Product Details
- Item Weight: 1 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
- ASIN: B005HTZNGU
- Item model number: 0A36370
List Price :
Price : $89.85
You Save : $26.40 (23%)
Product Description
Description:
Maximize your ThinkPad Tablet experience with the Keyboard Folio Case. Use the physical keyboard with an optical trackpoint for a faster and more tactile way to interface with your Tablet in environments such as e-mail, office applications and virtual applications. When you're on the move, simply fold up the case and you're ready to go. No need to remove your Tablet and place it in another case.
Features:
- Leather folio
- Wired keyboard
- Optimized for Android, including buttons for home, back, menu, search
- Multimedia buttons for speaker volume and mute, microphone mute, play, and pause
- Magnetic 3-position landscape stand
- Optical Trackpoint
Technical Details
- New - Retail
- 1-Year Warranty
Customer Reviews
Let me start by first saying that I have no previous experience with Thinkpad keyboards, so I don't have a strong desire to re-create a user experience from a laptop.
Pro's:
-Good key feel. I have used an iPad keyboard and found myself frustrated with the extremely short stroke of the keys. the keys on the thinkpad tablet keyboard feel more like a nice laptop keyboard.
-Nice size. I have big hands, and small keyboards can be frustrating (I find most netbooks uncomfortable to use). This keyboard is fine since the letter keys are normal sized, although the smaller than normal enter and shift keys may take a little getting used to.
-3 magnetic 'slots' allow you to orient the screen for better viewing angle.
Con's:
-Uses up the full sized USB port. While the folio is plugged in I cannot plug in my thumbdrive.
-Hard to remove tablet. The USB port is off center on the tablet, while the cut-out in the folio for you to push the tablet out is centered. this means that you must push the tablet out of the frame with one hand and apply a 'twist' with the other hand in order to get the tablet to slide out straight. This is made more complicated by the fact that the 'clip' that holds the tablet down into the folio is fixed in place, and you need to bend it back out of the way for the tablet to come out of the frame. As a consequence of all this I sometimes feel like I need three hands to remove the tablet comfortably.
-Thick: this folio more than doubles the thickness of the tablet. While I appreciate the nice feel of the keys, this is much thicker than an iPad keyboard
-No battery: The other android tablet with an appealing keyboard setup is the Asus Transformer, and that keyboard has an extra battery which extends the tablet's useful life. For the price of this folio, it would have been nice if Lenovo had included a similar feature.
-Android really isn't set up to be a laptop OS. I have used this folio for typing emails, and a bit of web surfing, but that's about it. For most uses I prefer the tablet on it's own. I almost never use the mouse feature, as I find it simpler to just tap the screen. Most of the apps I use for productivity utilize the stylus, which is awkward with the tablet in the case. If I try to use the tablet in the folio for my normal annotating and note taking with the stylus, I find that I spend a lot of time with the folio spread out flat so that I can write on the screen. In this arrangement the keyboard simply gets in the way.
-the base of the folio has a 'floppy' section, which can make the folio had to use unless you have a desk or table surface to work on. This is hard to describe, but the back of the folio where the leather folds to close the folio, remains flexable in use, so the screen can tilt up and down if your work surface isn't fully stable.
-the tablet is stuck in landscape orientation. some programs like the built in notes program, only operate in portrait mode, which is frustrating if you have the tablet in the folio.
Summary:
If you aren't trying to make an android powered thinkpad laptop, then this may not be the folio for you. I do find it useful, but the price is pretty expensive for what ends up being just a USB keyboard with a leather wrapper. Persons with experience using the Thinkpad laptop line may find the keyboard feel and weird mouse setup more appealing than I do. Overall this is an OK accessory, but I'm not thrilled with it.
Like many consumers who make rash presumptions, I stupidly thought the ThinkPad Tablet keyboard folio case would have the traditional, magical, wonderful, beautiful, outstanding touch, feel, and performance of the keyboard on the ThinkPad laptops.
I was wrong.
The Keyboard Folio Case has it's own tactile feel and click sound. Don't get me wrong, it's quite good with very acceptable click responses, key feel, pressure, etc. Although my hands are larger than average, my fingers have no trouble navigating the slightly-smaller distances between keys. I have not yet used the top-row tablet function keys, but I have no reason to believe they will reduce my satisfaction with the unit.
Just one thing to note, the hard plastic retainer that secures your tablet (once you insert the tablet into the folio case) will leave some minor scratch marks on the tablet case (not on the glass). If you plan to use the tablet both within and without the folio case (and I presume you will), then expect some slight scratches in the area of the retaining clip.
All in all, a good performing keyboard that gives you a near-laptop look and feel.
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