Andrew O'Hara
AppleInsider goes hands on with the new Brydge Pro+ keyboard that adds a trackpad to your iPad Pro, as preorders begin.
Apple fulfilled many requests when it added external mouse and trackpad support in iOS 13 and iPadOS. Brydge is one of a few companies that are jumping on this opportunity to develop an optimized solution to boost productivity. Its solution — Brydge Pro+ — has just opened for preorders and AppleInsider got an early look.
The Brydge Pro+ is instantly very familiar for anyone who has seen a Brydge product in the past. It is crafted from aluminum with a full set of backlit keys in the center.
Where it differs is the trackpad that has been integrated between the spacebar and the edge of the keyboard.
The trackpad is sufficiently large, especially on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and has a smooth glass surface on the top, just as Apple's Magic Trackpad does. It felt good as we used the trackpad to navigate through iPadOS on an iPad Pro.
We did notice a bit of a delay at times using the integrated trackpad. Brydge says this delay is due to the Bluetooth connection, which may have been exacerbated by nearby interference when we tested the Brydge Pro+. The small amount of lag that will persist though can improve over time as Apple works further on mouse support in iPadOS.
Brydge's trackpad supports multi-touch, similar to Apple's on a Mac. Brydge assigned a two-finger tap to raise the dock, a triple-finger tap to invoke expose, and a tap in the lower-right corner to go back to the Home screen. This can be all be customized within settings.
In the most recent iOS 13.3 update, Apple also has added support for Hot Corners which brings even more functionality to Brydge Pro+ even before it launches. By just navigating the mouse to one of the corners can perform other actions, such as going back to the Home screen.
Alongside the Brydge Pro+, Brydge is also launching a standalone iPad trackpad. The trackpad is the same size as Apple's trackpads that are integrated into the MacBook Pro. It has a glass top and an aluminum frame that can be charged over USB-C.
The Brydge Pro+ is currently available to order in space grey for both the 12.9-inch and 11-inch iPad Pro for $229.99.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
16 Comments
Their keyboards are decent, but pricey and I'm not a fan of how they connect to the iPad. The touchpad is not great as the basic support for input devices is mouse based so using this with the iPad is a miserable experience. Save your money and buy a Logitech keyboard and forget the mouse until it is properly supported (unlikely, as mouse support is only a byproduct of supporting assistive devices on the iPad which all emulate mousing input).
Ok, so it’s really $229, not the $299 as reported earlier, for both sizes, at least in preorder. I’m really interested to see how this works, even though it’s really too heavy and thick for me.
This puts the iPad Pro squarely in the Surface Pro market.
I currently have the Logitech unit and really do not want a trackpad.
The nice thing is the people at this company are thinking and doing interesting things. I would not be surprised if Apple snapped the company up at some point.
"We did notice a bit of a delay at times using the integrated trackpad. Brydge says this delay is due to the Bluetooth connection,...."
Useless (for me).