[Personal] Review of ZAGGmate (Bluetooth Keyboard/Case)

[MattIM]

Hello imluvinazsun, welcome to the Forum!

I was so excited to receive my new Zaggmate the day before Christmas! I charged the keybaord for several hours, unplugged it and proceeded to pair the keyboard with the ipad. Nothing doing. I sat down with the instructions and tried a dozen times, all to no avail. The ipad does not seem to recognize the bluetooth within the ipad. Bummer!! It seems there are few such issues with the Zaggmate as I can find no one on this thread that has experienced this problem except one person and that keyboard had a loose key. Any advice? Thanks for any advice offered!

Some questions for you:
1. You did go to settings and turned bluetooth to on?
2. On your Zaggmate you have the little button slider to the right in the on position?
3 Did you see any of the status indicator lights?
4. Did your ipad give you a code to pair your keyboard?

 

[kc2ped]

Battery Questions

I got my ZAGGmate on 22Dec and it has been turned on continuously ever since but mostly unused. I have not seen the low battery warning yet. when I do see it, how long will it be before the battery is completely dead? Is the battery Lithium Ion so you can plug it in whenever you want without having to worry about battery memory effect? Once the battery is completely discharged how long does it take to fully charge when plugged into the 10v Apple charger; when plugged into a 5v powered USB hub?

I would gladly give up a little battery life for the reassurance of having the power light flash at me once a minute so I know it is still working.

If ar some point the firmware gets updated will we be able to flash our units to get the upgrade?

 

[ZAGG]

ZAGGmate Battery, etc

We have recently added an FAQ section for the ZAGGmate that discusses the battery. The FAQ's can be found here:

ZAGG | Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the highlights:

How much warning do I get when the Status light begins to flash warning me I have a low battery?

The "Status" light flashes when you have about 20% battery life remaining.This gives you a couple days of normal use to recharge the battery.

How often does the ZAGGmate keyboard need to be charged?

ZAGGmate’s long-life battery can stay charged for several weeks of normal use between charges. When not in use, turn off the keyboard to lengthen battery life. ZAGGmate will go into sleep mode if left on and not being used; press a key and wait 2-3 seconds to bring it out of sleep mode.

How do you charge the ZAGGmate keyboard?

Included with your ZAGGmate is a mini USB cable. You can plug this into a standard USB charger such as your iPad charger or a computer USB port.

How long does it take to charge the battery?

The "Charging" light turns on when charging and then turns off when completely charged. A mostly complete charge takes just over an hour but the light may take several hours before it turns off. We recommend charging it overnight about once a month.


Personally, I just leave mine on all the time. No need to slide the switch back and forth. The sleep works great and I assure you you'll get plenty of warning when it's time to recharge, but there is no harm in chagrinning anytime you want because it is indeed a lithium polymer battery.

Also, I you are having pairing issues, check the FAQ's. We have a detailed troubleshooting section there. It is very rare that we hear issues but we want to make sure all the steps are as clear as possible. If the steps don't seem to work for you, just call our customer support group or send an email. Contact info is right on the top of our website.

 

[USBill]

Sorry about the letter T issue. These keyboards are very sturdy and durable. The letters are placed onto the scissor mechanism on an assembly line and it sounds like your T wasn't placed correctly. I'm also assuming the defect on the T is what was causing the pairing issue as your keyboard was probably sending that letter the whole time. Please call customer support and we will replace your unit right away and make it worth your while. Sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Thanks. My wife will be calling on Monday.

After reading the FAQ I wonder if having paired another keyboard may have caused a problem. Can you pair more than one keyboard to an iPad?

 

[rsmin]

Ok, just got my zaggmate today. For those of you that have one have you gotten used to the small keyboard yet? I love the feel of the keys but I am struggling with the small keys. I am typing this with it now. Thanks

 

[Mickey330]

Yeah, rsmin, it IS tiny, isn't it? Smaller than the keyboard on my ASUS 1000HA netbook, in fact...

