Why You Can Trust CNET Kensington KeyFolio Pro Universal review: Kensington KeyFolio Pro Universal
The KeyFolio Pro features solid design and a decent keyboard, but it will double the weight of your tablet and add to its girth considerably.
Design
To its credit, Kensington is aiming to cover a couple of bases with the KeyFolio Pro Universal. Firstly, the case is protective, encasing tablets in thick layers of plastic and felt, and although we haven't drop tested the KeyFolio, we feel safe in assuming that it would be sufficient to protect the screen of a tablet.
Kensington KeyFolio Pro Universal
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The case is also designed to act as a tablet stand for when you are typing. The Bluetooth keyboard included in this case is removable, and, once out, small notches are revealed, which hold the top half of the case in a range of different positions (seven, according to the official press release, ranging from 70- to 22-degree viewing angles). Having a removable keyboard is a good idea, giving you the freedom to set up your workspace as you like.
Your tablet is held in position by velcro-secured plastic corners, so while the KeyFolio is advertised for 10-inch tabs, it is able to hold any size of tablet up to 10 inches. Some may worry that velcro may not be sufficient to tightly hold an expensive piece of tech in place, but you can trust us — this is some industrial-strength velcro we're talking about. Extracting the plastic corners from the velcro takes near superhuman effort.
All in all, the Keyfolio Pro is well thought out, but providing all of this functionality comes at the expense of true portability. This case will add 770 grams to your tablet, or, to put that into perspective, it will more than double the weight of most 10-inch tablets on the market at this time. With a 5cm depth, it's also five times thicker than most tablets. With most tablet shoppers seeking the slimmest and most lightweight tablet available, it seems absurd to wrap it in a cover that detracts so much from the assumed portability of a tablet-format computer. When the combined weight of a tablet in the KeyFolio is over 1.5kg, the idea of grabbing an ultrabook instead must start to seem more appealing.
Features
The Universal KeyFolio model is designed for Android tablets, and while the basic keyboard functionality will work with an iPad, all of the built-in shortcuts are Android specific. There is, of course, a separate iPad-friendly version available. These shortcuts run along the Function keys across the top of the six-row keyboard, with icons indicating keystroke access to Gmail, the Browser, Music player and Contacts, plus music-player controls, volume and Android shortcuts for Home, Menu and Back.
The problem is that these shortcuts are only designed to launch the default versions of these applications, and there is no way to customise these controls. We tested the KeyFolio with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, for example, and the Music Player shortcut didn't work at all, because Samsung uses a custom music player on its Android devices. This set-up would be far more appealing had Kensington developed an app to download from the Market that gave users the ability to map shortcuts to the Function keys.
The Bluetooth keyboard is powered by its own 380mAh lithium-ion battery, which Kensington estimates is good for 100 working hours or two months of standby time.
Overall
There are plenty of good ideas in the KeyFolio Pro, but these are considerably offset by the weight and depth of this case. Its AU$99.95 RRP also seems a tad steep — adding a $100 keyboard to a $400 tablet purchase again may have some shoppers wondering whether their budget could stretch to a cheap, lightweight ultrabook instead.