Kensington KeyLite iPad 2 keyboard case: Beatweek 2012 Best of Show at CES

January 18, 2012 by Bill Palmer

by Bill Palmer

Kensington’s first attempt at an iPad keyboard case was about as awkward as most of its competitors’ first tries, but the company struck nailed it with its second attempt in the form of the KeyFolio Pro. That product is going to stick around, but will now coexist with the KeyLite, which is a slimmer iteration as its name implies. The KeyLite abandons chiclet keys in favor of an all-flat conductive keyboard whose “keys” exist simply as raised outlines, which Kensington refers to as a “touch keyboard.”

In typing on the unit, we found that the flat physical keyboard does have advantages over the iPad’s virtual keyboard in that the raised lips around the keys allow you to be more assured that you’re hitting the correct key – and it of course allows you to keep your iPad’s entire screen available for whatever app you’re using without the intrusion of the virtual keyboard.

The result is a slimmer KeyLite case overall, about as thick as the KeyFolio pro on one end but much slimmer for the rest of the length of the case. Not everyone will go for the unusual keyboard surface of the $119 KeyLite over that of the $99 KeyFolio Pro, but it makes the unit sufficiently slimmer such that it has to be considered. As of right now, Kensington makes the top two iPad 2 keyboard cases on the market.