Your palms rest on the same gray material that surrounds the case. There’s a companion app for controlling the duration and fade of the keyboard backlighting, which is clumsy, but not necessary to use if you don’t care about adjusting those things. The layout is smaller than a traditional keyboard, with each key slightly shrunk down, but after a few minutes of typing, I was able to adjust. It even has a row of function keys for adjusting brightness, volume, and so on, something Apple doesn’t provide on its own keyboards. It’s backlit with keys that are well spaced and have 1mm of travel. Though I haven’t been able to test this specifically, using the keyboard on a plane’s tray table or small surface is unlikely to work comfortably. I measured about 12 inches for a “normal” viewing angle. Similar to the Microsoft Surface, the case has a long footprint when the hinge and keyboard are in use. There’s some wobble in the hinge when you adjust it, but it never sagged or moved on its own. The hinge is free-flowing, too there are no hard stopping points. The Microsoft Surface-style kickstand offers a 40-degree range (120 to 160 degrees) of tilt, which is more than I’d ever need. It just works, thanks to Logitech’s use of the Smart Connector built into the side of the iPad.

There’s no Bluetooth pairing, power buttons, or charging. When you do use the keyboard, it magnetically snaps into place and starts working immediately. It’s not a huge issue, but it seems odd to have the keyboard just laying around if you want to use the iPad like an iPad. It doesn’t fold backward or magnetically attach to the back of the iPad. Unfortunately, there is nowhere to put the keyboard when it’s not in use.

The left side of the iPad will be exposed, but the rubber bezels are thick enough to keep the side lifted off the surface.

It doesn’t feel clumsy to use without the keyboard attached, and the hinge is still accessible to watch movies or video chat. If you remove the keyboard, the iPad lays flat on a table, which is great if you draw or handwrite notes. The Combo Touch case has cutouts for the iPad’s speakers and charging port.

Case for apple keyboard and mouse