Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio for iPad - Unboxing & Review

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys Mike here the Detroit Borg with a look at the Logitech solar keyboard folio case for the iPad 2 and the iPad 3 now this retails for $129.99 and it's fairly pricey but let's take a look around and see what we get for that money so this is a folio style case so it completely protects the iPad but adds a Bluetooth keyboard integrated into the case and charges via solar cells so no wires no batteries to change here it's entirely self-sufficient connects via Bluetooth obviously since all keyboards connected to the iPad have to connect via Bluetooth or physical connection so what we have here is interactive packaging which is kind of interesting so you can open this up and take a look around the case itself there's actually magnets in the packaging itself not in the case but in the packaging which keep it closed so here you can take a look at the keyboard and you have a little window here to test out the keys so if you're in the Best Buy or any electronic store you can take a look around to see if you like the keys so this is a checklist style key very similar to Apple's uh Bluetooth keyboard has that same sort of travel same sort of feel to it we also have one of its key features demonstrated here which is its positions now unlike most keyboards that just I don't know sort of allow you to slot this into different positions this actually has some functionality to it so when you move it into the keyboard position or the typing position here it actually activates the Bluetooth keyboard so there's no on andof switch here you just move it into the keyboard position and it turns on the Bluetooth keyboard and pairs with the iPad soon as you move it out of that position or if you close it it turns off the keyboard and you're good to go a lot of keyboards they stay permanently connected to it and you have to physically turn it off or you have to go to the iPad to eject the keyboard you also have a media position here which turns the front row of keys into media controls for your movies or music and we'll demonstrate that so let's go ahead and take it out of its packaging to see what we get I've already cut the tabs here so all you have to do is lift it up and we can slide it out but first let's take a look at the literature here we have the Logitech guide which tells us a little about the product about what the buttons do how to install the iPad how to pair the Bluetooth keyboard to the iPad so let's go ahead and take a look around we also have our important information guide which we don't care about peel that back slide it out so now we can take a look around the case so on the inside we have our tray here for installing the iPad which is actually a soft plastic so it also provides plain protection for the iPad Surface this won't scratch it or trap dirt that might scratch the iPad we also have our cutouts here obviously for the camera the buttons our headphone jack our microphone uh our speakers our DOT connector that sort of thing we inside we have this uh polyurethane material just like on the outside it's got the same sort of texture to it so it's also soft material to protect the iPad now the keyboard itself also has some instructions on it on how to install the iPad how to configure it and set it up and how to use settings uh under your iOS device to connect it or your iPad in this case so we have our full keyboard here which is not a full-size keyboard in the traditional sense it's a little crushed together obviously to fit the width of the iPad but it feels pretty full size it's actually fairly comfortable we have a lot of dedicated Keys here which we'll demonstrate once we get the iPad connected so around the outside you can see we have our solar cells here which are covered in plastic we're going to take that off so there you go again this will charge with either solar light or artificial light now installing the iPad is easy all you have to do is drop it into the frame push it at the corners and it kind of snaps into place you can see it does covers the edge of the iPad very minimally so it doesn't obscure the bezel at all and it's pretty snug in there so you can easily pop it out Simply by flexing the frame and it pops out or snaping it all over the edge to snap it back on now with our iPad installed we can take a look around so on the front we have our polyurethane material here again very soft material again very similar to the smart cover or smart case from Apple we have our Logitech branding here along with our solar cells now these are under a sort of a flexible plastic so these will not shatter with you I know that was my concern when I saw that I thought well if that's glass that's going to break uh but no it's pretty durable on the back we have our hinge here for operating or positioning the iPad into those two positions typing or Media mode we also have our camera cutout along with cutouts for the sleep wake switch volume rocker and uh rotation or mute switch cut out for the uh 30 pin dock connector as well as for the microphone and headphone jack now these buttons do look like they're hard to operate but it's not you actually can get your finger in there to operate just fine so uh the other thing here is we have a cutout for the or perforations for the speaker to operate so this actually doesn't muffle the speaker it actually seems to enhance the quality of the speaker largely because the audio sort of bounces off this material and back to the user so I think it actually enhances the audio of the iPad now on the inside we have our keyboard along with our battery compartment here which is sealed charges only by uh solar so you can't replace the batteries or that sort of thing you can see that at our ulates here you can see the bare iPad on the back along with this soft microfiber material to protect the iPad now as you probably notice there are these little Nubs here at the corners of the harder case which wraps the iPad and that's part of the positioning mechanism so if we drop it into our typing position you can see it locks into place or if you drop it into our media position locks it into place now on the right side we have our Bluetooth key which turns the Bluetooth on and off so if we tap that it goes into pairing mode and turns the keyboard or disconnects the keyboard from the iPad we also have a little charging indicator here which let us know we have a full charge right now you can see it's flashing green let us know we're fully charged now the first thing we need to do in order to use