The onscreen keyboard on the iPad is great, and works wonders, especially on the new iPad’s beautiful display. But once in a while, if you’re doing a lot of work on the iPad and typing for a long period of time, you might prefer a physical keyboard.
There are quite a few keyboards for the iPad out there, and even some can be used as a case when the keyboard isn’t needed – but one of the coolest iPad keyboards is one I saw while browsing Kickstarter – the Brydge, which makes your iPad look like a MacBook Air!.
Brydge is a full-sized aerospace-grade aluminum keyboard with optional stereo speakers. Because the speaker in the iPad isn’t the greatest, I think this is a great option to have external speakers combined with a keyboard. It makes the keyboard and iPad even that much more mobile, so you won’t have to carry around multiple accessories besides your iPad. The Brydge connects to the iPad using a click-in hinge for 180 degrees of positioning to set it anyway you prefer.
The Brydge is about just as thin as a Macbook Air when attached to an iPad, which is great because it’s not too bulky or heavy. The Brydge is charged via micro USB cable. An indicator light on the side shows power levels. There is also no need to turn Brydge on and off on it’s own – it hibernates and turns off with your iPad.
The Brydge is only supported on the iPad 2 and the new iPad. You can reserve a Brydge with or without speakers for $150 or $180, respectively, and shipments should be going out to those who pledged on Kickstarter this October.