Logitech Flip Folio

Logitech is quietly one of the best accessory manufacturers, and from the MX series to detailed and thoughtful tablet accessories, you can almost always trust that the products are designed deliberately and with actual use in mind.

The new {Flip Folio} case for iPad (in this case, the smaller 11" {iPad Pro}) once again attempts to crack the seemingly impossible code of creating a one-size-fits-all case that meets all needs at the same time and finally pushes the tablet one step closer to becoming a mini laptop. It's a mission Logitech has been on before, but {Flip Folio} comes really close.

Okay, so what is it? It's a classic case that protects the front and back of your iPad, leaves room for your {Apple Pencil} and offers a positionable stand on the back so you can angle it however you want. So far, so good, but the {Flip Folio}'s "party trick" is that there is a magnetic recess in the soft rubber coating on the front. This is where a completely separate keyboard is placed, which can be removed at a moment's notice.

This means that with the {Flip Folio}, you don't have to sit so close to your iPad, as the keyboard is not stuck to the device, instead, there is much more freedom to use your iPad as an actual production platform.

So far, so good, but there are still a few minor issues that Logitech definitely needs to iron out in later iterations. First and foremost, this keyboard is absolutely brilliant. It's soft, nice to use and has excellent keys, but it would have been ideal if Logitech had found a way to raise it slightly to make the angle more comfortable. Furthermore, the front cannot be separated from your iPad, so if, for example, you place your tablet in a stand so that it can be used as a supplementary screen on a workstation, or simply want to use it without the heavy case, this is not possible.

That said, this is a pretty neat way to make an iPad function as a laptop, while respecting the unique functionality that makes more and more people use it as a stand-in for a real laptop. Unfolding it, turning on the keyboard, and positioning both parts much more comfortably on a table is a comfort that is difficult to do without.

One of these costs around £160, which is considerably less than {Apple}'s {Magic Keyboard} for iPad, for example, but you also sacrifice passthrough charging - meaning the keyboard has to be charged separately - and perhaps more critically, a trackpad. The idea is that you either don't need one, or that you use a separate mouse if you're really serious, and I can actually relate to that.

In fact, this is dangerously close to the jack-of-all-trades solution that many hardcore iPad users have been waiting for. The question is whether the lack of a trackpad and passthrough will scare people away when they see that this is actually more expensive than just buying a cheap cover and a small travel keyboard.