The best way to type on the iPad Mini

I’ve never found typing on an 8-inch tablet to be a comfortable experience. But then came the ClamCase Pro for iPad Mini, and…things got a little bit better. I’m still not going to say that your dream writer’s tool is an iPad Mini with keyboard. But, this ClamCase Pro on a Mini makes a case, literally, for being the best little travel typing tool for those who are just looking for an on-the-go keyboard security blanket.

The $129 accessory (pricing for the UK and Australia has not yet been announced) is, basically, a keyboard bonded to a folio case that turns your iPad Mini or iPad Mini Retina, when snapped in, into a veritable netbook-alike. Minus the trackpad, of course.

These types of cases are everywhere, but the ClamCase does two things better: one, its keyboard base can flip around so you can use the tablet to read, or prop it up like the Lenovo Yoga or many other Windows 8 flip-top hybrids — and that keyboard deactivates automatically when flipped. Two, that keyboard’s laid out much more logically than ones like the Logitech Ultrathin for iPad Mini. The keys are cramped, but you can actually type at a clip, and the layout isn’t oddly compressed. My fingers knew where to go.

The ClamCase Pro’s outer shell is white matte polycarbonate, which feels durable and can take scratches well. Inside, the keyboard base is all aluminum, like a mini MacBook Air. There’s even spiritual space below for the keyboard for a trackpad, which, of course, isn’t there (iOS doesn’t support trackpads, anyway).

The keys, of course, are compact. But their layout makes a lot more sense than other small iPad Mini keyboards. My fingers were cramped, but I found myself able to get in a groove and write at a speed that was, at times, at least faster than what I could already do by tapping on the iPad’s screen.