Brydge 7.9: It Almost Makes Sense

This is a tale of three keyboards. I tried the Zagg Rugged Book. It was so bad as to almost be unreviewable. That didn’t stop me from writing a couple thousand words on it anyway. I might even publish it one day. It was bad, very bad. Then, I tried a nameless, $24 keyboard case. It is the kind of product you see on Amazon that doesn’t bother to mention a manufacturer. It was so unworthy of review, I didn’t even bother. And that is saying a lot for me.

Rather than talk about the products that didn’t make the cut, let’s spend some time with the one that did. In fact, it is the only keyboard you should even consider for your mini. It is either this one or nothing. Here’s why, and why it almost makes sense to buy this keyboard:

Almost affordable

This keyboard costs $99. That will take you over $100 with tax. That’s no fun. In Apple’s world, it is downright cheap. Remember that Apple is the company that sells an iPad Pro keyboard for $350. That is over a third of the price of its iPad companion. The mini starts at $399. This keyboard is a quarter of the price.

However, if we put down the Kool-Aid for a moment, we would recognize $100 is a lot of money for any keyboard, especially a mini keyboard. That said, the Keys-to-Go keyboard was about $80 when new. We might just have to accept that this is within the range of a good, specialty keyboard. It is still at the very high-end of the iPad mini keyboard price range. I suppose it could have been worse, When new, it first came out, it was more like $139.

Almost a good design match for the mini

I have the Space Gray iPad. So I got the Space Gray keyboard. The color is a nice match if you are not looking too closely. The iPad has a bit more shine than the case. It also has a smoother texture. This is not a big deal if you don’t really care about that sort of thing. For the record, I don’t. Even if you do, this is not a deal-breaker.

I care a lot more about the size and weight of devices, especially those that are accessories to devices that are thin and light. A thick and heavy accessory for a thin and light product eliminates one of the main reasons you bought and loved the device in the first place.

One of the fatal flaws of the Zagg is that the keyboard case is 4-times thicker than the iPad mini by itself. The weight of the total package was as subjectively heavy as the 11” iPad Pro with Magic keyboard case. Even as a protective case, it was inexcusably and comically large. Somewhere along the way with the Rugged Book, Zagg lost the plot.

The Brydge 7.9 is just the keyboard with hinges to hold the iPad. The total package is about 2 1/2 times the size of the iPad by itself. Part of that thickness is the rubber feet at the bottom. The keyboard is also every bit as heavy as the iPad, if not heavier. Is that too thick and heavy for a thin and light accessory? You will have to be the judge. The best I can say is that it is almost a good match for what it provides.

Almost a great mini keyboard

All mini keyboards are bad in some way or other. There are no great 10” laptops. And there are even fewer great 8” laptops. The iPad mini paired with the Brydge 7.9 will not be the first. That said, it is the best I have seen, and likely the best you can get.

I will not bother complaining about the small and closely-spaced keys. This is a mini keyboard after all. A good touch-typist can get used to just about any keyboard with time. You will not type at 100 wpm on this keyboard. But you will do better than you expect. It compares favorably against the other truly horrible keyboards I tried. Compared to other keyboards, the spacing and key size is quite luxurious.

I also like the travel and snap of the keys. My weak wrists prefer the feel of loose and shallow keys. But I suspect this key feel is what most typists would prefer. Brydge did a very good job of producing a mini keyboard that didn’t forget it was a keyboard for touch typists. You will not want to replace your desktop keyboard with this one. But you will not be insulted by it either.

There are no great mini keyboards. They all have weird compromises, including this one. But there are no compromises that will keep you from being able to get your work or play done.

Almost enough improvements

This keyboard has been around for a while, just in a slightly different form for the first few minis. We have to give these companies a bit of a break because the iPad mini has been a very iffy product. Year after year, no one is ever sure if the mini will ever be updated. Each iteration has been thought to be the last. It is always a pleasant little surprise to see a new mini.

We also recognize the sometimes huge time-gap between new minis. It has been as long as three years. Companies do not update their accessories for the mini very often. The Zagg case was a moderate update from its original and so is this one. The Zagg updates were not very good. Brydge did a much better job of updating its product. Those updates are almost sufficient.

One of the firsts changes I noticed was a notch at the top-center of the keyboard. Before, you couldn’t swipe up from the bottom-edge of the iPad because the keyboard allowed no room for a finger. This time around, Brydge made an intentional space for swiping up. That is a very welcome update.

Another update has to do with the clasps that hold the iPad. They were always a bitt too tight and flexed the screen when opening and closing the case. Those clasps have been redesigned and padded in such a way that you don’t feel like your screen is going to break from use.

That said, this case was produced before iOS 14. It has no awareness of the Apple Pencil. Thing is, with this design, I’m not sure what Brydge could have done to accommodate the Pencil. I suspect future cases will have some kind of Pencil accommodation. All-in-all, this was a pretty good set of updates.

Does any mini keyboard make sense?

If your only mobile is an iPad, you should probably have an iPad keyboard. If your only mobile is an iPad mini, you should probably have a mini keyboard. If you have made that decision the next decision is pretty easy. The Brydge 7.9 is the one to go with if you don’t have the time and money to waste on products that you will just end up sending back.

I think there is a way to use this kind of keyboard. You don’t put it on and leave it on as if it were a permanent fixture. This keyboard is pretty easy to put on and take off. So put it on when you need it and take it off when you don’t. As much as possible, let the mini be the mini. When you need to use it for something more, this is a good, if not pricy companion.

Keep it on your TV tray, or your nightstand, or in your go bag, or on your desk at work. Leave it wherever you might need to quickly respond to an important email, or write a list, or take some notes, are catch up on social media, or add a few words to that book you are never going to finish. This is the keyboard you grab when a bigger one is not convenient.

The thing about an iPad of any size is that it is a great content consumption device that can become a creation device at any moment. You never know when that moment will come. One moment, you are in your favorite chair reading from the Kindle app. The next moment, you have to respond to an important email from your boss. You don’t need to get up and go to the computer if you have a serviceable iPad keyboard handy. That is how to use this keyboard, as the serviceable iPad keyboard that is always handy.

Wrap-up and buying advice

There is plenty I didn’t talk about in this review. I didn’t talk about the half-sized Return key. Why bother. You are going to hit it when you need to, and not hit it when you don’t. I didn’t mention the placement of the Power key right above the Delete key. I don’t find it an issue. I doubt you will either. You might care about some of the other weird key compromises. But I doubt it. All mini keyboards make some creative choices. Get over it.

I didn’t talk about some of the good things like the rubber nibs on the keyboard protecting the screen from making contact with the keys when the case is closed, or the rubber nibs on the bottom of the hinges keeping the unit from sliding on a table when in use. That said, I might have also mentioned the fact that the case does not close magnetically. So the screen can flop open a little in just the right position. For the good or the bad, these are minor things that are neither deal-breakers nor deal-makers.

The only thing that really matters is whether or not the keyboard does what you bought it to do while not interfering with the iPad mini being what you bought it to be. I believe it does. Further, I believe it is the only one that does. Remember, the base-model iPad mini is more expensive than the standard iPad. It is a bigger investment. I sprung for one with cellular and an unlimited data plan. This is a big investment for me. If it also is for you, then you should consider a keyboard to match that investment. This is that keyboard.

David Johnson