the Bluetooth keyboard is to pair it to the iPad so the first thing we want to do is go to settings go to our Bluetooth control make sure it's turned on and now it's going to detect our device here so see it's a Logitech solar KB folio case I'm going to press the Bluetooth pairing button on the side of the case we're going to tap that and now we're connected so that's all there is to it so I can start using my case in fact I can press the home button to take me right to the home screen so let's go ahead go to notes and start typing something now this also means I can easily turn off the keyboard simply by moving it out of position so for example you can see that the um virtual keyboard will pop up once it's disconnected so it may take a second or two now this allows me to basically rotate this around it like a folio style case so I can have basically the keyboard on the back of the iPad while I'm gripping it and you can see I'm typing on it nothing's happening and I can continue to use my virtual keyboard now if I want to reconnect to the keyboard I have to do is position it back into place drop it into its slot and we're good to go now on the top row of keys we have these functions which are highlighted in red which are operated when holding this function button in the lower left corner so one of them is the home button which we're pretty familiar with so if you tap home brings you to our home screen now the home button also operates as you would expect it so if you tap double tap it brings you to the launcher tap it once brings you back tap it again brings you to back to search or whatever you have that function as uh you can also tap and hold hello Siri hi Michael so it brings you to Siri now we also have our search function here again so you have to hold the FN or function button and search so he brings you the search number two here let's bring this back to home number two here is uh the keyboard language so you can cycle between the keyboard languages there we also have our virtual keyboard here so if we go back to our notes here if you tap function keyboard brings up the virtual keyboard so it doesn't disconnect from the physical keyboard you have both keyboards now so if you want that option that's your choice as well so you can split that bring it back together so there you go you can hide that again Now function four all you to select text so you can select words left to right and we also have our Cut Copy item so let's select some text here we can cut that we can paste it or we can we can also do command all and command uh or function seven to copy that and let's go to enter and let's do command V to paste oops command V to paste not function V so you get the idea here so you actually has some redundancies here in terms of those cut copy functions we also have our media controls here so we can play oops function play you can increase the volume function volume and function mute to mute it pause so you don't have a fast forward or skip button and you can also lock the iPad or you can wake it up there you go now we also have our media position here so the buttons down here now become media controls now one of the buttons here is our photo frame mode which activates Ates the slideshow function of the iPad so like takes about a minute here there you go take you out of that you also have the option to invoke your virtual keyboard so obviously when you're in this position you can't use the physical keyboard but you still have to stay connected to the keyboard in order for it to work now we also have some of our media controls down here so if you click play on the space bar or pause it play or stop or music and you can also skip ahead or skip all the way ahead to a different track and of course you can reverse that now you also have your volume controls here so you have volume up or volume down and mute and of course this also works with video so you can play pause skip forward or skip track you can also increase volume drop volume or mute it now in terms of size comparison between this and the Bluetooth Apple keyboard you can see obviously there is quite a bit more room here so but are a little more spread apart the buttons are a little larger and you have a few more of them so you get a little more real estate here to work with now with this they've sort of Consolidated some buns in particular some punctuation but otherwise it feels like a full-size keyboard in fact unless you compare them side by side this feels just as comfortable as a full-size keyboard I can definitely use this for a long period of time without worry but of course some keys and functions have been changed so you do have to get used to that so in the end I'm definitely a big fan of the keyboard case it checks all the boxes for for me provides plain protection for the iPad has a built-in keyboard that is actually useful and comfortable to use over a long period of time has a very slick on andof feature which definitely solves one of my biggest headaches with using a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad including the Apple uh uh keyboard itself now there are two major problems with me for this case one of them is how clumsy it is to sort of fold it up so you kind of have to fold it up and you want to make sure you fold it in front of the battery not behind the battery uh so it kind of rubs against the front of the iPad you don't really want want that to happen the other problem here is that the case is very heavy it adds about a pound and an ounce to the overall weight of the iPad so that's quite heavy so the iPad itself is a pound and 4 oz this adds another pound and an ounce so it gets quite a bit heavier uh it wouldn't be nice if this part came off and you can just use this part as you know provides protection for the iPad and you can reconnect it to the case as you need it uh but in the end you can still fold it back it is pretty comfortable to hold but again it is pretty heavy so for example when you're holding it back here you can hold on to the battery compartment so add some grip to it uh and your keys will not interfere or will not operate on the screen when you're in this position so again pretty clever design so in the end I still think this is the best solution out there you're certainly paying for it at $129.99 but you get excellent protection for the iPad you get an excellent keyboard case and you get solar charging so you have to worry about charging this via USB or changing the batteries so this is definitely an excellent self- sustaining all-in-one solution for your iPad and I definitely recommend so that's going to do it for me guys thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next videohey guys Mike here the Detroit Borg with a look at the Logitech solar keyboard folio case for the iPad 2 and the iPad 3 now this retails for $129.99 and it's fairly pricey but let's take a look around and see what we get for that money so this is a folio style case so it completely protects the iPad but adds a Bluetooth keyboard integrated into the case and charges via solar cells so no wires no batteries to change here it's entirely self-sufficient connects via Bluetooth obviously since all keyboards connected to the iPad have to connect via Bluetooth or physical connection so what we have here is interactive packaging which is kind of interesting so you can open this up and take a look around the case itself there's actually magnets in the packaging itself not in the case but in the packaging which keep it closed so here you can take a look at the keyboard and you have a little window here to test out the keys so if you're in the Best Buy or any electronic store you can take a look around to see if you like the keys so this is a checklist style key very similar to Apple's uh Bluetooth keyboard has that same sort of travel same sort of feel to it we also have one of its key features demonstrated here which is its positions now unlike most keyboards that just I don't know sort of allow you to slot this into different positions this actually has some functionality to it so when you move it into the keyboard position or the typing position here it actually activates the Bluetooth keyboard so there's no on andof switch here you just move it into the keyboard position and it turns on the Bluetooth keyboard and pairs with the iPad soon as you move it out of that position or if you close it it turns off the keyboard and you're good to go a lot of keyboards they stay permanently connected to it and you have to physically turn it off or you have to go to the iPad to eject the keyboard you also have a media position here which turns the front row of keys into media controls for your movies or music and we'll demonstrate that so let's go ahead and take it out of its packaging to see what we get I've already cut the tabs here so all you have to do is lift it up and we can slide it out but first let's take a look at the literature here we have the Logitech guide which tells us a little about the product about what the buttons do how to install the iPad how to pair the Bluetooth keyboard to the iPad so let's go ahead and take a look around we also have our important information guide which we don't care about peel that back slide it out so now we can take a look around the case so on the inside we have our tray here for installing the iPad which is actually a soft plastic so it also provides plain protection for the iPad Surface this won't scratch it or trap dirt that might scratch the iPad we also have our cutouts here obviously for the camera the buttons our headphone jack our microphone uh our speakers our DOT connector that sort of thing we inside we have this uh polyurethane material just like on the outside it's got the same sort of texture to it so it's also soft material to protect the iPad now the keyboard itself also has some instructions on it on how to install the iPad how to configure it and set it up and how to use settings uh under your iOS device to connect it or your iPad in this case so we have our full keyboard here which is not a full-size keyboard in the traditional sense it's a little crushed together obviously to fit the width of the iPad but it feels pretty full size it's actually fairly comfortable we have a lot of dedicated Keys here which we'll demonstrate once we get the iPad connected so around the outside you can see we have our solar cells here which are covered in plastic we're going to take that off so there you go again this will charge with either solar light or artificial light now installing the iPad is easy all you have to do is drop it into the frame push it at the corners and it kind of snaps into place you can see it does covers the edge of the iPad very minimally so it doesn't obscure the bezel at all and it's pretty snug in there so you can easily pop it out Simply by flexing the frame and it pops out or snaping it all over the edge to snap it back on now with our iPad installed we can take a look around so on the front we have our polyurethane material here again very soft material again very similar to the smart cover or smart case from Apple we have our Logitech branding here along with our solar cells now these are under a sort of a flexible plastic so these will not shatter with you I know that was my concern when I saw that I thought well if that's glass that's going to break uh but no it's pretty durable on the back we have our hinge here for operating or positioning the iPad into those two positions typing or Media mode we also have our camera cutout along with cutouts for the sleep wake switch volume rocker and uh rotation or mute switch cut out for the uh 30 pin dock connector as well as for the microphone and headphone jack now these buttons do look like they're hard to operate but it's not you actually can get your finger in there to operate just fine so uh the other thing here is we have a cutout for the or perforations for the speaker to operate so this actually doesn't muffle the speaker it actually seems to enhance the quality of the speaker largely because the audio sort of bounces off this material and back to the user so I think it actually enhances the audio of the iPad now on the inside we have our keyboard along with our battery compartment here which is sealed charges only by uh solar so you can't replace the batteries or that sort of thing you can see that at our ulates here you can see the bare iPad on the back along with this soft microfiber material to protect the iPad now as you probably notice there are these little Nubs here at the corners of the harder case which wraps the iPad and that's part of the positioning mechanism so if we drop it into our typing position you can see it locks into place or if you drop it into our media position locks it into place now on the right side we have our Bluetooth key which turns the Bluetooth on and off so if we tap that it goes into pairing mode and turns the keyboard or disconnects the keyboard from the iPad we also have a little charging indicator here which let us know we have a full charge right now you can see it's flashing green let us know we're fully charged now the first thing we need to do in order to use the Bluetooth keyboard is to pair it to the iPad so the first thing