I too am late on my review for the Brydge 12.3 keyboard for the Surface Pro 3 and 4. I use a Surface Pro 4 daily as my primary computing device. I use it at work, on the couch, on planes, in bed, etc – and found the normal Surface kickstand awkward and difficult to use. You can imagine how excited I was to see this new option for the Surface!
My story goes like this. I purchased the Brydge 12.3 directly from Brydge a week before I was to fly to a technical conference – so I was eager to test it both on the plane and on my lap during the conference sessions. Unfortunately, Brydge’s order processing and shipping is NOT like AMAZON, and the day before I left for my trip I ran to Best Buy to purchase one in the store. BBY saves the day! It should be noted that the ordered keyboard did show up about 10 days after I ordered and I promptly returned it and was out only the return shipping costs.
OK – so I finally have one in my possession! I took it out of the box and slid my Surface Pro 4 device into the holders and paired it via Bluetooth in minutes – and I was off! Let’s start off with the good things I’ve accumulated over 60 days of daily use:
1. I like the feel of the keys more than the standard Surface keyboard
2. The 3 level background lighting for the keyboard is a nice touch – see picture
3. All functions (volume control, brightness control, etc) worked immediately.
4. Love the ability to position the screen a nearly any angle from 90 to about 170 degrees!!
5. Battery life is great.
6. The option to add an SSD drive is cool – the USB dongle to connect the two devices isn’t. I don’t have the SSD enhanced keyboard, but I read about it. C’mon Brydge, you can do better than that!
Now, let’s talk about the not-so-good things:
1. First and foremost, the keyboard lags. It misses keystrokes. A lot. I write technical documents for a living as well as review products, and I was surprised to read through some of the other reviews without somebody mentioning it. Unless I have a faulty device, it is quite annoying. I’ll admit I’m still using the keyboard because of the screen positioning functionality, and I’ve contacted Brydge regarding the missing keystrokes and they’ve had me try a few things, but the issue still persists.
2. Somebody else mentioned the weight/size. Per my picture, it doubles the size of the Surface Pro4. It is just as thick if not thicker than the Surface device itself. And to me – seems to about double the weight. Yes, I know – it has to so it doesn’t flip over when you have the screen at a 45 degree angle – but I’m telling you – it’s noticeable.
3. Most of you know that when you change keyboard, you sometimes get a different keyboard layout. That can be a real pain in the a$$ – and this is no exception. For example, you have to use the Fn key to use the commands “Home, End, PgUp, PgDn”. That sucks for people that used them and are familiar with their locations. Also, the Ctrl key is out of place – I think the Fn key was inserted in the so if you are use to use Ctrl functions like Copy and Paste, you are going to miss alot.
4. The trackpad works OK, but could be refined. I find myself adjusting the zoom in Chrome by mistake on that trackpad that I like to admit.
Overall – I’m still using the keyboard despite the shortcomings listed above. It worked well on the plane and on my lap – where I couldn’t really use the original Surface with the kickstand. I‘m hopefully that the next product iteration will remedy the flaws – or perhaps I’ll get another one just to see if this one is defective. I would recommend this to a friend but they need to know about the issues before hand.