Neil Hughes
The onscreen keyboard with Apple's iPad Pro includes a dedicated number and character row, as well as buttons for caps lock, tab and more, taking advantage of the device's spacious 12.9-inch display.
The full array of virtual keys, essentially matching what users would find on a standard physical keyboard, can be accessed in both portrait and landscape modes when typing on the iPad Pro.
The include the ability to tap (or temporarily hold) shift while pressing a number key to input the symbol located above it. Keys for plus, minus, equals, dash, backslash, brackets, colon, semicolon, apostrophe and more can be found on the expanded virtual keyboard.
Apple also prevents accidental pressing of the new caps lock button by requiring that users hold their finger down on it for a short period. Simply tapping the caps lock button will not enable it.
When switching to the numeric and symbol keypad (by pressing the ".?123" button to the right of the spacebar), more symbols can be accessed, including currencies and even an ellipses button. In this keyboard, buttons on the far left include undo and redo options.
While the virtual keyboard has gained a great deal, it also loses one key feature: the split keyboard option.
With the iPad Air and iPad mini, users can take two thumbs and drag the keyboard apart to allow easier access for typing. That's not possible with the iPad Pro, presumably because Apple feels the device is too large to simultaneously hold and type on.
The onscreen virtual keyboard does automatically disappear once a user connects a hardware keyboard to the Smart Connector. It is replaced by a small menu bar at the bottom of the screen that includes QuickType suggestions, and shortcut buttons to font adjustments, where applicable.
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
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18 Comments
This is all very nice. But I still think that the key to clear the screen of the keyboard is too wide. Same thing for the number shift keys. If they made the keyboard key narrower, and the number shift key narrower, on both sides, and the emoji, keyboard key narrower, they could move that .com key to the left side, and put arrow keys on the bottom right. That would be a great thing to have back.
Never used the split keyboard. I wouldn't even consider it a key feature to most users. Am I alone?
Never used the split keyboard. I wouldn't even consider it a key feature to most users. Am I alone?
Yes, you are absolutely alone. Everyone is using it. Absolutely.
What if... you could use the iPad Pro keyboard to input text into your AppleTV?
I'll go out on a limb here and predict that the next iPad Pro will have force touch, making the virtual keyboard even more useful. It will also make the Apple Pencil more useful too. Think I'll wait...