we want to do is go to settings go to our Bluetooth control make sure it's turned on and now it's going to detect our device here so see it's a Logitech solar KB folio case I'm going to press the Bluetooth pairing button on the side of the case we're going to tap that and now we're connected so that's all there is to it so I can start using my case in fact I can press the home button to take me right to the home screen so let's go ahead go to notes and start typing something now this also means I can easily turn off the keyboard simply by moving it out of position so for example you can see that the um virtual keyboard will pop up once it's disconnected so it may take a second or two now this allows me to basically rotate this around it like a folio style case so I can have basically the keyboard on the back of the iPad while I'm gripping it and you can see I'm typing on it nothing's happening and I can continue to use my virtual keyboard now if I want to reconnect to the keyboard I have to do is position it back into place drop it into its slot and we're good to go now on the top row of keys we have these functions which are highlighted in red which are operated when holding this function button in the lower left corner so one of them is the home button which we're pretty familiar with so if you tap home brings you to our home screen now the home button also operates as you would expect it so if you tap double tap it brings you to the launcher tap it once brings you back tap it again brings you to back to search or whatever you have that function as uh you can also tap and hold hello Siri hi Michael so it brings you to Siri now we also have our search function here again so you have to hold the FN or function button and search so he brings you the search number two here let's bring this back to home number two here is uh the keyboard language so you can cycle between the keyboard languages there we also have our virtual keyboard here so if we go back to our notes here if you tap function keyboard brings up the virtual keyboard so it doesn't disconnect from the physical keyboard you have both keyboards now so if you want that option that's your choice as well so you can split that bring it back together so there you go you can hide that again Now function four all you to select text so you can select words left to right and we also have our Cut Copy item so let's select some text here we can cut that we can paste it or we can we can also do command all and command uh or function seven to copy that and let's go to enter and let's do command V to paste oops command V to paste not function V so you get the idea here so you actually has some redundancies here in terms of those cut copy functions we also have our media controls here so we can play oops function play you can increase the volume function volume and function mute to mute it pause so you don't have a fast forward or skip button and you can also lock the iPad or you can wake it up there you go now we also have our media position here so the buttons down here now become media controls now one of the buttons here is our photo frame mode which activates Ates the slideshow function of the iPad so like takes about a minute here there you go take you out of that you also have the option to invoke your virtual keyboard so obviously when you're in this position you can't use the physical keyboard but you still have to stay connected to the keyboard in order for it to work now we also have some of our media controls down here so if you click play on the space bar or pause it play or stop or music and you can also skip ahead or skip all the way ahead to a different track and of course you can reverse that now you also have your volume controls here so you have volume up or volume down and mute and of course this also works with video so you can play pause skip forward or skip track you can also increase volume drop volume or mute it now in terms of size comparison between this and the Bluetooth Apple keyboard you can see obviously there is quite a bit more room here so but are a little more spread apart the buttons are a little larger and you have a few more of them so you get a little more real estate here to work with now with this they've sort of Consolidated some buns in particular some punctuation but otherwise it feels like a full-size keyboard in fact unless you compare them side by side this feels just as comfortable as a full-size keyboard I can definitely use this for a long period of time without worry but of course some keys and functions have been changed so you do have to get used to that so in the end I'm definitely a big fan of the keyboard case it checks all the boxes for for me provides plain protection for the iPad has a built-in keyboard that is actually useful and comfortable to use over a long period of time has a very slick on andof feature which definitely solves one of my biggest headaches with using a Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad including the Apple uh uh keyboard itself now there are two major problems with me for this case one of them is how clumsy it is to sort of fold it up so you kind of have to fold it up and you want to make sure you fold it in front of the battery not behind the battery uh so it kind of rubs against the front of the iPad you don't really want want that to happen the other problem here is that the case is very heavy it adds about a pound and an ounce to the overall weight of the iPad so that's quite heavy so the iPad itself is a pound and 4 oz this adds another pound and an ounce so it gets quite a bit heavier uh it wouldn't be nice if this part came off and you can just use this part as you know provides protection for the iPad and you can reconnect it to the case as you need it uh but in the end you can still fold it back it is pretty comfortable to hold but again it is pretty heavy so for example when you're holding it back here you can hold on to the battery compartment so add some grip to it uh and your keys will not interfere or will not operate on the screen when you're in this position so again pretty clever design so in the end I still think this is the best solution out there you're certainly paying for it at $129.99 but you get excellent protection for the iPad you get an excellent keyboard case and you get solar charging so you have to worry about charging this via USB or changing the batteries so this is definitely an excellent self- sustaining all-in-one solution for your iPad and I definitely recommend so that's going to do it for me guys thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next video\n"