I find that I am used to it - and that didn't take very long. Now, it may be a simple case of (1) I am thrilled with how much better this keyboard is over the on-screen one for longer typing sessions, or (2) I am so thrilled with this whole case/keyboard-when-you-want-it concept, but I truly have few issues with using this relatively small keyboard. It just works for me! It's small, but all the keys are laid out sensibly and, having those little hash marks on the "F" and "J" mean I can just line up my fingers and type away. Very handy for a touch typist.

Now, if I can just learn that the space bar takes just a little bit more pressure ... I'd be a typing fool on this thing!

Marilyn

 

[rsmin]

Thanks

Yeah, rsmin, it IS tiny, isn't it? Smaller than the keyboard on my ASUS 1000HA netbook, in fact...

I find that I am used to it - and that didn't take very long. Now, it may be a simple case of (1) I am thrilled with how much better this keyboard is over the on-screen one for longer typing sessions, or (2) I am so thrilled with this whole case/keyboard-when-you-want-it concept, but I truly have few issues with using this relatively small keyboard. It just works for me! It's small, but all the keys are laid out sensibly and, having those little hash marks on the "F" and "J" mean I can just line up my fingers and type away. Very handy for a touch typist.

Now, if I can just learn that the space bar takes just a little bit more pressure ... I'd be a typing fool on this thing!

Marilyn

Marilyn,

Thanks. Will just have to practice some.

Rusty

 

[imluvinazsun]

pairing ipad

MattIM,
Thanks for your response. I should have included that I followed the video for pairing on the Zagg website. I did have the ipad bluetooth "on" as I was already connected to my router. I next slid the Zagg switch to the right to turn it on, next pressed the bluetooth button on the Zagg and did see the blinking red light indicating it was searching for the ipad. I continued to watch for the ipad to recognize a signal and receive the code but the Zagg bluetooth was never recognized. I tried several times and let the ipad and Zagg continue searching but never did the two devices see one another. Sorry I wasn't more specific on my initial post and I really appreciate your effort to help! Thanks again.

 

[MattIM]

Hello, I Am Loving Arizona Sun!

I hate that your Zaggmate isn't working. It sounds like you did what I did to get the Zaggmate to pair with your iPad. I think you should give Zagg a call or go to their website and see if there are some tips or additional help they can provide you.

Good Luck!

 

[BrennB]

@imluvinazsun only concern with your post is you say you have bluetooth turned on because you're already connected to your router...bluetooth has nothing to do with wifi/router portion... just to be sure.

 

[kc2ped]

Wont pair after OS upgrade

I accidentally upgraded to iOS 4.2.1 this morning and now it wont pair with my ZAGGmate. I remembered to go into settings and turn Bluetooth back on but that didn't help. The ZAGGmate was still listed under devices so I told it to forget about the device and tried again with no luck. I even cycled power on both the iPad and the ZAGGmate and it hadn't paired after 10 minutes. Is this another thing Steve has taken away from us with the new iOS?

 

[ZAGG]

iOS upgrade

I had the same thing happen to me. I restarted my iPad a second time and everything worked just fine. Weird. Try a couple restarts and if you see ZAGGmate listed but not connected, click on the arrow to the right and tell it to forget the ZAGGmate and re-pair. You should be fine.

 

[rsmin]

Hey, this is off the subject a tad, but I just got my zaggmate yesterday. (Typing on it now) I put a Zaqg invisishield on it and that looks good. I just cant make my mind up on covering the IPAD now. What's your opinion as far as the leatherskin? I am torn between the black leather and the croc? Just can't make my mind up which one?

 

[BrennB]

I put a tan embossed leather skin on my ipad and it looks awesome in the zaggmate case. I am going to put the non-embossed leather on the back of the zaggmate to match. I have the invisishield on the screen also. Love it all.

RE: bluetooth connection. I have only used the zaggmate with 4.2 so that is not the a worry. I did have some issues reconnecting, yesterday. But it was resolved by power cycling both products.

 

[Maynard123]

Zagg Mate Function Keys

Got my Zagg Mate at Best Buy today and love it. I have a question about the function keys:

It appears that keys F5 thru F9 are currently not being used. Is it possible to assign things to those keys, such as macros (e.g., open email app) or assign text, such as a signature to one of those keys?

Congrats to the Zagg folks for an awesome product. This is my third iPad case, and I love it!

Maynard