I have a Surface Pro 3, an iPad 2, and an iPhone 6+. I also have a few Android devices for development. Sometimes I'm on a plane and want to do email, or I'm playing a game on my iPad and I've got my iPhone off to the side. You know, various combinations like you do.
For a while I used the Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard. It's universally well-reviewed and with discounts is as low as US$58. One of the big Pros of the Universal Mobile Keyboard is that the cover separates via magnets from the keyboard and includes a notch to hold your tablet up at an angle.
However, for me it had a few nits. It's about 75% of full-size which is just a little "off" for larger hands. It's also deceptively large. You can't really put it in an inside jacket pocket, it's definitely a backpack item. It's great, but it's not perfect.
Universal Foldable Keyboard
Fast forward a year and the Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard is out. I preordered it as soon as I saw it in April. I swear if I had a dozen of these in my backpack I could sell them in a day of just sitting in a cafe. Folks always ask about it. It's lighter than most mobile keyboards, the folding is cool, the battery life is months (they say...I've never charged it yet, but it charges with micro-USB so that's trivial), and it supports basically any device.
I was at OSCON using the keyboard and the two things I consistently heard were:
- Why have I never heard of this?
- This is from Microsoft and it supports any device?
Seriously, Microsoft needs to do more than just word-of-mouth to advertise cool stuff like this. I realize I'm gushing, but I like the keyboard.
Here's the details. It's about 6 inches by 5 inches. Pictured below next to my Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse (which also rocks) for size comparison.
It unfolds, of course. Here it is pictured next to my Surface Pro 3 keyboard. The material and keys are basically the same. Surprisingly the fold in the middle looks a lot more dramatic than it feels in practice. Notice that the T and N and G and H are wider than they should be? That subtle but significant change makes touch typing very easy, in fact.
The keys are advertised as "full-sized" but you can see in the pic they are likely about 90-95% of full size. So "darn near full-sized" would be a fair statement. They aren't significantly smaller than my Surface that it slowed me down, but it's worth pointing out.
The killer feature - besides the folding - is the that you can pair two devices to it at the same time and switch between them. See the [1] and [2] buttons there? You long-press them to switch devices. So you can be typing on your Surface or Tablet, then get a text message on your phone, then just long press to reply to it then long press to return to the main device. The keyboard also has an OS button in the upper right corner to manage keyboard mappings, and it remembers them for each paired device.
For example, the Escape Key on iOS is also Home, or a double-press is the iOS task switcher. The Home button is home or the Windows Key depending on your device. There's also a CMD key for Macs as well as the usual Alt/Option key.
A con of this keyboard is that it does need a flat surface to sit on. It won't work well on your lap. Also, I haven't figured out how to force the FN key to reverse the functionality so there is no easy way to do things like ALT-F4. The default functionality for the top row is for more "Consumer" things like muting the volume and such, not for coders and hotkeys. For many folks that will be a deal-breaker, but for blog posts, emails, and surfing around, it's fine for me. I'm not going to code for hours on it.
I also did an unboxing video the day I got it in the mail, filmed with a potato, so check it out and subscribe to my YouTube.
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