iPad Mini Keyboard Cases Hitting the Market

Learn to type on the screen. There's this automatic assumption that you can't, but you can.

TBH I've never really understood keyboard cases on tablets. They make the tablet significantly more bulky, hindering it's portability, and aren't as good for using on the lap as laptops... So why not just use a laptop? 11" MBA anyone?

I've written two novels on an iPad 2 and Clamcase. It's an amazing experience, to be honest. The touchscreen works for 500-1,000 words, but beyond that gets frustrating. Firstly, you're not looking directly at the screen (and can get some strange glare). Secondly, your hands are slightly more cramped than with a keyboard (which is as wide as the iPad with bezel). Thirdly, you can't see as much of your document because the keyboard takes up half the screen.

Why not use a laptop? Well, there are things the iPad can do that laptops can't (mostly gaming, but also simply the ease and comfort of browsing on the couch). So you buy an iPad for $500 (for its strengths) and then a laptop for $1000 (for the keyboard)? Or just an iPad for $500 and $100 for a keyboard? You end up getting the best of both worlds (unless you want OS X, which is another story completely).

those keys must be tiny.

It made me chuckle that she couldn't hit the key without knocking shift...that should never have made it through the cutting room ;)

Learn to type on the screen. There's this automatic assumption that you can't, but you can.

Of course you can type. But the lack of feedback makes touch typing almost impossible*. Plus using an external keyboard means you can see the whole screen when typing.

*not that touch typing is much more practical on a keyboard this small.