accurately with no issues.  There isn't a ton of travel, but I have been typing on mechanical keyboards a lot lately, so I notice this now much more than I ever would have before falling into that trap.  To be fair, the travel here feels perhaps slightly more than the Apple Magic Keyboard. The box indiates 1.3mm of travel and the Magic Keyboard has 1mm, so my perception lines up with the measurements.   The difference is really in fit and finish.  On my Android keyboards, the backlight bleeds from in between the keys.  This doesn't bother me, but it's not a polished as the backlight on the Apple keyboard where the light shines from the letter on each key and there is much less bleed. This is mainly because the keys themselves are surrounded by the keyboard base whereas on my Android tablets, the keys look more like they are in a connected tray that is one piece.  This may not in fact be how it is constructed, but that's the impression they give off. You do get more function keys on the Android keyboard than you do on the original Magic Keyboard I have on my M1 iPad Pro 12.9. The keys present on this keyboard are essentially the same as on any other Android keyboard case, except this one has a DeX and an AI key.  The AI key is where the backlight or language key would be on other Android keyboards.  The DeX key is in between the F12 and Del keys.  The delete key is ever so slightly smaller as a result.  Because this is a large tablet, the keys are full sized, so there is no cramped feel.

The trackpad works reasonably well, but like all my other Android keyboard cases, you can misplace the cursor by touching the trackpad with your hands or wrists.  It's very easy to be typing along and then suddenly find you are typing in a place you absolutely did not want to type.  You can turn off the trackpad for long typing sessions, but this is not a thing I want to do.  But this means I do periodically have to deal with this issue.  In general, if I type with proper form I don't run into any problems, but who types with perfect form nowardays.  Do the kids even learn how to type in school anymore?

This trackpad issue is not unique to this keyboard so I'm not sure I can hold this against the manufacturer.  Because it is such a widespread issue on Android - in my experience, anyway - I tend to blame mouse controls built into Android more than the keyboards themselves.  Mouse control on Android is not quite up to par with mouse control on Windows, even with cheap Windows trackpads.  This is one of the reasons why many people who do use Android devices for daily work or personal use opt to use a mouse instead of a trackpad.  Nevertheless, using the trackpad is fine.  It's definitely not a stellar trackpad, but I haven't had any issues with scrolling or gestures.  Scrolling is often terrible on Android with a trackpad, but this one is perfectly usable. 

Honestly, this is a very decent Android keyboard case.  But it does have one major flaw.  It may be a death blow for some or a mere annoyance for others.  There is really only one angle you can use with this case and it's not the ideal angle, at least for me.  I find myself continously pushing on it to angle it up higher, but it won't do it.  It is slightly angled, but you do not have as much flexibility in positioning the screen as you do with keyboard cases for the smaller Galaxy Tabs or the Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPads.  I'm not sure if this goes back to the start of this review where I wondered if the reason why these cases didn't exist was because creating one with the proper balance was too difficult.  Is this limited angle a side effect of the Ultra being so big and difficult to balance?  And I also note that when closing the case, it often doesn't close completely at first.  After laying down closed for a while, it will fully close, but at first it may be just a bit ajar.  It's not open enough to turn back on the screen, but you will be able to see the backlight reflecting off the screen.  Depending on how you transport the tablet in this case, you may want to take note of this.

I can use this case even with the limited positioning, but it is still a little disappointing.  I'm going to keep using this case because the typing experience is solid, especially if I keep my wrists away from the trackpad - a thing I'm somewhat trained to do from years of using Android tablets - and the case isn't so remarkably heavy that it's unwieldy.  The quality of the backlight is about the same as my other Android keyboard cases and other than the angle issue, the construction is decent for the pricing.  If another keyboard like this comes out for the Ultra, I'll probably give it a try, but for now, this one works for me but I will keep the book cover slim around for when I want something thinner and easier to carry. I will definitely use this keyboard case in place of my Dexnor 2-piece keyboard case.

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