Techcitement Review: ZAGG FLEX And ZAGGfolio Keyboards

As much as I love my HP TouchPad, I’m not a huge fan of touch-typing on the screen. While I honestly think webOS has the best onscreen keyboard of any tablet I’ve used, there’s still something to be said for the feel of real keys under one’s fingers.

Recently I’ve been using a basic tablet stand from Otter (makers of Otterbox cases) and an Apple Bluetooth keyboard. It’s keen, but the Apple keyboard isn’t quite as easy to tow around as I would like. Still, it was free and there’s nothing I love more than cheap solutions.

I'm proud to say that the total cost of the above was $0.

Recently, ZAGG, makers of all sorts of goodies, sent Techcitement the ZAGGkeys FLEX as well as their ZAGGfolio. The FLEX is a tablet keyboards and stand, and the Folio is basically the same thing but built into a rather nice looking iPad 2 case. The FLEX actually snatched a CES 2012 Innovation Award nod, so that’s something to note.

Simple yet elegant, but innovative?

The ZAGGfolio isn’t the first keyboard case for the iPad 2 to come down the pipe. The case aspect is nicely made, available in either polyurethane or leather, in a multitude of colors. My wife is the iPad user in the house and I thought I’d have to pressure her into using it. Instead, I found myself unable to get any time alone with the device to review it. The stylish yet light case stayed on the iPad 80 percent of the time, even when she was just watching videos. I think that’s a huge sign of success for a peripheral — when an average user keeps it on even when they’re not using it just in case they might need it. The keyboard pairs with the iPad over Bluetooth and does so elegantly and smoothly, and iOS “remembers” it well.

Open says me. Oof, sorry for that.

The FLEX is another matter, but let me begin by praising how light it is. The thing is so airy that I honestly thought I’d left it at home several times. That’s partially facilitated by it being made of plastic instead metal (like my aforementioned Apple Bluetooth keyboard). There are times when it does feel a tad cheap in the hand, but that’s easily ignored in favor of the ease of use of the device. The keys are well spaced, especially considering the size, and I’m able to type quickly and accurately.

My editor wishes me to add the caveat "accurate for me, anyway."

The FLEX works with Android and iOS, and it has a handy-dandy switch to toggle between the OSes. These impact the behavior  of the top row, where a typical keyboard would have function keys. The ZAGGfolio and FLEX instead have a set of special command keys — home, search, photos, onscreen keyboard, cut, copy, paste, and media controls. These vary somewhat from Android to iOS so be sure to see where you’ve toggled. The keyboard also works quite nicely with webOS, but the special keys are essentially useless here. This, of course, is not ZAGG’s fault.

I guess the real question about the FLEX and ZAGGfolio is: are they worth buying? At $99 direct from ZAGG for the Folio and $79 for the FLEX, neither are exactly cheap. However, they can be found for cheaper elsewhere and they have the plus of being well-made and well-designed. The FLEX in particular is good enough that all but two of the paragraphs of this review were typed on it — for the first two I used my original Apple solution. I actually found the FLEX easier to type on, because the Apple keyboard wobbled a tad and the slant felt odd. The FLEX is more like using a netbook keyboard, and is nice and flat. Because the FLEX works so well, I intend to make this my regular set-up, and it’s quite possible that I might not use my MacBook much at all.

With Christmas just past and Chanukah almost over, it’s a tad too late for me to suggest you put this on your wish lists. However, if you get some nice gift certificates or some nice gelt (that’s money, for the gentiles in the room), you may want to check one of these out.