Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

Andrew Cunningham

When I started using the iOS 9 betas on my iPad Air 2, I knew my keyboard situation needed to change.

I have one Bluetooth keyboard, the standard Apple Wireless Keyboard that came with the 2012 iMac that serves as my work-issued computer. I paired it to my iPad for a bit to write our iOS 9 preview coverage, but having two devices paired to the same keyboard (or any Bluetooth accessory, really) is a pain. They fight. It’s messy.

And while it’s the iPad that pushed me over the edge, I’ve got plenty of other computers in the house that could use a Bluetooth keyboard. There’s the upgraded HP Stream Mini on my desk, which serves as my primary machine for Windows testing. There’s the PC I have hooked to the TV to use for occasional gaming and video streaming—it usually doesn’t need a keyboard, but sometimes a driver needs updating or a Bluetooth mouse or controller link inexplicably breaks and I need to do troubleshooting.

All of this prompted me to start looking for something that could help me tame this tangle of devices, and The Wirecutter had my hookup: Logitech’s K811 keyboard, a Bluetooth keyboard that mimics the standard Mac keyboard layout but also lets you pair to three devices without conflicts.

$100 seems steep for a keyboard (you can get a $20 coupon for anything on Logitech’s store as of this writing, which helps), but aside from the multi-device pairing you also get a handy backlight and an internal battery that you don’t get with Apple’s own stock keyboard. And hey, if you’re one of those people who uses a PC but still has an iPad, the K810 is the exact same keyboard with a darker finish and a Windows-friendly layout.

If you already dislike Apple’s standard Bluetooth keyboard, you won’t like the K811. The two feel a little different, but they’re more similar than not, and this will do absolutely nothing for fans of Cherry MX switches or other mechanical keyboards. It’s a chiclet-style keyboard with the same basic layout as Apple’s, but the keys have more rounded corners and appear to be ever-so-slightly farther apart from one another.

The biggest difference to get used to was the keyboard's angle, which is shallower—the keys aren’t angled toward you and there aren’t any little built-in kickstands to use either. The keyboard feels just a bit softer than Apple’s, too. There’s just a tiny bit of flex and while key travel is good the keys are less firm and less clicky.

This isn’t a list of complaints so much as it is a list of differences, though. On the whole, the keyboard feels good if you don’t mind this type of keyboard, and anyone currently using Apple’s will quickly get used to it. I was typing at my normal clip almost instantly.

And once you get used to the small differences, the K811’s added features become difficult to live without. The Apple keyboard’s grey-on-white keys are relatively easy to read by the glow of a monitor in a dark room, but they show dirt quickly and it’s no substitute for a nice even backlight like the K811’s. The internal battery goes days between charges, though it doesn't report its battery level to OS X as the standard Apple Wireless Keyboard does. It's rechargeable via regular old micro USB cables that you can plug into an adapter or your computer, and you can use it while it’s charging (no more AA switching for me!). And the Bluetooth switching worked quickly and flawlessly with my iMac, Windows desktop, and iPad.

The first three function keys on the keyboard are all responsible for switching between your paired devices. The delay between pressing the button and getting a connection is just a couple of seconds, making it feasible to use if you’ve got a couple of different computers or tablets or phones sitting on your desk that you’d like to switch between on the fly.

Using the function keys to switch devices does lead to a couple other small annoyances—it leaves fewer function keys left for things like media buttons, so you don’t have next/previous track buttons or a button for Launchpad like you normally do on Mac keyboards (I miss the former, don’t really care about the latter). There’s also a dedicated Home button for iOS which is handy if you don't want to remember the Command-Shift-H shortcut that takes you to the Home screen in iOS 9.

Whatever its quirks, the K811 is worth a look if you already use Bluetooth keyboards with multiple devices, or if you’re looking for something to use with your iPad that doesn’t increase the sum total of keyboards you need to make room for.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham