• ColorWare has released a Crayola-inspired Apple Pencil Pro
• The device strongly resembles a colorful wax crayon
• You can still use it like a regular Apple Pencil Pro

Apple products are known for their distinctive visual style that usually combines sleek minimalism and metallic professionalism. What it is not generally known for is a childish sense of whimsy, yet that’s exactly what you get with ColorWare’s latest custom Apple Pencil Pro. It could turn out to be one of the best iPad accessories around.

Dubbed the Apple Crayon Pro, the device is an Apple Pencil Pro in function, but definitely not in form. Instead of the usual stripped-back white stylus, ColorWare’s version looks arrestingly like a wax crayon. It comes in seven colors – black, mint, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow – with the familiar paper-like wrapper around the body of the product. If you didn’t look too closely, you might not realize they were Apple Pencils at all.

And although ColorWare’s modified Apple Pencil Pro looks very different to Apple’s original, it functions in the same way. You get the same accurate drawing and wireless charging as you do with a regular Apple Pencil Pro, albeit in a vastly dissimilar form factor.

A quirky custom crayon

ColorWare is known for its reskins of popular devices and has released a slew of custom models across different product lines. You can buy a pair of retro AirPods, for example, or an original PlayStation-inspired DualSense controller. The company publishes many different designs that are available from its shop.

It’s not the first time ColorWare has trained its eye on the Apple Pencil Pro, either. Last year, the company released the Apple Number 2 Pencil Pro, which was an Apple Pencil designed to look like a standard wood-and-graphite pencil.

The main drawback to these fun overhauls is the price. The crayon-inspired Apple Pencil Pro costs $215 (around £160 / AU$340), for instance – an $86 markup over the $129 / £129 / AU$219 Apple Pencil Pro that Apple sells.

Still, if you’re after a quirky accessory to pair with any of the best iPads, ColorWare’s Apple Pencil Pro might be worth a look. But whatever you do, don’t try to sharpen it.

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• 6 iPad accessories that are actually worth buying – and a few that aren't

If you’ve just bought an iPad, chances are that your targeted ads are getting frantic trying to sell you more stuff. Gimmicky peripherals, TikTok tat, useful-looking bits of plastic that you’ll never use; there’s an entire industry that’s sprung up around iPad accessories.

I’ve been using iPads for years both as a tech reviewer and as a normal person, and I’ve come to understand which iPad accessories are actually useful, and which are destined for the landfill.

So here are six iPad accessories that are genuinely worth your time and money; I’ve discounted actual official Apple products and accessories, as that’d be a bit too obvious.

I’ve also included a dishonorable mentions list at the bottom, of some products I’ve intentionally not included, and why they’re not worth buying.

1. A keyboard case

I like tablets, but typing on them is an absolute pain. I wrote my entire college dissertation on one, 12,000 words long, and it taught me that on-screen keyboards simply aren’t great for word processing.

So enter keyboard cases; these are accessories that protect your iPad while you’re transporting it, and which can be unfurled into stands with keyboards when you’re ready to work. It’s such a fundamental part of the iPad experience that Apple sells multiple versions of it (not that you need to rely on Apple’s pricey options).

My keyboard case is my most-used accessory by far – not just for the word processing benefits but simply as it’s a 2-in-1 accessory that doubles as a case. If you’re going to do any writing, be it laying out a novel or simply sending emails, I can’t recommend a keyboard case enough.

2. A USB-C dock

If you use your iPad as a portable work-station, you’ll quickly find the device’s single USB-C port quite a hindrance for all your accessories, peripherals and tools, particularly given that many apps recommend you don’t use Bluetooth devices, in order to improve latency and accuracy.

Wired keyboards, headphones, hard drives and other extras are therefore mandatory for creatives, but then where do you plug them all with only one USB-C port on an iPad? Why, into a USB-C dock, of course.

These slot into your iPad’s USB-C port and give you loads of extra space to plug things into. Many don’t only offer you extra USB-C ports but also USB 2.0, HDMI, 3.5mm jacks and memory card slots, so you can turn your iPad into a veritable powerhouse. Plus, you can usually use these to charge your iPad while something else is plugged in, which is benefit enough in and of itself.

3. A stylus

I really like my iPad’s stylus. I like it so much that I use it about 50% of the time I’m using my iPad. I like it so much that I have a spare. I like it so much that I wrote a separate article about my quest to find a cheap alternative to the Apple Pencil.

A stylus is what fulfils the iPad’s role as a versatile and portable creative work station; it turns it into a tablet in the ancient sense of the word, of a slate that you can write onto.

Using a stylus, you can mark up documents, draw sketches, make notes with your hand (which is far less annoying and noisy for people around you, not to mention far more idiosyncratic, than typing them). It unlocks a whole new way of using an iPad that, I’d argue, the tablet was originally invented for in the first place (before Apple started trying to make them more powerful than they need to be).

4. A page turner

This is going to be the most niche entry on this list, but I’ve had enough people swear by iPad page turners that I needed to include them somewhere.

iPad page turners are remote devices which let you turn the page in an eBook or document without having to physically touch the device. Most come with hand-held clickers, but some instead have foot pedals.

These devices are really handy for musicians who don’t have a free hand to turn pages, public speakers who don’t want to make it obvious that they’re reading off a script, or even readers who want to put their iPad out of reach while reading.

5. A protective case

If you read the entry about keyboard covers above and didn’t think you wanted an extra keyboard, then you’re still going to need a way to protect your iPad. That’s where protective cases come in.

There are some very rugged protective cases available for iPad. These keep them covered when you’re toting the tablet around, so it won’t get dented in your bag, and also ensure that it’s safe when you’re using it too. Many also have stands or hand-grips which will be useful in a few situations.

Some of the options online are just for protective shells, but many also have screen protectors and I’d recommend looking at once of these for extra protection – after all, a tablet’s screen is its most vulnerable area.

6. An external hard drive

I bought an external hard drive for a project, but once that wrapped, I found myself using it all the time to back up items on my iPad without having to subscribe to iCloud.

An external hard drive is a physical item, usually smaller than a smartphone, which you can plug into devices and use as a data storage tool – think of them as giant USB sticks with a lot more storage. Most of them come with USB-A adaptors but you can easily buy USB-C ones online, and some come with them.

I like using an external hard drive as it gives me a really handy way to back up items, and also convert them between devices. iCloud is only convenient on Apple devices, plus you need an internet connection and it costs you money every month, and for those reasons I avoid it. Hard drives let you easily work between multiple devices, back up when you’re out in public, and will save you money in the long run.

It can even be a hard drive that you use for other tasks, such as the Xbox hard drive shown above. Just one thing to bear in mind: it’s easy to lose external hard drives, so maybe consider an AirTag, too.

Some iPad accessories that you might want to avoid

There are a few really handy iPad accessories available online… but there are many more that I’d advise you to think twice about before buying.

For example, Bluetooth keyboards. They sound really useful, but they’re an annoying extra device to carry around besides your iPad – I used to own one, but setting it up every time I wanted to use it, and toting it about, was a pain. Instead a keyboard folio is so much more convenient. The same is true of stands: don’t buy one on its own, but instead get one that fulfils multiple functions.

I’ve also seen a few drawing gloves online; these ensure that the iPad doesn’t register your palm when you rest it on the device as you draw. The issue is, iPads have palm detection and rejection by default, so the gloves’ key selling point is already a key iPad feature.

Some people may want to buy a Bluetooth or wired mouse, but isn’t part of the point of an iPad that you can control via touchscreen? I can only see them being useful in very niche use cases, not for everyone.

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Looking at the big, blank Home Screen of a new iPad is like waking up to see that a blanket of fresh snow covers the world: it’s a land of opportunity and enjoyment, that you’re about to turn into a cluttered mess. And that’s the fun of it!

So you just received a new iPad; do you leave it nice and pristine, with only the built-in Apple apps? No, of course not – over the lifetime of this tablet, you’re going to fill its pages full of random apps, some of which you barely use and others of which you use daily. But where to begin?

I’ve been using iPads for years, partly as a tester and partly as a chronic app-downloader-and-then-never-user. So I know what you need on your iPad, and what you need now.

To help you quickly populate your iPad with a few apps you’ll use, I’ve made this quick cheat-sheet of a few key apps or app categories which you’ll need.

1. Kindle

I cheat on my Kindle by… barely ever brushing the dust off my Kindle, and just using my iPad as a giant LED-powered ereader all the time. This is all thanks to the Kindle app.

The Kindle app can let you read books associated with your Amazon account, and you don’t actually need to own one of Amazon’s ereaders to do it – you can simply use the app on an iOS or Android device. What's more, the Night Shift display feature (in the Settings app, under Display and Brightness) can make your screen a bit warmer, like a Kindle itself.

While it’s not quite as physically convenient for reading as a Kindle, the iPad’s Kindle app removes the need for buying a whole extra device for reading. I’ve been using my iPad Pro for years now to slowly read Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, because my Kindle mocks how little of a dent I've made in it (it’s more than 5,000 pages long, I could read for hours and barely get 1% through!).

2. Your chosen streaming app

I’ve taken the easy way out early on in this list, by not picking an app but rather multiple apps – but you’ve probably got one or two video streaming services that you enjoy, so I strongly recommend that you download them all.

iPads have pretty great screens, given the dire state of most tablet displays, and it makes them fun for watching videos on the go. The audio is often fantastic, too, because the stereo speakers will naturally be spread out.

Watching on your iPad isn't only useful for when you’re travelling, either; it can sometimes be nice to wrap yourself up in bed and watch a movie at home, too, rather that sit in a living room watching along with people.

I don’t have one or two streaming apps on my iPad: I’ve got three paid ones and a countless slew of the free streaming apps, which between them have loads of movies and TV shows. It makes the iPad a veritable entertainment hub.

3. A big-screen game

This one isn’t as big a cop-out as it sounds. I’m not telling you to download any game at all, but rather one which really justifies the large display size an iPad provides. Mobiles can play certain games just fine, but when you have a big screen, you want a big game.

Maybe this is a game that’s complex, one that requires you to carry out intricate finger procedures to command troops, or scan loads of information at once in a city you’re building.

Perhaps this is a game that looks good graphically, in which a wider field of view from a bigger screen helps you immerse yourself in an alien world.

Or, more likely, it’s a bit of both. I have some Total War and XCOM games on my iPad as well as Minecraft, Lego Star Wars and Old School RuneScape, and each makes use of the big display in different ways.

4. Scriptation

My secret weapon for productivity on my iPad is Scriptation, an app which is apparently meant to be used for film and TV, but I only discovered this when researching for this article, which proves that it’s multi-functional. As I write this, I realize I probably should have guessed from the title…

Scriptation is a simple but powerful PDF editor, and it’s my favorite of all the ones I’ve tried on iPad. It’s incredibly easy to import a document, scribble all over it and mark it up, and then export the document with or without those markings.

There’s a lot more that makes it useful, with different tools for marking up, adding text, drawing shapes and doing various other things. It goes without saying that you need an Apple Pencil (or another handy stylus) to make the most of this app, though I imagine you could use it without.

5. Paprika Recipe Manager

When I first considered adding Paprika Recipe Manger to this list of must-use apps, I quickly presumed it’d be too niche to include. But that same evening I noticed my flatmate using it and realized that, for people who like cooking, it’s just too useful not to mention.

Paprika is a recipe manager app (useful for me to mention, as you wouldn’t guess from the title), which means you can add recipes to it which you find across the internet, storing them in one useful place.

You can share these recipes across your devices and also make shopping lists out of them, saving you loads of time in the process. If that’s not all, it has interactive elements to help you when cooking, such as check lists and timers, as well as a meal planner so you can design your own menu over a month.

If you like cooking or baking, the small up-front fee of this app will easily prove worth it, as will being able to see your recipes on a big screen as you cook. It might even inspire you to cook or bake more!

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I was promoted to seek alternatives to the Apple Pencil when, following a year and a half of use, my Apple Pencil had to be retired – the tip cracked off while the stylus was snug in my backpack during a flight. Thank you, #thoughtsandprayers, but life goes on.

I had been using my Apple Pencil constantly with my iPad Pro for annotating PDFs, drawing plans, scribbling notes, and doodling pictures; so there was no question over the fact that I needed a replacement… until I remembered its eye-watering price.

The Apple Pencil I had was the 2nd-gen model , which retails for $129 / £129 / AU$219 – and in all honesty, the thought of spending six weeks’ grocery budget on a slab of plastic wasn’t all that appealing.

So I needed to find an alternative that wouldn't need the same outlay. Increasingly, I’m reluctant to buy bargain-bin products on Amazon – others I've spoken to do not have many positive stories about the products they've picked up. I've bought cheap headphones, fitness trackers, clothing and much more from the site myself, too, and not much of it remains today.

Nevertheless, believing that there must be one or two worthy Apple Pencil replacements online, I did some research – only to find hundreds of options on Amazon but very little trustworthy literature on which were worth buying.

In lieu of coverage, then, I decided to create my own – I bought five different models of low-cost Apple Pencil alternatives off Amazon, to test them and see if any were worthy of keeping.

The options I chose were the first five listed, with many on Prime Day special offer. I made sure a few of them were available internationally, too.

As you can imagine having read about my previous experience with Amazon bargains, expectations were low. What actually happened, though, surprised me.

Read on to discover how I got on with each option.

Yunju Stylus Pen 10-pack

I’m going to start with the Yunju Stylus Pen, the joint-cheapest Apple Pencil alternative in this company.

These pens are different from most of the others in offering a pared back feature set – there's no Bluetooth, no buttons nor charging ports or LEDs.

These pens have rubber ends and basically work exactly as your finger would – you can swipe, press buttons, and so on. As well as functioning with iPads, you can use them on any other touchscreen devices; I used it on my phone, too.

Now you might be wondering why, if it works just like a finger, I need one? If it doesn't offer useful Apple Pencil features such as angle detection and palm rejection, what's the point?

However, I was won over by its simplicity, and the joy of having a pencil-shaped object in my hand.

As an avid note-taker and document annotator, I found the Yunju Stylus Pen perfect for many of the tasks for which I use my iPad. If you’re not a sketcher or physical artist, for example, they might be all you need.

There's no need to charge this pen, nor turn it on or pair it with your iPad, making it super simple to use. I can see it being really great for seniors who find fingers unnatural to use on screens.

The Yunju pen arrives in a pack of 10, which I picked up for a paltry £3.99 (that’s under 40p each).

I'm not yet sure what I’m going to do with 10; even with one for my iPad, one for my phone, two spare and one to sacrifice to the backpack black hole, I’ve still have half the pack remaining. Perhaps my friends will be in for some really cheap Christmas presents this year?

TQQ Pencil for iPad

I was really glad to order the TQQ Pencil, because it offers the widest range of different color options of all the models I looked at (well, other than the Yunju). I chose the lilac one, mainly because it was being sold at the biggest discount.

In use, I was immediately struck by how similar the TQQ stylus felt to the Apple Pencil. Sure it’s slightly lighter and is made of a different material, but its overall feel in the hand is very similar.

The pen is turned on by pressing and holding the non-tip end (which I didn’t realize was a button, to begin with) and turned off by double-tapping it.

It charges via a USB-C port on the side and lasts for 10 hours of use. Note that on taking the stylus out of the box, this port is covered by a piece of rubber – and I thought this was the button. Cue five minutes of confused tapping before I realized my mistake.

I was really surprised by just how much the TQQ worked like an Apple Pencil; this was the first of the models that you could call a "proper" alternative, and I wasn’t expecting this level of similarity.

The TQQ offers Apple Pencil features I appreciate such as palm rejection and angle detection.

However, what put me off the TQQ slightly is that although it does attach to my iPad Pro magnetically (a priority for me), it does so fairly loosely. As such, there's no doubt in my mind that it would fall off my iPad if the two were placed in my bag. Given this is how my original Apple Pencil broke, I’m skeptical to see how long this one lasts.

Available for a retail price of £24.99, I picked it up for 60% off in a sale; I reckon it's the kind of device you could easily find discounted. It's offered in nine color options in the UK, and at the time of writing all were reduced, albeit by different amounts. In the box you'll find the stylus, three extra nibs and a USB-to-USB-C cable for charging.

After testing the TQQ Pencil, I thought my quest for a replacement was over. But since I'd already ordered the three other options from Amazon, it was time to plough on.

Meko Stylus Pen

The Meko stylus felt quite similar to the TQQ; both were fairly faithful Apple Pencil imitators in shape and feel. However, the Meko had a few differences that some might appreciate more than others.

The main one was that turning on the stylus doesn't require tapping or holding down a plastic nib; the Meko has a physical power button. You press it once to turn it on and again to turn it off. I found this option a lot more convenient than the TQQ.

In addition, rather than one LED to indicate the level of power, the Meko has three, making it easy to determine when your stylus needs charging. In this way, this stylus was not only better than the other options here, but also the real Apple Pencil.

It also has an automatic shutdown feature, if you forget to turn off the stylus – something that I'm guilty of quite regularly. Meko estimates battery life to be nine hours – the shortest-lasting stylus here, but still a decent amount of time.

Two key Apple Pencil features also present are tilt sensitivity and palm rejection, which always spark joy when found on cheap gadgets such as the Meko, given that some of Apple’s biggest rivals still fail on those fronts.

The Meko Stylus Pen retails for £29.99, so not exactly cheap, but I managed to pick it up for half price; it was still available at this reduced price three weeks later.

AUZOSL Capacitive 2-in-1 stylus pen

The 2-in-1 AUZOSL stylus is a little different from most of the other options here.

While similar to the Yunju in that its rounded nib can be used instead of your finger to scroll and open apps, its longer length and more robust feel in the hand deliver a better user experience. It’s even grooved to fit a natural pen hold.

But the bigger difference is that "2-in-1" bit. If you unscrew the silicon part and turn it around, you'll find a transparent disc tip (see image below) that can pivot to different angles depending on how you hold the stylus.

I'm not quite sure of the use case AUZOSL is going for with this disc. Wider than the silicon nib (or other styli), the fact that it’s see-through means you can see where your pen touches the screen better than on the other options on this list.

However, the fact that the pen pivots makes it feel prone to snapping – although this didn’t happen during testing.

I used the stylus pen with a few different apps and for several different purposes, but I remain unsure about the reasons someone would buy the AUZOSL pen.

It’s cheap – available for only £3.99 usually, I paid £3.49 for it in the sale – but note that's for one pen only, instead of Yunju's 10-pack.

However, it does feel better in the hand than any of the other options on this list – in fact, I wish electronic styluses felt like this!

Metapen Pencil A8

The final model I tested was the Metapen Pencil A8. Like the TQQ and Meko, it’s an Apple Pencil clone with a prominent USB-C port and an LED light.

It’s most like the TQQ in that it’s turned on via a double-tap on the eraser end, and turned off in the same way. However, it feels heavier than either the TQQ or Meko pens.

This heft may be because the Metapen is approximately 90% magnet: when I attached it to the magnetic part of the iPad, it settled on there rock-solid as though it was part of the tablet.

Like those aforementioned rivals, the Metapen works just as well as an Apple Pencil – there’s palm rejection, tilt sensitivity, and high precision.

According to Metapen, the tip is sufficiently durable to see you draw 20km worth of lines (obviously, I couldn't test this), plus it arrives with two extra tips in the box.

Battery life sits at 10 hours, matching the TQQ stylus, and the LED changes color to indicate your pen's charge level. Although useful, I personally found the Meko's three-LED status indicator easier to understand at a glance.

I'm a fan of the Metapen, but as the priciest stylus on test – £32.99 normally, although I picked it up for a third off – I'd have to be.

It's available in a range of colors including pink, black and mint green, as well as the white on test, and it looks like Metapen also offers other styli in its range for use with different types of iPad.

Which did I end up keeping?

From a starting point of “I hope one of these is worth keeping”, I was surprised that I was happy to actually continue using three of the models I tested – struggling to chose between them, one serves as my primary stylus and the other two as back-ups.

Since completing testing of these Apple Pencil alternatives, of the Meko, TQQ and the Metapen, it's the latter I’ve used most – I love how reliably it sticks to my iPad, much more so than the actual Apple-made stylus, and I appreciate the feel of its weight in my hand.

However, all three are great options, and I’d recommend them to anyone buying a stylus for their iPad. In fact, I found some of their features a step up on the Apple Pencil – the Metapen’s firm magnetism, for example, or the Meko’s power indicators.

So, having done the research, I've come to the conclusion that I’d happily stick with one of these great alternatives over the Apple Pencil.

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Ever since I unboxed my first smartphone, I’ve opted for the default maps app, whether that be Google Maps or Apple Maps. I never considered alternative options but rather thought, “Who could be better than these two global giants?” Then I started reading reports of major problems with the apps, missing locations, drivers being sent in the wrong direction, and a lack of bug fixes. This got me thinking that maybe it was time to try an alternative app. I had heard about Waze, knowing its rich history and Google ownership, but I had never tried it for myself. That all changed, for me, in 2022.

My first experience with Waze was like breathing in fresh air after being trapped for too long in a stuffy room. I couldn’t believe how good it was. It features several innovative features that have made traveling so much easier and more predictable.

It all begins with the ‘Plan a Drive’ feature, which is completely different from how Google or Apple Maps work. After entering your destination, Waze gives you the option to set your arrival time. This is presented with a beautiful UI that displays different traffic levels for specific times of the day based on its traffic data.

All of this data is generated from other Waze users, which means the more Waze users there are on any given route, the more accurate and helpful the results will be. It is also possible to report traffic issues, such as accidents, using the app, all of which help build up a more reliable real-time picture. 

I love this feature because it helps me plan my journeys better, spending less time sitting in traffic. Once the ‘arrive by’ time is set, Waze then tells me how long it’ll take to get there. Brilliant. 

You would be forgiven for thinking that's the job done, but Waze is just getting going. With a drive planned, Waze will then send you a reminder when you need to leave, just in case you get caught up with something else. Everything about this app is designed to make your life easier and give you a more pleasurable driving experience. 

Multiple routes can be planned ahead of time rather than just having to do it on the fly. It's even possible to connect your calendar to the app, enabling Waze to create routes for you. This is not a normal maps app but rather a one-stop solution for getting where you need to go in the best possible time with the most enjoyable driving experience.

With a route planned, you’re now ready to hop in the car. The incredible user experience and game-changing features continue. Waze will let you know of upcoming speed bumps so you can manage your speed ahead of time. It’ll even inform you of sharp bends ahead, just in case you missed any road signs. There is one road that I drive on every so often, and the lack of a road bend sign was leaving me needing to brake too late. Waze deals with this; no problems anymore. 

Waze does a great job of providing real-time, crowdsourced data so the fastest routes can be found. Some of this data is recorded by other Waze users using the app, with other data gathered when users report specific traffic issues on the road. 

When there is traffic or delays, Waze does a much better job of responding quicker than Google Maps. Google will often wait until traffic has reached a certain level before deciding it might be a problem, whereas Waze is constantly assessing the route and making changes accordingly. If you want to guarantee getting to your destination in the quickest possible time, then there’s no better option than Waze. 

One of the most common stops I’ll need to make along the way is to fill up my tank. Waze excels in this area, letting you search for fuel stations and telling you the price of the fuel next to each result. I love getting the cheapest fuel deal, so this is perfect for me. 

There are some Google Maps features that I miss, such as offline maps and Street View but all things considered, I think Waze is far superior. All of this functionality comes with no price tag and is available on both iOS and Android devices. Getting started is quick and easy, with no requirement to create an account if you don’t want to.

One of Waze’s advertising slogans is “Waze knows real-time traffic alerts - avoid real-time headaches.” That sums it up perfectly.

Download Waze on iOS or on Android

It all started in 2011 when I picked up issue #649 of Amazing Spider-Man – the second issue in Dan Slott’s ‘Big Time’ story – because I was going on holiday with my parents and I wanted something to entertain me on the journey.

From then, I’d regularly visit my local comic book shop to spend my allowance on the next chapter of Spidey’s adventures – through his No One Dies crusade, Otto Octavius’s run as the Superior Spider-Man, and Spider-Verse, which would partly inspire the films (though there’s a lot of differences between the original and adaptation).

When my allowance wasn’t enough to fund my fix, I started working part-time at a local supermarket stacking shelves and checking product dates – my monthly paycheck allowed me to branch out into X-Men, X-Force, and Avengers stories, as well as other series when a crossover event called for it.

Then I went to university.

The last series I read was the Secret Wars arc in which Doctor Doom runs a world of different universes all mashed together – the finale of which sees the Marvel continuity semi-rebooted in an all-new all-different universe (which mostly combines aspects of the original 616 and Ultimates continuities). I had nothing against the reboot, I even picked up a few of the first issues and loved them, but comic books were, unfortunately, the most sensible hobby to drop when my schedule became too busy and something had to give. 

Post-reboot, if I wanted to keep up with my favorite Spider-Folk (Peter, Miles, Gwen, and Cindy Moon, a.k.a. Silk), the plethora of X-Men, and various Avengers teams, I’d have to follow no fewer than 10 series – with some releasing fortnightly rather than monthly – and I just lacked the space and disposable income to keep my habit up.

In 2024, after an eight-year break, I’m returning to the wonderful world of comics with the help of the cheap tablet I bought on Black Friday – my trusty Lenovo M10 3rd gen – and learning a lesson that my tech doesn’t need to be perfect, just perfect for me.

An Unlimited world of comics 

Thanks in part to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, my love for comics hasn’t waned. If anything, it's grown stronger since I stopped reading them religiously in 2016. But the problems of space and cost that I had at university remained – or at least I thought they did.

Earlier this year, I was chatting with friends about my long-lost love of comic books and one of them told me about Marvel Unlimited – basically a Netflix for Marvel comics. Since then, I’ve been on the lookout for a tablet: something large enough to make it a worthwhile upgrade to reading on my phone but cheap enough to justify using it to only read comics.

I found what I needed during the Black Friday sales, and as soon as it arrived, I bought a year-long subscription to Marvel Unlimited.

Marvel Unlimted has its flaws. Finding new stuff is simple, but going back to find everything I wanted to read from 2015/2016 was tougher than expected. I also wish my Library could be sorted more neatly – I don’t feel like I need all three Comics, Lists, and Following tabs; one would do fine.

There’s also a three-month delay between physical and digital releases – although it’s not that long a wait, and as I mentioned, I’m nowhere close to reading new stuff yet.

On the flip side, I can read as much as I want without my collection taking up reams of real-world space, and this all-I-can-eat buffet of comics costs just $69 a year (around £55 / AU$102). That’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the £50+ a month I spent at the height of my superhero addiction. 

The tablet I need right now 

I’m using the Lenovo M10 3rd-gen tablet to access the Marvel Unlimited app. This cheap and cheerful gadget isn’t great. Arguably, it’s not even good. Videos lack vibrancy, the audio performance leaves a lot to be desired, it noticeably chugs whenever I boot up an app, and it frequently crashes when I try to play Marvel Snap. 

However, for my digital comic book needs it’s basically perfect. The 10.1-inch display hits the sweet spot of being big enough to read everything on the page without zooming in but not so large that it's unwieldy. It runs Android – an operating system the Marvel Unlimted app supports. Most importantly, it was cheap; in the Black Friday sales, I picked it up for £109 (around $138 / AU$204).

So in 2024, while I’m devouring comics like Galactus does worlds, I’m going to remember my tech resolution: new gadget buys don’t always have to be the best thing in the world, they just have to be the best thing for me. Yes, my Lenovo M10 can’t hold a candle to an iPad Pro, but it cost roughly 85% less than Apple’s entry in the best tablet competition and does everything I need it to. 

That’s not to say we shouldn’t expect more from budget tech – budget shouldn’t be synonymous with bad. Equally, sometimes we do need something that’s the best of the best. But if I can, I’m going to try to be better at settling for second (or even eleventh) best if it fits my needs, rather than being suckered in by unnecessary upgrades that only make my tech more pricey, not more useful.

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Over the last decade, XPPen have quickly become one of the most recognisable and innovative brands for digital artists and creatives, launching a wide variety of top-quality drawing tablets, digital art pads, stylus pens and more. Whether you’re a hobbyist with a passion for visual arts, or a professional artist using cutting-edge tools and tech to elevate your work, XPPen products stand out from the pack – and with the release of their 2024 Professional Drawing Tablet Computer Trends White Paper, they’re driving innovation and development in the industry further than ever before.

This authoritative White Paper, released in partnership with KANTAR (the world's leading data, insight and consulting company) digs deep into major consumer demands and product trends in the digital arts space. It’s packed with truly fascinating insights about when, where and how we use our tech, the features most in demand, and what the next generation of drawing tablets might look like. Most excitingly, XPPen are already using these insights to back their newest lineup of products targeted at creative professionals, including the impressively versatile, effortlessly portable XPPen Magic Drawing Pad – set to launch in early 2024.

So what can artists and creatives learn from the Professional Drawing Tablet Computer Trends White Paper? Join us as we run through some of the biggest findings – and take a look at what tomorrow might bring for digital artists and designers.

Embracing a creative lifestyle

One of the most surprising findings from XPPen and KANTAR’s research piece is that, over the last several years, more and more people are finding joy through digital drawing – both for personal pleasure and to develop professional skills. This is evidenced by a 59% and 42% increase in digital drawing searches on Douyin (known globally as TikTok) and WeChat respectively.

Driven by this greater demand, drawing tablets have shifted towards optimising portability and versatility wherever possible, so that artists can more easily incorporate creativity into their everyday lives. As a result, the latest tablets are super accessible and strive to offer a frictionless user experience, even if you’re a complete beginner – and it seems to be working, with KANTAR’s data showing that 76% of the general public purchases digital drawing products to cultivate their interest (or their children’s interest) in art.

Empowering creative professionals

This shift towards portability and broader functionality has a handful of benefits for more professional users, too, making it easier to work on-the-go or even outdoors. KANTAR and XPPen’s findings, however, suggest that there’s plenty of room to grow when it comes to supporting part-time and full-time artists and graphic designers, who require significant power and specs from their devices.

While more casual creators are largely satisfied with the latest tech, professionals are looking for brighter, more colour-accurate displays, smooth, well-configured software, and top-of-the-range stylus pens that don’t sacrifice on functionality or accuracy. Data suggests that they’re happy to pay a little extra for this superior quality, too, especially when it comes to stylus pens. In fact, a staggering 91% of people who have purchased or used digital drawing devices say that a stylus is their most commonly used tool – so it stands to reason that they’re expecting the very best.

Artistic innovation

XPPen is directly responding to this desire for superior performance with their latest stylus, which looks to be a truly one-of-a-kind tool for anyone serious about digital art. Boasting upgraded EMR technology and powered by an X3 Pro Smart Chip, this ultra-sensitive stylus features 16,384 pressure levels – double the industry standard of 8,192 – giving users unparalleled precision over the finest details.

It’s this commitment to innovation (building on major findings from the White Paper) which underpin all of XPPen’s upcoming products, including the Magic Drawing Pad. While details are still scarce, it’s clear that this game-changing piece of technology has been developed from the ground up to give professionals a major creative boost – pushing the boundaries of what’s possible by blending the versatility and portability of popular mobile drawing tablets with top-of-the-line hardware and functionality.

To put it simply, XPPen and KANTAR’s research has already begun to shape the next-generation of creative tools, and with products like the Magic Drawing Pad so close on the horizon, the future of digital art might arrive sooner than we expect.

Take a glimpse at the future of creativity by exploring the Drawing Tablet Computer Trends White Paper online.

There are gifted artists and then there are people like me, who draw for fun and, especially relaxation. I have no aspirations to be the next Salvador Dali or even Charles Schulz (at least not any more), but drawing on one of the best Apple iPads is a favorite hobby and I've been doing it since the first Apple tablet in 2010.

To be clear, I've been drawing, both digitally and on pen and paper for decades. On the PC, I was a huge fan of Aldus Freehand and, until the arrival of Wacom tablets, grew quite adept at drawing with a mouse.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPad 13 years ago, I immediately identified it as a larger and more natural digital canvas than, say, my Windows PC. There was no pencil and if you wanted to draw with something other than your finger (some people were really good at finger-painting-style art), you had to buy a third-party stylus. These were analog implements that relied entirely on touch, like a more precise version of your finger.

I wish I could remember the first iPad drawing apps I used, but I do recall when I first heard about Procreate from Savage Interactive Pty Ltd.

I was working as Editor-in-Chief of Mashable and in 2013 we ran a story about a remarkable digital portrait of Morgan Freeman. Not only was it photo-realistic, but in an accompanying YouTube video, you could watch the playback of its stroke-by-stroke creation. We soon learned that the art was created on an iPad using Procreate. The app launched about a year after the iPad and in addition to a significant number of tools, including multiple brush styles, mediums, and layers, it included the ability to capture, replay, and export the art-creation process.

At the time, it was one of the rare paid apps on Apple's App Store. Yes, $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$14.99 (now $12.99 / £12.99 / AU$19.99) felt like a lot to pay for an app but I was so entranced by Procreate's capabilities that I had to buy it. The nice thing is that, since then, I've never paid for a single update – and there have been so, so many.

When Apple introduced the Apple Pencil a couple of years later, that, too, transformed the digital art space and Procreate was in lock-step with Apple, immediately taking advantage of pressure, tilt, and speed.

It's now 10 years since I first adopted Procreate (still among our best iPad apps) and though I've dabbled in other drawing apps like SketchPad for Windows, nothing really compares.

The layering system is as rich and powerful as anything you might find from Adobe. It has fantastic selection tools and allows me to export in almost any format. It even lets you paint in 3D (provided you've imported a 3D model). Procreate is probably one of the richer apps on the market. I have yet to plumb its depths, Still, I'm never frustrated when I draw or digitally paint with Procreate. If I imagine a feature, it's usually there.

Sure, the time-lapse output (you can adjust the duration and speed of output) tends to show off how the sausage is made. It was how I realized that the Morgan Freeman portrait artist would draw certain elements and then carefully nudge them into their proper place. I realized then that even the best artists make mistakes and benefit from the power of digital tools. Imagine trying to move something in an analog drawing; the only option there is a full erase and redraw.

Drawing on an iPad with such a powerful yet totally natural tool that never gets in the way is incredibly satisfying and relaxing. I can't imagine creating art without Procreate, and thank goodness for it every day.

Download Procreate on iOS

There’s a high chance that we’ll see a new iPad Pro 2022 before the year is done, but the main ‘upgrade’ might not be to the screen or chipset. Rather, it might be to the connectors, with the current three-pin Smart Connector possibly being replaced with a pair of four-pin connectors.

That’s according to “reliable sources in China,” speaking to Macotakara, in a report spotted by 9to5Mac. Apparently, the upcoming iPad Pro 11 (2022) and iPad Pro 12.9 (2022) will both have the same housing designs as the current models, but with 4-pin connectors on the “top and bottom side edges.”

That wording is slightly ambiguous, especially as this isn't primarily an English language site, so we’re not certain whether they mean the top and bottom of the back when held in portrait or when held in landscape, but it sounds like one or the other.

The report also doesn’t specifically state whether these new connectors would be instead of or as well as the existing three-pin Smart Connector, but we imagine they’d be used instead. Otherwise, that’s a whole lot of connectors.

We’d take this with a pinch of salt though, as it’s an odd claim, especially when we’d previously heard the iPad Pro 2022 might support MagSafe – which itself could seem like overkill if there are also two Smart Connectors. And with MagSafe using a five-pin connector, that’s not what they’re talking about here.

What the extra pin could be used for is uncertain as well, though the report speculates that it could be used to assist in powering peripherals. The existing Smart Connector already does this, however, so perhaps they mean more power could be provided.

We’re also not sure how useful it would be to have two of these connectors, given that it’s mostly just keyboards that make use of the current Smart Connector, so there aren’t a whole lot of use cases where two accessories could usefully be attached at the same time – unless Apple has new kinds of accessories planned.

This rumor really raises more questions than it answers, and we’d therefore refrain from putting a lot of weight behind it, but it’s certainly intriguing. Though it comes with one very big potential downside.

Analysis: old accessories could be incompatible

The biggest potential issue with this move is that it could render accessories – like the current Smart Keyboard and Magic Keyboard – incompatible with the new iPad Pro.

That’s something you expect to happen when the sizes change, but with these upcoming models reportedly being the same as their predecessors, it would be a shame if all-new accessories are needed – especially given how expensive these peripherals can be.

Of course, even if this rumor is right – which is a big 'if' – it doesn’t guarantee that current Smart Connector accessories won’t work. They might remain compatible with this new four-pin version, or perhaps the old three-pin connector will remain as well, but incompatibility is definitely a worry.

With Apple also rumored to be switching from Lightning to USB-C on the iPhone, perhaps as soon as next year, we could see Apple fans having to replace almost all of their accessories in the space of a year, assuming both rumors pan out. So this could be an even more expensive period for iDevice users than usual.

Still, many of the best iPads aren’t iPad Pros, meaning you could always save some money by upgrading to a cheaper model.

The iPad Pro Magic Keyboard isn't a cheap accessory. And while discounts are rare we've seen more and more savings on the floating keyboard design over time and during deals events. That means Magic Keyboard deals are finally a regularity, you just have to know where to look - and we're here to point you in the right direction.

The price of a Magic Keyboard is often more than the cost of the 9th-generation iPad in some cases, so this is one you'll appreciate a discount on. However, if you've just treated yourself to a top-of-the-range tablet with one of the latest iPad deals you'll want to make the most of your new piece of kit. Plus, there are plenty of features to make the Magic Keyboard worth your while as well when paired with one of Apple's best tablets.

The Apple Magic Keyboard for an 11-inch iPad Pro currently retails for $299 / £299 / AU$499 and you'll pay a little extra for a 12.9-inch model at $349 / £349 / AU$589. There's been little budge on that price point so far, but we have seen as much as $100 off that MSRP in the past. All of today's best offers are just below.

iPad Pro Magic Keyboard prices

The iPad Pro Magic Keyboard price is either $299 or $349 (£299 or £349) depending on the size of your device. If you find a cheaper price than that in the comparison charts below, you've got yourself a great deal.

If, however, you're shopping a little cheaper and don't need trackpad features and a floating design you can always check out the Smart Keyboard Folio for the iPad Pro. 

At just $179 / $199 (£179, AU$299 / £199, AU$339), this is a stripped-down experience but offers a far more affordable alternative. 

If you're looking for a keyboard for a 7th generation iPad or an iPad Air, however, you're better off with the Smart Keyboard that retails for $159 /£159 / AU$235.

Cheap Magic Keyboard alternatives

The cheap Magic Keyboard alternatives above don't offer the same floating experience, or the unique trackpad functionality either. However, the Magic Keyboard price can add a good chunk of cash onto your iPad Pro purchase, so picking up something cheaper might be better off in the short term at least. 

Apple's own alternatives still offer a full-size keyboard without the need to charge or pair. The Smart Keyboard Folio is compatible with the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models, whereas you're looking at the Smart Keyboard for 10.2-inch flagship iPad owners or if you're running an iPad Air. 

Below these options, you'll find even cheaper options designed to let you type intuitively but without offering anything particularly special on top. They're considerably cheaper, and offer a simple bluetooth keyboard to use with iPad and iPad Pro. 

The comparison table above searches the entire web for the very best prices as well, so you know you're getting a good deal. 

Is the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard worth it?

In our iPad 2020 review, we described the Magic Keyboard as "a ‘proper’ typing experience that brings the iPad Pro even closer to a MacBook, and calls into question the degree to which Apple sees the iPad Pro as being distinct from the MacBook range." 

With a trackpad built straight in, USB-C passthrough for charging, and a unique magnetic floating design, the Magic Keyboard price does include some fantastic tech. If you're a power user looking to transform your iPad experience into one more akin to a conventional laptop or MacBook, you'll certainly make good use of this keyboard. Intuitive and comfortable, the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard goes a long way to making the iPad Pro a laptop in its own right. 

If, however, you're simply looking for a keyboard you can attach every now and then - perhaps when travelling or to avoid having to boot up a computer to take a few quick notes, you might be able to get away with some cheaper alternatives below. 

How to find Apple Magic Keyboard deals

iPad Pro Magic Keyboard deals are yet to fully start up, as this device has only been out for a couple of months now. Plus, with Apple hesitant to take much off the final price of any gadget no matter how old it is, you might be better off looking to a wider range of retailers to save some cash. 

The good news is, if you're shopping for a new iPad Pro as well, you may find some offers bringing a discount on the keyboard when purchased with a new tablet. We've seen this previously at B&H Photo, so be sure to check there if you're after both items together. 

Or, you can always check around seasonal sales or big iPad-friendly shopping events, like Back To School sales. 

Our price comparisons at the top of this page automatically pull the best Magic Keyboard deals from all your favorite retailers, so you can be sure you're getting the cheapest offers around right now as well.

If you're looking for more tech to kit out your new iPad Pro, we've also gathered up the best Apple Pencil deals around. However, if you're still undecided on whether to commit to an iPad Pro as your main laptop we've also rounded up the latest MacBook deals for you as well. 

Here’s one of your last reminders that ComiXology’s digital store will soon be integrated with Amazon, at which point your new comic book purchases will no longer be DRM-free. 

ComiXology's plans to integrate more closely with its parent company’s store were announced back in September last year, with the change is expected to occur in “early 2022”. There’s no word yet on when exactly the change will be made; however, we suspect it will happen fairly swiftly after Amazon and Visa resolve their squabble in the UK.

Amazon and Visa are back in talks, which suggests they could be closer to an agreement, so it may be only a matter of weeks before the ComiXology store is no more.

Once the switch has been flipped (whenever it happens) ComiXology.com will start redirecting to Amazon.com’s “revamped digital comics shopping experience”, which is set to provide customers a more streamlined way to search for comics and manga on the site.

Unfortunately for comic book fans, though, the change also means that they’ll no longer be able to pick up new DRM-free downloads through ComiXology’s services,  with the new Amazon store not supporting DRM-free downloads either.

Thankfully your library of already purchased comics will remain DRM-free. When asked about changes to its services ComiXology told a user on Twitter “Your previous ComiXology purchases will still allow for DRM-free backups if the publisher allowed for them at the time of purchase.”

So you'll be able to save any comics you buy before the switch as PDFs that you can store independently of ComiXology’s own app.

With that in mind, if you’ve been holding out on buying certain issues in the series you love, you might want to take the plunge sooner rather than later; if they currently support DRM-free downloads you can buy it to secure the PDF download before it's too late.

The change to ComiXology isn’t all doom and gloom. The storefront change will also bring an update to the app, with better navigation tools including flexible filtering and sorting as well as the ability to read while downloading. 

ComiXology’s services will also be better integrated with the Kindle app, which has already added ComiXology’s panel-by-panel viewing experience.

These long-sought-after tools may not completely appease ComiXology fans disappointed by the DRM change, but they may at least soften the blow.

• Check out: The future of comic cons shouldn’t be digital

Alongside the new iPad Pro 2020 models, Apple unveiled the Magic Keyboard, a brand-new keyboard peripheral with a magnetic stand and mouse trackpad. It now sounds like the anticipated iPad Pro 2021 might come with an upgrade version of this purchasable extra.

This comes from Patently Apple, which spotted a series of Magic Keyboard patents granted by the Hong Kong Patent and Trademark Office - this contains a series of photos and sketches showing the iPad Pro peripheral.

Now these images don't necessarily show us anything new as the 'revamped' Magic Keyboard looks identical in design to the iPad Pro 2020's version, and no new features are listed. However, the very presence of the patent suggests Apple is looking for ways to tweak the upcoming iPad's useful add-on.

• These are the best iPads right now
• Check out these iPad deals
• There's a new iPad Mini coming soon

What could we see?

We earlier heard the new Magic Keyboard could ditch the touchpad, and instead opt for touch-sensitive strips on the sides of the keyboard. According to the new patents this isn't the case.

That earlier patent did suggest the updated keyboard could come with a microphone, making voice or video calls on the iPad just a bit better, and intriguingly the new Magic Keyboard patent was classified as 'Equipment for the Recording or Reproduction of Sounds and Pictures', so that seems likely.

It's possible a new Magic Keyboard could be made from a more durable material to better protect the enclosed iPad - Apple's iPad keyboard folios previously haven't been great as cases, and most people would like something protective to look after the pricey iPad.

We're expecting to hear about the new iPad Pro some time in early 2021, according to leaks and rumors, so we'll have to wait until then to see what's new with this Magic Keyboard 2.0.

• iPad Pro 2021 rumor points to a mini LED screen, saving OLED upgrade for 2022

Apple announced the new iPad Pro 2020 models with as much of a song and dance as you can muster through an online newsroom post, with the big selling points being both the LiDAR sensor on the front of the devices, and compatibility with the new Magic Keyboard, which comes with a trackpad, turning your tablet into a pseudo-laptop.

The Magic Keyboard joins the Smart Keyboard Folio and Apple Pencil in the roster of peripherals you can buy for your premium slate, and while I’m not sold on the thing (iPad Pros sit in that sweet spot between smartphone and laptop, the Magic Keyboard skews that balance), some people might find it useful.

However, I’ve been using the iPad Pro 12.9 (2018) daily for almost a year now, complete with the Smart Keyboard Folio and Apple Pencil to really round off the experience, and there’s a big issue with the former addition which the Magic Keyboard doesn’t look set to fix – the issue of protection and durability.

A case study

The Smart Keyboard Folio – and, by the looks of it, the Magic Keyboard, although we haven’t tested it yet – works like a case, wrapping around the iPad Pro when it’s closed, and acting as a stand when in action.

As a case, though, the folio doesn’t function very well at all. From less than a years’ use, my one boasts a plethora of injuries, ranging from scuffed edges and various marks to several noticeable areas where the outer layer has bubbled up, like a blister on the material. It’s not exactly a good-looking case any more.

In addition, the iPad Pro hasn’t come away unscathed – some of the edges are marked, especially the buttons, there are some marks on the back that have no obvious cause, and the screen itself has faint but recognizable smudges in the shape of the keys from the keyboard (as the keyboard is pressed against the display when closed).

This wear and tear is despite me being fairly gentle with the tablet – it’s not like I’ve been climbing mountains or skiing with the thing, just putting it in a bag daily for work, and on adventures to coffee shops and cafes now and then.

The Magic Keyboard isn't magic

A little natural damage is expected when you’re using a device frequently, but the Smart Keyboard Folio didn’t protect our device as a case would have done, despite this being one of its two functions – and it doesn’t seem like the Magic Keyboard is set to change that.

Judging by pictures of the thing online, the Magic Keyboard offers no protection to the sides of the iPad Pro 2020, even less so than the Smart Keyboard Folio, which was a touch bigger than the tablet at the edges.

On top of that, it seems like the Magic Keyboard might be prone to wear and tear of its own, since it has a complicated scissor mechanism, lights, a USB-C port and more. Instead of protecting your new iPad Pro, the Magic Keyboard might open your gadgets up to a whole plethora of new problems.

A tablet isn’t a computer – you’re not going to leave it on a desk, visiting it when you need to do a task, play a game or just surf the web. It’s more like a phone that you’re going to carry everywhere with you, even more so than a laptop, as the iPad Pro is smaller and lighter than your average laptop.

If I’m to use my iPad remotely to work, I’m going to want it to be safe to move about, but I’m not sure I could recommend the Smart Keyboard Folio as adequate protection if you’re hoping your tablet will last you for a long time.

The Magic Keyboard doesn’t look set to fix these problems, and might even add some of its own, so instead of encouraging me to take my iPad Pro even more places with me to work, it’s actually making the good old pen-and-paper combo look more tempting.

After all, if I’m being asked to choose between ‘a highly functional iPad Pro that’s prone to damage’ or ‘a well-protected iPad Pro that’s missing some core functions’, I’m not going to pick either.

• Apple's iPad Pro 2020 is said to be just '1% faster' than the 2018 version

It's been a weekend of Samsung-related leaks and rumors – see also news of a fresh color for the Note 9 and a wireless charging pad that's on the way – and to round everything off we've got some updates on the upgraded S Pen that's going to come with the Note 9.

The fine folks at XDA Developers have been digging into the firmware for the upcoming Galaxy Tab S4 tablet, and have found some hints about the new S Pen and what the stylus is going to be able to do. Previous rumors have suggested that the S Pen will be the standout feature of the Note 9 and will probably come in bright yellow too.

According to the firmware, the new S Pen will be able to control music on the phone (play, pause and skip), operate the phone's camera shutter remotely, unlock the phone remotely, and launch specific apps and features that can be customized by the user as required.

Wait for it

The firmware already available for the yet-to-be-launched Tab S4 is the first Android 8.1 Oreo release from Samsung, and there's a strong probability that this is the software the Galaxy Note 9 is going to come with when it's officially unveiled on August 9.

The Tab S4 tablet might come with S Pen support of its own, but we'll have to wait and see. Most speculation so far points to Samsung unveiling the slate at this year's IFA expo in Berlin, which gets underway on August 31 – among other changes, the Tab S4 is rumored to be ditching the fingerprint scanner for an iris scanner.

Now we know a bit more about the features coming with the supercharged S Pen, but what about the rest of the Note 9 package? Upgrades to the internal components and dual-lens rear camera have been mooted, as well as the inclusion of Bixby 2.0.

• Here's everything we know about the Galaxy Note 9 so far

With the iPad Pro Apple showed that it had ambitions for its slate to be more than just a humble tablet, with the official Smart Keyboard turning it into more of a laptop alternative.

But third-party manufacturers have been making iPad keyboard cases for years, so you don't need an iPad Pro - or an official accessory – to get your type on.

With that in mind we've created a list containing some of the very best keyboard iPad cases for all of the currently available models, and some of the older ones that are still popular.

Note: within each category we've ranked these from cheapest to most expensive according to prices at time of writing.

• Looking to buy a tablet? Check out our best iPads rundown

3 of the best iPad Pro 10.5 keyboard cases

The iPad Pro 10.5 is a new model in a new size, bridging the gap between Apple’s mammoth 12.9-inch slates and its long-running 9.7-inch range.

It’s big enough for a full-size keyboard, so it’s great to type on, especially if you opt for one of these cases.

• Read our iPad Pro 10.5 review

The KuGi iPad Pro 10.5 Keyboard Case is one of the cheaper options, but it’s got more going for it than just a low price.

For one, it fully protects the front and back of your tablet, which the official Smart Keyboard doesn’t. It’s also got a slot for the Apple Pencil, and that too is surprisingly lacking from Apple’s option.

It can also be folded into a variety of angles and the keyboard itself is a decent size. But like most cheaper options it uses Bluetooth rather than the Smart Connector, which makes connecting it less seamless and means you’ll occasionally have to charge the thing.

Don’t let the name fool you, if you want a genuinely slim iPad Pro 10.5 keyboard case you’re better with Apple’s Smart Keyboard, but the Logitech Slim Combo is more feature-packed and cheaper.

It has backlit keys and shortcut buttons, the keyboard itself is detachable and the case can be propped up at four different angles.

It also protects both the front and back of your iPad, is powered by the Smart Connector and includes a slot for the Apple Pencil. It covers your iPad in dull plastic, but if you want function more than form it’s a strong option.

Take a look at our Logitech discount codes for the best Logitech offers and savings.

Apple’s official option is arguably the best option, though only if you can stomach the price tag. Its slim and light design adds very little weight and bulk to your iPad Pro 10.5, and as it uses the Smart Connector you don’t need to worry about charging it.

You could save money when purchasing and official Apple keyboard with our Apple promo codes.

When using the keyboard you can only really stand your iPad in one position, which can be limiting, but it works on a desk or your lap, and when not using the keyboard you can fold it out of the way and angle the tablet in other ways.

The Apple Smart Keyboard also offers protection to the front of your slate, but not to the back, so you might want to consider a sleeve or back cover too (just make sure it fits with the keyboard attached).

3 of the best iPad Pro 9.7 keyboard cases

The iPad Pro 9.7 is one of Apple's greatest slates, and you can make it even better with one of these keyboard cases.

• Read our iPad Pro 9.7 review

This keyboard doesn’t use the Smart Connector, instead pairing via Bluetooth, which means you will occasionally need to charge it.

But the case it’s attached to stands out through enhanced durability, as it can protect your tablet from drops of up to 6 feet on to concrete, while a soft interior keeps your iPad’s screen clean and scratch-free.

The Logitech Create is one of the best – and most expensive – keyboards you can get for the iPad Pro 9.7. It plugs in via the Smart Connector and draws power from the iPad itself, so it never needs charging.

Once placed in typing position it will also automatically connect to your iPad Pro, so there’s no need for Bluetooth, and with full size, backlit keys there’s plenty of space to type comfortably.

The Logitech Create case also has a holder for the Apple Pencil, built-in iOS shortcuts, and a sturdy cover, to keep your iPad safe.

The official Apple Smart Keyboard also ranks among the very best, as you might expect. 

It’s slim and light, so it doesn’t hamper the portability of your iPad, but it also does the job it’s tasked with, as it’s reasonably spacious and works seamlessly – just connect it to the Smart Connector and get typing.

The Smart Connector also keeps it powered, so you never need to juice it up, and the keys offer a reassuring spring-like tension without the bulk found on a traditional keyboard. The only real downside is the typically Apple pricing.

3 of the best iPad Pro 12.9 keyboard cases

The iPad Pro 12.9 (2016)'s expansive screen makes it the best iPad for productivity, and the one that can most benefit from a keyboard.

It's now even better too, thanks to the new iPad Pro 12.9 (2017) model, but they're exactly the same size, so the same keyboard cases fit both of them. The following are among the best options.

• Read our iPad Pro 12.9 review | hands on: iPad Pro 12.9 (2017) review

This Fyy keyboard case is far cheaper than most of the big name ones and that’s one of its main selling points, but you still get a decent case for your money.

It’s a wireless Bluetooth one, rather than a Smart Connector one, so it will occasionally need charging, but it has a stylish faux-leather exterior, a holder for the Apple Pencil and comes in a choice of four colors.

It also has a slot for paperwork if you ever find yourself wanting to take notes the old-fashioned way, but you shouldn’t need to, as the keyboard itself is a good size and includes various function keys.

This Snugg keyboard is all about versatility. You can rotate the iPad 360 degrees inside the case and stand it at multiple angles, so whether you’re typing or viewing the case will accommodate you.

It also comes in a range of bright colors, which won’t appeal to everyone, but certainly help it stand out from other cases. It’s a Bluetooth keyboard though, so it will need charging from time to time.

We’ve included this very same keyboard in the iPad Pro 9.7 selection, but Logitech makes a 12.9-inch model too, and it’s good enough to be worth highlighting for both slates.

The Logitech Create Keyboard Case has an assortment of standout features, from full-size backlit keys, which let you type comfortably, even in the dark, to its row of iOS shortcuts along the top.

The Logitech Create also makes use of the Smart Connector for easy pairing and no charging, and the case itself provides some protection, as well as automatically waking your iPad up when you open it, and sleeping it when it’s closed.

3 of the best New iPad keyboard cases

The new iPad is a relatively affordable option from Apple, offering a 9.7-inch screen and a stylish design, but lacking the power and features of the iPad Pro range, which many will find overkill.

Of course, if you’re planning to do a lot of typing then an iPad Pro might be a better option, but there are some decent keyboard cases available for the new iPad as well, such as the following three.

• Read our new iPad review

There’s a lot to like about the Fintie New iPad 9.7-inch Keyboard Case, starting with its low price and the wide range of colors and designs that it’s available in.

When it comes to using the thing, you can fine-tune the viewing angle, and with a spring mechanism underneath each key it will feel more like using a proper desktop keyboard than some keyboard cases do.

The case also provides full body protection for your tablet, and the keyboard part is removable, so you don’t have to carry it with you when you don’t need it.

The Anker Ultra Slim Keyboard Cover is fairly affordable but looks expensive, with a slim, lightweight design that matches the iPad itself.

It has a long-lasting battery that can go up to six months between charges. It’s also easily removable if you’d rather use your iPad au naturel, and it’s almost a full-size keyboard, with molded key caps, so you get a comfortable typing experience.

Anker’s case isn’t as protective as some, only covering the front of your iPad, but that helps keep the bulk down.

The Logitech Slim Folio Case is one of the most premium options available for the new iPad, and we mean that both in terms of price and features.

For one thing, its battery lasts up to four years, though it uses a coin cell, so after that you’ll need to replace the battery, rather than charging it.

It also has a full row of iOS shortcut keys, so you can easily change the volume or track for example. It should also offer a decent amount of protection, and has large, well-spaced keys for fast and accurate typing.

3 of the best iPad Air 2 keyboard cases

The iPad Air 2 doesn't have a Smart Connector, but with a 9.7-inch screen and plenty of power it's still ideally suited for productivity, so why not give it an upgrade with one of these keyboard cases?

• Read our iPad Air 2 review

This Anker Bluetooth Folio Keyboard Case is a solid option for the iPad Air 2. A 6-month battery life means you’ll only be charging it twice a year, and a case that stays locked shut when the slate isn’t in use ensures your iPad is safe from scrapes and falls.

The case also allows you to have your iPad Air 2 either upright or laid flat, and the keys are designed to be quiet, so you can type without bothering those around you. 

You should be aware that this case covers one of the iPad’s microphones, but Anker claims this doesn’t affect sound quality.

This keyboard case uses aircraft-grade aluminum alloy, for a finish that’s just as premium as the iPad it’s attached to.

It’s also thin and light, so you can happily chuck it in your bag without being weighed down, and with well-spaced keys you’ll be able to type comfortably.

Like any good keyboard case it also automatically sleeps and wakes your iPad when it’s opened or closed, and you can angle your tablet in a variety of positions, for comfortable use whatever position you’re in.

The Logitech Type+ is one of the more premium iPad Air 2 cases, in terms of both price and features. The keys are well-spaced, to help you type quickly and accurately, and there’s also a row of iOS shortcuts to speed things up further.

But despite being spacious, this keyboard case is thin and light. It’s also designed to keep your iPad safe from bumps, scratches and even minor spills, and it will automatically sleep and wake your slate when it’s opened or closed. 

Its 3 months of battery life isn’t as impressive as some rivals, but otherwise this case is hard to beat.

3 of the best iPad Mini 4 keyboard cases

The iPad Mini 4's small size means it's not quite as well suited to typing, but that hasn't stopped companies making keyboards for it. These are three of the best.

• Read our iPad Mini 4 review

This KVAGO case is worth considering if you’re on a tight budget, as it’s less than half the price of most decent rivals.

It’s also not as good as those rivals, with a plastic construction and a fit that’s not perfectly snug, meaning this won’t offer a huge amount of protection.

But it’s available in a range of colors, automatically sleeps and wakes your iPad and includes function keys to control music and other settings. If you plan to type a lot, maybe spend a bit more, but if you just want something to occasionally tap away at this could make for a great value option.

The Logitech Logi Focus doesn’t have the most high-end of looks, but it gets the basics right.

There's six months of battery life, iOS shortcuts for speedy operation, and a case that’s designed to protect against bumps, scratches and spills, rather than just house the keyboard.

It’s also available in a slightly wider selection of colors than some keyboard cases and will automatically wake up your iPad when you open it, with the only real problem being the same one faced by any compact keyboard – that it might feel a bit cramped.

The iPad Mini 4 is a bit small to comfortably type on, but if you’re going to try you could do a lot worse than this keyboard from Belkin.

Its aluminum build gives it a shiny, premium finish that ensures it doesn’t look out of place attached to your sleek slate, and with a battery life of up to six months you won’t need to charge it often.

The case is also fairly thin and light, so you don’t sacrifice too much portability, and it can be folded down flat to get the keyboard out of the way when it’s not in use.

3 of the best iPad Mini 2 keyboard cases

The iPad Mini 2 is still going strong, and it can go even stronger with one of these keyboard cases.

• Read our iPad Mini 2 review

More worried about the keyboard part than the case? Then you might want to check out this Arteck option.

It's a cheap clip-on keyboard with 50 hours of battery life (when actively using the keyboard – you’ll get a lot more in standby).

The main issue is that, despite being called a case, there’s no back to it, so while it protects your iPad Mini’s screen, it won’t protect the rear, but if you just want a cheap way to type this is an appealing option.

The JETech Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard Case won’t cost the Earth, but you get a surprisingly well thought out case given how affordable it is.

The highlight, other than the price, is how adjustable your iPad Mini 2 is in the case, as it can be stood in landscape or portrait at a variety of angles.

The case is also designed to offer a reasonable amount of protection, and includes the basics you’d expect, like auto wake/sleep and iOS function keys.

A more premium option, the Snugg Ultra Slim Rotatable Keyboard Case isn’t cheap, but it is versatile, allowing you to rotate your iPad Mini 2 360 degrees and stand it at a variety of angles.

It also comes in a range of bright colors – though these, coupled with the otherwise plain design, probably won’t suit everyone.

Otherwise, this is a fairly standard keyboard case, but it’s lightweight, just like your iPad, so you can comfortably carry it, and it has shortcut keys to help you navigate iOS.

• You've got the hardware, now get some software with the best iPad apps

If you use a tablet as part of your professional or academic repertoire, it's likely you also need an attachable keyboard. However, your options are usually limited by what keyboard can match your tablet's model or operating system.

For those who'd rather not buy a new keyboard every time they get a new tablet, Logitech has unveiled its Universal Folio, an attachable keyboard/case combo that fits virtually any 9- to 10-inch tablet. 

The Bluetooth 3.0 accessory can connect to iOS, Android, and even Windows-powered tablets, using an adjustable frame to secure your screen and re-purpose the device as a laptop. 

The keyboard also hosts shortcut keys for media playback, volume, screen lock or search, depending on the operating system. A stylus with a nifty holder is also present in the front for making the most of the touch screen on your makeshift 2-in-1 computer.

• These are the best Windows tablets you can buy now

For the especially busy, the Universal Folio sports an impressive two-year life span on replaceable coin cell batteries and a water-resistant outer case. That said, the keys themselves aren't resistant to liquids, so watch what you're doing with that caffè latte.

The Logitech Universal Folio runs for $59.99/£59.99/AU$99.95 and is available for purchase now via Logitech's website.

• Turn your head to the best 2-in-1 laptops of 2017

Paperless Post is a fun way to create all kinds of special occasion cards on your iPad, iPhone and online, with hundreds of different designs to choose from – including many from renowned graphic designers.

Having such a wide choice of cards makes it much more appealing than the stationery options you'll find in other apps or even in physical card shops. What's more, Paperless Post includes a great range of customisation options, enabling you to change typefaces, text sizes and background colours to create exactly the look you're after.

Paperless Post can even deal with more complex tasks such as party or wedding invitations: you simply add the email addresses of the people you want to invite and then decide whether or not you want invitees to see your guest list. It can even handle their replies. Best of all, Paperless Post is free to use, although you'll need to pay using In-App Purchases to send each card or use some special options.

Paperless Post has so many different cards to choose from that, at first, it can be overwhelming. You can narrow down your options by category and sub-category or by filtering by size, shape, colour, etc. It's also a good idea to keep an image of the person you're sending to in mind.

Sending a birthday card to Mum? Then your choices should be based on what she likes, not what you do.

Tap on a card to choose it, then click on the Design button near the bottom of the screen. Flip the card around by swiping your finger right to left and then tap on the 'T' button below.

You now have the option to tweak the existing message or delete it and add something truly personal. You'll notice that the iOS virtual keyboard has now slid into view, along with a black horizontal menu bar containing the words Typeface, Colour and Format.

Tap on Typeface and you'll see a list of different font choices you can choose from. Tapping on Color enables you to change individual words or your whole message using a varied colour palette. Format enables you to tweak the Font Size, Line Height and Letter Spacing using sliders.

You can also choose whether to left-align, centre or right-align your text. Feel free to experiment; when you've finished, tap Done in the top right corner.

When you're happy with the words, you can move on to customising the card background and add an envelope if you wish. Adding an envelope to a virtual card may seem silly, but the recipient gets a slick animation when you do, so it's a neat finishing touch.

To add a card or envelope background, tap the Background Wallpaper button to the right of the 'T' button from step 2 and then choose one you like from the menu.

Before sending off your card, tap Preview at the top of the screen to see how it will look when your addressee receives it. This is your final chance to ensure you're happy with everything, from the words you've used to the background you've chosen.

It will even preview the envelope animation we mentioned, though recipients will need Adobe Flash, which iOS doesn't support, to view it on a computer. To exit Preview, tap the X in the white circle at the top left.

If you're happy with your card, now's the time to send it. Tap the Next button at the top right of the screen and an email form will open up.

Type the email address where you want to send the card. Don't forget to add your name in the From field and the subject of your email in the Subject field. When you're ready to go, tap Send. Paperless Post will remind you that you will be charged Coins to send the card (and also for any custom options you've added).

Today is a sad day for the TechRadar office, and by extension the world. Someone has created an iPad selfie stick, rolling two terrible ideas - selfie sticks and people who take pictures with tablets - into one easy-to-hate device.

For the narcissistic amongst us, you can now use your Apple tablet's front-facing camera to take photos from up to three feet away. Apparently it's allowed to use these in everyday situations too, not just posing with weapons, sitting at funerals or while rubbernecking at accident sites.

We haven't had the joyous opportunity of trying one of these things out yet but we suspect you're going to be needing arms to rival Popeye just to hold an iPad up at that distance for more than a couple of seconds – especially if it isn't the ultra-light iPad Air 2.

If you really want one, head over to Accessory Geeks. Just don't tell us if you do. We'd rather not know.

More blips

Are you done with planet Earth now? Most of our blips will help you love the planet we love on, whilst some others won't.

• Wearable selfie stick signals end of humanity
• This Game Boy gun shoots 8-bit pictures at you
• Go play Super Mario 64 in your browser right now

Microsoft had a surprise accessory reveal during its conference at MWC and I got the chance to have some hands-on time with it.

The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard, possibly the catchiest accessory name on the planet, is a new Surface-like Bluetooth accessory that connects up to your phone or tablet for an easy to type experience.

The QWERTY keyboard features keys of an average size to easily hit the right keys with your fingers and has the same feel when typing as the Surface's accessories have had.

Function buttons on the keyboard are limited with volume keys sat along the top on the left hand side. The right hand side has top row buttons for music including play and pause, skip or rewind with a search button included as well.

The keyboard then folds into two making it much easier to carry around as it's just a little bigger than a CD case.

There's a magnetic strip running along the left and right hand side of the keyboard meaning when the two connect up together it's not going to flop open unexpected.

Sadly we've yet to be able to connect it up to any devices so can't judge on how good the Bluetooth connection is. We do know it'll be compatible with all Windows Phone, iOS and Android phones though.

The foldable aspect of the keyboard may prove its worth when trying to take it from A to B but it means there's a big fold running down the centre of the accessory.

This split down the centre of the keys is also going to take some getting used to. There's two space buttons because of it as well as extended G and T keys that may cause some bad typos upon the first few uses.

It's going to prove a problem when trying to type on any surface that isn't both solid and flat, meaning it'll only be useful in a limited number of situations.

Microsoft has yet to reveal a price or release date for the new keyboard. If it is priced competitively it may be a good accessory to keep with you in case of emergencies, making word processing easier on mobile devices, but it isn't a replacement for a full Bluetooth keyboard.

• Check the rest of our MWC 2015 coverage

HTC's heavily tipped Nexus 9 tablet looks even more of a certainty as images of what is believed to be a keyboard cover for the new device have broken online.

The shots surfaced via China's National Communications Commission database – a statutory body responsible for regulating new products. Promptly picked up by the internet at large, the images give only a couple of clues about what we can expect from the new device.

While the top of the case bears a noticeable resemblance to Apple's Smart Cover for the iPad Air, the underside shows of the full QWERTY capabilities. There's no docking system in view meaning this will be reliant on a Bluetooth connection.

Believe the type

Measurements on the side of the image suggest the forthcoming tablet will use a 7-inch form factor. That squares with what we already know of what will be HTC's first tablet since the ill-fated HTC Flyer.

Earlier leaks suggested that the tablet my come with "a new 'tube-shaped' waterproof camera" with a 16MP sensor and wide-angle "smart lens" for extreme photography.

HTC is remaining tight-lipped on the subject but the Taiwanese company doesn't have the best track record when it comes to plugging leaks.

Other rumoured specs for the Nexus 9 include 3GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage (with micro-SD capability) and a 64-bit version of Google's Android L OS. HTC has sent out invitations to a New York event on October 8 where all could be revealed.

• Check out our review of HTC's current flagship, the HTC One (M8)

Via Androidandme

Just when you thought Nexus 8 rumors had run dry, a new leak outs a very Microsoft Surface-esque keyboard case designed for the forthcoming Google/HTC tablet.

Android Police spied a keyboard folio that will act as a wireless Bluetooth 4.0 keyboard and folding cover for HTC's first Nexus tablet, thus far known as both Volantis and Flounder.

Supposedly the case will come as one piece that folds in half; the tablet's backside will sit on top of the keyboard when not in use. Meanwhile, the cover for the 8.9-inch screen could be segmented and lined with magnets similar to the Smart Covers designed for the iPad Air and iPad mini 2.

Users should be able to fold up the segments into a triangle and use it to prop up their tablet for watching media or using the keyboard.

Another key piece of the cover's design docket also reveals it could come with an integrated 450mAh battery plus a charging port built into the hinge. While it would be nice to use the case's battery to keep the Nexus 8 topped off with energy, sources claim it will more likely be used to power the keyboard itself.

Nexuses are a-changing

Speculation has focused on Google planning a major shake-up of its Nexus tablets. Now the possible existence of an official keyboard case could signal the search company's desires to produce a more productivity-focused slate.

Android Police also speculates that the Nexus 8 will come with 4:3 aspect ratio. This change could also make the slate better tuned for word processing and other content producing applications rather than simply viewing Google Play and streaming video.

Otherwise early reports have suggested the Nexus 8 tablet may come packing a QHD screen driven by a 64-bit Tegra K1 processor and 4GB of RAM. The tablet could also boast an 8MP rear camera paired with a 1.6MP front snapper, and be the first Android slate pre-loaded with Android L.

We're anticipating the Nexus 8 to launch in October, so look out for it and its new keyboard case.

• Google wants to change the wearables world with Android Wear

If you're going to fork over a decent amount for cash for a tablet like Google's Nexus 7, then it's probably wise to pick up a nice case to ensure it stands the test of time, right?

Well in the case of Google's official folio case for the 2013 Nexus 7 might be doing more harm that good.

An Android Central reporter who grabbed the red iteration of the case when buying a Nexus 7 three months ago, took it off recently to reveal rust-coloured line all the way around the edges.

Around all four corners and everywhere there's a cutout on the case, a deep red line on my otherwise pristine black Nexus 7. I can scrub all I want, and the lines don't seem to want to come off," wrote Andrew Martonik.

Not a cheap option

The official folio case is by no means a cheap knock-off at $50 (£30), but it's the open backed design that's likely cause for the stains.

The case, which also comes in black for those unwilling to deal with the red stains, has wake/sleep functionality and folds back into a number of positions.

So, we're not sure if there's a moral to this story other than to say even supposed protection can be damaging for your gadgets.

Have you experienced similar problems with cases for your tech? Let us know your experiences in the comments section below.

• Google Nexus 7: How to upgrade, flash and unlock your tablet

The ways in which we can control our devices is on a steady rate of evolution. First we went from keyboards and mice to touchscreens, and now we're twiddling our fingers in the air with the Leap Motion. Tobii hopes to bring the next revolution with its EyeMobile device that lets users visually tap on hardware with only their peepers at them.

At a recent CES Unveiled NY event night we got some hands-on, or rather eyes-on time with the Tobii EyeMobile eye-tracking device.

To the average user it might just be a novelty to control the tablet with their gaze, but for people who are paralyzed or have disabilities that make it difficult for them to use their arms, the EyeMobile could be a valuable tool in using the technology.

That said, all this eye-tracking wizardry comes at a steep price of $3,245 (about £2,020/AU$3,483), a price that includes a mount and Surface Pro. The eye-tracking device itself costs $1,995 (about £1,242/AU$2,141) and another $350 (about £219/AU$375) for the bracket. Now that you've spewed your drink everywhere, let's see how it really works.

Design

The Tobii EyeMobile we played with was strapped onto a Surface Pro. The metal bracket adds a lot of bulk and armor to the Windows tablet, but it's also meant to be attached to a variety of wheelchairs, bedside mounts and in-vehicle mounts. It also comes with a built-in stand that makes it easy to set up on any table.

The EyeMobile unit, which is about the size of a frankfurter, sits at the bottom of the cradle. Beneath the shiny black plastic on the sensor bar there are two infrared cameras that track the location of your eyes.

The device connects via USB to any Windows tablet that runs the full version of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (sorry RT users). This also means users can pop the EyeMobile out of the frame and connect it to a regular computer for the same experience on their laptop or PC. Meanwhile, the bracket can also support a multitude of tablet sizes, from seven to about 13 inches.

Software

When we first sat down and started glaring at the EyeMobile, we had to run a calibration test. This prompted a quick "follow the orange dot" test as it zoomed to nine positions starting from the top left corner and ending at the bottom right. After the calibration, the application creates a viewing pyramid so you don't have to worry about keeping your head perfectly still.

As for the user control application itself, Tobii runs a custom overlay on top of Windows 8. The interface starts with a black and blue bar that sits on the right side of the screen. From here, we could select any number of look-and-pick options for commands such as clicking, zooming and scrolling.

The EyeMobile basically has eye-gaze equivalents to every gesture control option built into Windows 8. We could also access options to right click, type with the keyboard, open recent apps, go back to the start screen and open the charms bar.

But before we could actually select anything, glancing over to the right menu bar and picking an action icon was required. It's a bit of an added hassle, but a necessary step to prevent accidental clicks on every single thing we were looking at. Luckily, our eyes move faster than our hands.

After a few minutes of using the device and diving into the settings to fine tune the sensitivity and click speed, we got the hang of the control method, and it seemed intuitive. Scrolling with our eyes while reading felt especially natural because the device follows your eyes as you read down the page while it slowly raising the line you're reading to the center of the screen.

Other then tapping on tablets for something to happen, using the EyeMobile really isn't that different in comparison since we already select options and parts of the screen we want to look at with our eyes first.

Early Verdict

Tobii's EyeMobile technology still has some early hitches to it and for a fairly astronomical price, it isn't exactly something every user needs. But for the disabled and paralyzed, it's a practical way of using electronics without needing to tap and touch with your hands.

Like all software, Tobii says it's continuing to develop new applications. One company representative said future apps include gaming; the company recently tested the device with StarCraft II, which allowed players to easily access the mini map without having to take their hands off the keyboard.

The idea may not be fully developed or affordable today - but the technology is getting there, and it's certainly something to look forward to.

It's a new day and Microsoft has launched a new salvo of products into the tablet market with Surface Pro 2 and its RT little brother, the Surface 2. While the two upgraded units headlined Microsoft's Sept. 23 event in New York City, arguably one of the more interesting bits of tech to come out of the Surface shindig was the Touch Cover 2.

The new Touch Cover is basically one giant, felt covered touchpad that can track your finger movements with no less than 1,092 touch sensors. It's a remarkable upgrade compared to the 80 sensors found in the original version's low-power, super-fast film multi-touch digitizer.

To get a peek at the technology behind the Touch Cover 2 we got a chance to speak with its head creator, Stevie Bathiche, director of research at the Microsoft Applied Sciences Group.

Bathiche said he and his team have been working on the tech inside the Touch Cover 2 as soon as the first Cover made it out the door.

The end result is a new touch sensor array that blankets a much larger map, ensuring users won't miss any keys. On top of preventing typos, the new Cover can also detect how hard you're pressing by sensing pressure as velocity.

"Capacitive touchscreens have tried to do the same thing by looking at the pad of your finger," Bathiche explained. "But it can only go so far because there's glass."

Covering new ground

Other than typing, the new touch sensor matrix is a reconfigurable "platform-level technology." Bathiche said they could literally throw on a new piece of fabric, tweak the SDK, and they would have a new type of Cover beyond the touch keyboard and Music Cover.

There could be a Wacom-like art pad, something designed for commerce with a calculator, or even game controllers. The potential applications are nearly limitless.

Hitting the right notes

We also managed to snag some time with Bryson Gordon, a marketing director on the Surface team spearheading the Remix Project, which has already created a modified Touch Cover for Garage Band-style DJ apps.

"What we are trying to show with the Surface Remix Project is that you can go think about being productive with a tablet in a entirely new way," Gordon said. "Productivity does not just need to be about Microsoft Office. Clicking in does not just need to be about a keyboard. You can actually be productive, which in this case means being creative."

After the Music Cover was developed by Microsoft, the team ushered it to students at the Art Center College in Pasadena and presented them with the challenge of developing their own usage ideas. Over the course of three days, Microsoft all but locked the students into a room as they came up with applications for new Surface Covers.

Gordon said the students' ideas led to questions such as, "Why can't this be a piano keyboard? Why couldn't this be a drum pad? Or why couldn't this be a game controller, where the harder I push down something else happens? There are a lot of things you could do with it."

The Music Cover is just the start. Microsoft wants to hear more ideas from customers and application partners about what they want to "click in," the company's catch phrase for connecting to peripherals.

Gordon explained that the bottom of the Surface was really designed to be an open edge for users to add functionality.

"It's a starting point for a new interactive platform on the Surface," he said. "What's next is figuring out the next set of Covers that can take advantage of the technology. You'll probably see it before you know it."

• We've got our hands on reviews of the Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2 for you. Come on, what are you waiting for?

The latest issue of tech. magazine is out now and is the one-stop shop for all the news on Google I/O. In the week that Google sets out its innovation agenda for the year, tech. takes a look at the biggest announcements at the show and how they will fit into our tech lives going forward.

The magazine also investigates Google's best innovations that were killed off too soon and explains all about the search giant's new music-streaming service.

Also in the issue is a look at Dolby Atmos – the 3D audio that's sending Star Trek Into Darkness into another dimension – insight into Blackberry lending out BBM to Android and iOS and all the talk about Nokia's latest flagship, the Lumia 925.

Out every week

tech. also has reviews of the Huawei Ascend Mate and Sony's latest five-star Bravia - not to mention the best reads of the week and a look at the darker side of the internet, with articles on 3D gun printing and the Syrian Electronic Army.

It's fair to say that this edition is packed with everything is going on in technology at the moment and a little more added in for extra measure.

Out every week, tech. is TechRadar's digital only magazine. It is available on Apple Newsstand, Google Magazines and Zinio now.

So, you have a copy of tech. on the iPad but the editorial journey doesn't stop there. You may have noticed the many fantastic quotes we have in the issue. well now you can read the whole articles that we referenced. Below is a list of content section by section. Enjoy.

And if you want to be in with a chance of winning a fantastic Apple iPad mini, click here to enter!

Year in mobile

Chris Ziegler, The Verge


With the iPad Mini on the way, how is the Nexus 7 doing?

John C Abell, Reuters


With Maps, Apple's lost


Sascha Segan, PCmag

Will pundits kill Windows Phone 8?


Ben Woods, ZD Net


EE's 3G pricing: Fast data for those with money to burn


Year in computing

Ed Bott - ZDnet

What do normal people think of new Windows 8 PCs?

Seth Rosenblatt, CNet

Chrome OS matures, but it's not a Jedi-level operating system yet

Anand Lal Shimpi, AnandTech

The Ivy Bridge Preview: Core i7 3770K Tested

Jeremy Laird, TechRadar

Why ARM CPUs look set to end the x86 computing era

Broole Crothers, CNet

Beware the allure of Apple's Retina Displays

Year in home entertainment

Sean Hollister, The Verge

4K is now 'Ultra High-Definition,' according to the Consumer Electronics Association

Steve May - TechRadar

LG: a mass market for OLED TVs is years off

Steve May - The Register

2012: an epoch-defining year for home entertainment

A Blu Black Friday

Erik Gruenwedel, Chris Tribbey, John Latchem, Thomas K. Arnold - Home Media Magazine

Gary Marshall, TechRadar

LoveFilm vs Netflix: which is best for you?

Sean Buckley, Engadget

PlayStation Vita review

Tom Hoggins

Nintendo 3DS XL review

Jaff Bakalar - CNet

Sony shrinks down new PS3

Tom Parsons, Stuff

Nintendo Wii U Review

Samsung vs Apple

Lindsey Turrentine, CNet

Galaxy S3 beats iPhone 5 for best device of 2012

Luke Peters, T3

iPhone 5 review

Andrew Ku, Tom's Hardware

Does Samsung's New Galaxy Tab 10.1 Measure Up?

Gareth Beavis, TechRadar

iPad mini review

Enrique Gutierrez

JESSICA E. VASCELLARO, WSJ

Apple Victory Shifts Power Balance

John Ellett, Forbes

3 Reasons Samsung's Latest Advertising Poking Apple Is So Smart

Todd Wasserman, Mashable

Samsung Is the Breakthrough Brand of 2012

Best reads of the year

Mat Honan, Wired

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

Taylor Clark, The Atlantic

The Most Dangerous Gamer

Drew Wilson - Zeropaid:

What Filesharing Studies Really Say – Conclusions and Links

Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica

Win Amp: how the greatest MP3 player undid itself

Maria Bustillos, The Verge

Everyone shoots first: reality in the age of Instagram

Inflame: best of 2012

TorrentFreak

SOPA is Baaaaack!

The Verge

UK Judge says Galaxy Tab does not infringe on the iPad, design 'not as cool'

Engadget

Tim Cook Apologizes For Maps Mess

What is Windows Phone 7.8

Michael Rougeau, TechRadar

Alas, Nokia says no Windows Phone 7.8 for Lumias until 2013

Tim Steven, Engadget

Lumia 900 owner vents Windows Phone 8 frustrations, Stephen Elop respond

Windows Phone 7.8 FAQ: What you need to know

Stuart Miles, Pocket-lint

What's new in Windows Phone 7.8?

Mat Smith, Engadget

Nokia reiterates: Windows Phone 7.8 update not arriving on Lumia devices until 2013

Alex Heath - Cult of Mac

Does Microsoft's New Windows Phone 8 Have What It Takes To Compete With iPhone?

Things to watch, buy and do

Danny Brogan, Pocket-lint

Jarre Aeroskull docking speaker really is shaped like a skull

Michael Rundle, Huffington Post

Nasa's Black Marble: Australian Bushfires Revealed In Sensational Photographs

Shane Richmond - Telegraph

iPad app: The Orchestra review

Julie P - Fun Educational Apps

Sherlock Holmes for the iPad: Classic Stories Presented in Dramatic Digital Format

Jared Nelson - Touch Arcade

Out Now: 'Middle Manager of Justice', 'You Don't Know Jack', and 'The Room Pocket'

Kim Newman - Empire

Looper

John Bedford - Modojo

The Snowman and The Snowdog (iPad) Review

Nokia will launch a Windows RT tablet in early 2013, according to reports on Christmas Eve.

The Verge's sources have claimed that the long-rumoured slate will, like the Microsoft Surface tablet, boast a 10.1-inch display along with USB and HDMI connectivity.

The report also revealed that Nokia will aim to stand out from the ground with an innovative keyboard cover that, according to the source, will "envelop the tablet like a book."

The keyboard cover, which is said to clip onto the tablet and act as a kickstand, could also feature a battery pack to give the tablet a boost when power is low and two USB ports for extra connectivity.

Ten-hour battery life?

Beyond the purported case, the report claims that Nokia's device will also have a ten hour battery with fast charging tech that will return the tablet to a 50 per cent charge in a short space of time.

With Windows RT on-board, that means an ARM chipset. However, sources have claimed that Nokia will be producing a limited run of its first tablet, with a view to launching a Windows 8 version also.

Nokia has refused to comment on the report, which also claims the device will launch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

Via The Verge

With Android tablets like the Nexus 7 and Kogan Agora 10-inch ICS now prolific in Australia, it's no surprise that Google has today begun selling magazines in Australia through the Play Store.

With magazines from major publishers, including ACP, Pacific Magazines and NewsLifeMedia, the move sees Android continue its rollout of features to compete with Apple's iOS operating system.

To entice users, publishers are offering the first issue free to subscribers, while some magazines will also launch with back issues available to purchase.

Text only and interactive

One advantage of the Google magazine platform is the ability to view titles in a text only version, which strips out all images and ads for an easy reading experience. Text size is adjustable, making long form articles much clearer to read.

But for those who only like the idea of interactivity in their digital magazines, Google also offers that functionality, marking interactive magazines with a special badge in the Play Store under the magazine's cover.

Interactive magazines are restricted to 7-inch and 10-inch form factors however, ruling out the ability to enjoy them on devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, or the 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab.

Via: Google

Logitech has unveiled its latest iPad accessory, a magnetic screen cover that also houses a Bluetooth keyboard and built-in stand.

Yes, the only thing missing from this peripheral is the kitchen sink and we suspect that omission is only really down to size constraints.

The ultrathin aluminium cover snaps on to the iPad a la the Apple Smart Cover using a magnetic clip.

Handily, it also apes the Smart Cover in that Logitech's cover features instant on and off functionality so your iPad will spring into action the minute you uncover the screen, and drift off to sleep when you pop it back on.

To Starbucks

When you're ready to type, you can slot the iPad (new iPad or iPad 2) into the built-in stand that will hold it at a comfortable angle. No excuse not to get down to work on that screenplay now, guys.

Logitech reckons you can get six months of life out of the keyboard's battery if you use it for two hours a day.

The piano-black (that's black, to you and me) case should be hitting retailers in the UK and US this month, with pricing set at £89.99 for the Brits and $99.99 on the other side of the pond.

And if you don't have an iPad but still fancy a bit of this tablet-cum-netbook action, you can always opt for the Asus Transformer Prime that comes with a similar case/keyboard.

There are lots of times when a stylus is really handy, especially when using an iPad. Great apps such as Noteshelf, or Brushes turn the iPad into brilliant notebooks and painting canvases, but if you just use your finger, it can be tricky to make precise movements.

The problem with styluses for touchscreens such as the iPad's is that the screens are designed to recognise fingers - and without wishing to cause offence, fingertips are chunky things compared to a pen tip. If you make the nib of a stylus too small, the iPad won't register it - Wacom claims that the nib of its Bamboo Stylus is as small as you can go.

Adonit, however, has come up with a clever way to make a stylus that has an (apparently) fine point, but is still detected by the iPad. It has attached a small, clear, plastic disc to the end of a pen on a ball joint.

The disc has a little metal cross embedded in it, to give it the required electrical conductivity for the iPad's capacitive screen.

It sounds delicate, but it's actually surprisingly robust - and a screw-on cap protects the nib.

It also sounds like it might be a pain to use, but it's actually a joy. We'd still recommend the Just Mobile AluPen or Wacom Bamboo Stylus as a sketching tool, but for writing, the Jot Pro is unbeatable.

The only possible reason you might delay buying one is that Adonit is developing a pressure-sensitive version, the Jot Touch. We worry that the hardness of the unresisting tip hitting against the screen in the Jot Touch would feel a little stilted for digital painting.

It's the Jot Pro we're reviewing here, however, and it's a corker.

Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview

Elgato's eyeTV Mobile is yet another way to watch TV on your iPad 2 while you're on the go. It's a tiny little DVB-T Freeview tuner that plugs into the iPad's Dock connector, picking up a signal over the air so it won't touch your mobile data allowance.

It comes with two relatively small aerials that connect directly to the unit. Alternatively, you can attach any other antenna via a coaxial lead, though you'll need a £5 adapter from Elgato's online store to do this. But the fact that you can connect an external antenna is a blessing, because the included antennae may not be enough to get a decent signal.

And just like with Elgato's wireless tuners, the tivizen and the equinux tizi, there's no real way of knowing until you try. In our office, the smaller antenna couldn't pick up anything, while the larger one had to remain right by the window. Which meant, of course, that the iPad 2 did as well.

Even walking round town with the smaller antenna, signal was intermittent. When we got a signal, the picture quality was excellent, though.

The electronic programme guide is simple to find your way around, and it's easy to record shows (though you can't program it to record later – it's instant-on). It's also worth noting that the eyeTV Mobile is iPad 2-only, though apparently it works on the iPhone 4 or 4th-generation iPod touch in Japan.

If you want to watch TV on your iPad 2 without touching your monthly 3G data allowance, or somewhere where there isn't Wi-Fi internet access, this is worth a look. It's more versatile than the tizi or tivizen in that you can connect an external antenna, and you may well have to.

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Kensington is well known for creating laptop locks that can anchor your portable PC to something sturdy to keep it from getting lost or nicked. Its locks have been so successful, in fact, that if you own a laptop it's very likely that it has a small rectangular slot for attaching a Kensington lock to it.

This level of success is certainly impressive - after all not every company has provisions for its products built into most computers. However, this success hasn't translated to the popular tablet, the Apple iPad 2.

Apple's uncompromising focus on streamlining features on its flagship tablet has meant there's no room for a Kensington lock slot. With tablets being just as easy to lose or steal - if not more so - than laptops, Kensington has been keen to come up with a solution. Of course, it also wants to capitalise on the iPad's popularity.

Its solution, the Kensington SecureBack Security Case, isn't that great, unfortunately. It involves a rather unattractive case that clips on to your iPad. With it installed, the once sleek and attractive Apple tablet looks bulky and a bit ugly. Who knows, maybe making the iPad a less attractive gadget is part of Kensington's plan to deter thieves.

But if it keeps your iPad safe, who cares about looks? Well, how well it keeps your iPad protected is a concern. The case itself is rather flimsy and a tiny bit cheap feeling. A determined enough thief wouldn't have much trouble breaking the iPad free.

Verdict

We wouldn't feel completely safe leaving an iPad in a busy café with just the Kensington SecureBack Security Case for security, which makes it pretty much redundant. It may dissuade someone from quickly snatching it, but not much more.

It also doesn't come with the ClickSafe Lock to secure it - essential really for securing the iPad. You need to buy it separately, which is an extra expense.

The first extra thing you buy when you get an iPhone is likely to be a speaker dock, and with good reason: having one gives you somewhere safe to set your iPhone down, that keeps its charge topped up and ready to go, and that gives your music some richness and power compared to the reedy little built-in speaker.

And it's exactly the same with an iPad, except up until now there haven't really been enough speaker docks built for Apple's tablet for us to be able to out them together in an iPad speaker dock group test.

Happily, though, we've brought five together here, and spent weeks listening to all kinds of music on them, using them every day with both the original and second-generation iPads to reveal which is the best iPad speaker dock.

It's worth nothing that although we've specifically picked speaker docks that work with an iPad, all the models here will work with an iPhone or iPod touch too. Those from Altec Lansing, iLuv and, to a lesser extent, iHome look a bit silly with an iPhone docked instead of an iPad, but JBL's OnBeat and especially Philips' Fidelio DS9010 look great.

Because there are still so relatively few speaker docks for iPads, we've got a broader range of features and prices in this group than we'd normally like, which is why we've got one model that has a built-in battery and one with a video port through which you can connect your docked iPad to a TV, alongside more straightforward units.

It's also why the most expensive speaker dock is nearly six times the price of the cheapest. Still, only one of them will walk away - not literally; how disturbing - with Tap!'s top award, an Editor's Choice badge. Which one? Well, that would be telling!

Altec Lansing Octiv Stage MP450 - £88

iHome iD9 - £69

iLuv iMM727 ArtStation - £59

JBL OnBeat - £97

Philips Fidelio DS9010 - £349

Test one: Audio quality

You might mainly use one of these docks as somewhere handy to keep and charge your iPad, but how well they play music or give iPlayer enough audio oomph to match the iPad's gorgeous screen is still important.

Of the five here, three are competent, one disappoints, and one is smack-you-in-the-face-and-steal-your-wallet fantastic. The disappointment first.

As well as looking and feeling cheap, iLuv's ArtStation sounds cheap too. It's not actually bad enough that you can't listen to it, but it's thin and quickly breaks up when you try to push it towards high volumes - not that it gets especially loud anyway. Worse, music just feels harsh, and with no warmth.

Better than this, happily, are the models from Altec Lansing, iHome and JBL. Of these three, the Octiv Stage MP450 is the best, with reasonable richness and depth, along with good separation of different frequencies.

Unlike with the models from iLuv and even JBL (though the problem's not as bad with the latter), there's little muddiness, and vocals sit nicely on top of the melody.

As with all the speakers in this group bar the Fidelio DS9010, you'd be disappointed if you were to try filling a room with sound with the Octiv Stage MP450, but it's fine for watching TV and doing a little light rocking out.

iHome's iD9 might feel a little cold and lacking in a bass punch, but we still really like it, largely because of the positioning of the speakers on the ends. This adds the impressive stereo separation that we're so unused to hearing in speaker docks, and the effect is genuinely arresting.

Philips' Fidelio DS9010, however, is in an altogether different class. It's just stunning. And yes, it damn well better be for £350, but, oh man, it's seriously gorgeous. It's not just the sweetness of the sound, or the fact that you can easily pick out every single part of complex tracks in everything from orchestral works to The Beach Boys.

No, the real joy of the DS9010 is the sheer gutsiness of the sound. It's rare to find a speaker dock that gives such low-end grunt to music without the bass becoming flabby or overwhelming. You get none of that nastiness here; you just feel like this is what your music is supposed to sound like, and you've been missing out of its full grandeur for years. In spite of this, it really is spectacularly refined and controlled. The Philips produces a truly glorious sound that rivals speakers that cost twice as much.

Test results

Test two: Design

Top marks to Philips here, too. Though big, the DS9010 looks great, works superbly well, and has commendably fine-grained volume control.

The model from iHome is nicely compact and looks smart, and we have a real weakness for the boxy, computer-like charm of Altec Lansing's model. (Mind you, the volume keys are in fiddly positions.)

The models from Altec Lansing, JBL and iLuv allow the iPad to be rotated 90° so it works in landscape as well as portrait (great for iPlayer). The OnBeat rotates, but only with an iPhone or iPod touch; it's locked when the iPad mount is used.

iLuv's ArtStation isn't lovely. Not only are the materials and finish unpleasant, but tapping your docked iPad produces a ridiculous bounce on the silly rubber feet.

Test results

Test three: Extras

Only the model from iHome doesn't include an infrared remote control (the chic, pebble-like aluminium one that comes with the DS9010 is especially nice), but there again, the iHome iD9 is the only device here to include a built-in battery. This makes the iD9 a great device if you want to carry your music into different rooms, to the beach or out to the garden for a barbecue. (And you can buy a remote control separately for the iD9.)

All have the option of plugging in non-iOS devices using a 3.5mm audio jack, and the JBL OnBeat, uniquely here, can output composite video. (Because it's composite, it's low quality, mind you.)

The speaker docks from both JBL and iLuv have a USB port at the back, through which you can sync with your PC or Mac.

Test results

The best iPad speaker dock is: Philips Fidelio DS9010 - £349

Look, we don't want to do this to you. We don't want to make you contemplate spending nearly as much on a speaker dock for your iPad as you may have on the iPad itself. But we're gonna.

The problem is that, while there are speaker docks here that are perfectly acceptable charging stands for your iPad, and while they pootle happily along outputting absolutely adequate audio, if you're unlucky enough ever to hear what the Philips Fidelio DS9010 actually sounds like, you will feel dissatisfied with every other option.

Let's calm down a bit and look at this rationally. If your budget just can't entertain the idea of a £350 speaker dock - and believe us, we understand - then you can get something that's still good. Altec Lansing's cute little Octiv Stage MP450 is the best all-round choice. It's sturdy, sounds fine, and can flip your iPad easily and smoothly between portrait and landscape, holding it securely either way.

We like the iHome iD9 too, for its compactness and built-in battery, and the striking effect the strong stereo separation gives your music. JBL's OnBeat didn't stand out as being especially good or bad; unlike iLuv's ArtStation, about which the less said the better.

But if you can at all justify and afford £349, you won't regret buying the Fidelio DS9010 for a second. It looks beautiful with an iPad or iPhone in place, and there are some lovely tiny design touches that make it feel like a deserving partner for an Apple device.

There are, for example, volume controls next to the Philips logo on the front, which light up - fading, not snapping, on - as your hand gets close. It's an almost entirely pointless feature, but it will make you smile a little to yourself every time you adjust the volume.

And then there's the sound. It's stunning. Properly stunning. Properly 'sit down and lose hours of your life playing all your favourite tracks just to see how awesome they sound when played through the Fidelio' stunning.

It's an immense amount of money (for people who aren't hi-fi nerds) to consider spending on a speaker system, but we cannot recommend it highly enough.

Read the Philips Fidelio DS9010 review

Ever looked at your iPad and wished it was an iMac? Probably not, but the new iLuv iPad dock goes some way to making that dream a reality anyway.

Attach your iPad to the dock and get a Bluetooth keyboard and it actually feels a bit like working on a desktop iMac. It works well when watching media, because you're able to adjust the arm to angle the iPad for watching movies comfortably.

So what does it do that leaning an iPad against a stack of books doesn't do? For a start that huge base isn't just there to keep it anchored onto a desk.

It's a large stereo speaker, and it sounds very good indeed – iLuv's history of making Apple accessories has certainly paid off here.

The iLuv iMM514 ArtStation Pro also comes with a remote control, which makes controlling media on the iPad from the sofa a lot more comfortable.

While iLuv describes the design of the ArtStation Pro as 'stylish' we wouldn't go that far. It might not quite be a monstrous carbuncle of an eyesore, but it's still a bit too square, its corners a tad too severe, to match Apple's innate grasp of stylishness.

Verdict

If you use your iPad a lot for watching films and listening to music, and you haven't got decent speakers, then the iLuv ArtStation Pro is worth looking into. However, many people will wonder what the point is of a device that turns a portable tablet into a heavy desktop computer.

From the team who brought you Brushes, comes this fantastic vector illustration app for the iPad.

Vector images are made using shapes and lines to create paths, rather than colouring in pixels, and so are perfect for technical illustrations and logos as they can be scaled without losing quality.

Inkpad shares many functions with apps such as Adobe Illustrator, and its path creation and manipulation tools will be familiar to Adobe CS users. Working with paths and anchor points can be tricky for novices, but with Inkpad's easy-to-use tools and a bit of practice you can get drawing quickly.

For more experienced users, Inkpad is incredibly intuitive – especially using a stylus – and makes you feel like you're more hands-on with your artwork.

Advanced tools such as merging and slicing paths, editable gradients for colouring shapes, and multiple layers means creating complex images is surprisingly easy. Files can be exported as JPEG, PNG, PDF or SVG, so work can be continued on your Mac.

But Inkpad lacks more precise functions. For example, there's no measuring tool or info palette for working out exact dimensions and the text editing options are limited by the iPad's incompatibility with non-Apple fonts.

Still, at just £2.99 Inkpad is a bargain and essential for any creative iPad user.

Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview

7digital has announced that its music store will come pre-installed on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

RIM and 7digital have a bit of history of partnering up. Back in 2009, the 7digital download service was launched for BlackBerry handsets, with 7digital CEO Ben Dury announcing at the time that working with BlackBerry was key to the 7digital launching in the US – something it did at the tail-end of 2009.

This new partnership sees the BlackBerry PlayBook music store powered by 7digital's API, which means that PlayBook users will be able to search for tracks, albums and artists and preview tracks before making a purchase.

7digital's recommendation technology is also on board, so you don't have to rely on search to find new tracks.

Incredible tablet

"We're really excited to be working with RIM to bring the 7digital experience to the BlackBerry PlayBook," said Ben Drury, CEO 7digital.

"RIM has created an incredible tablet with premium multimedia features and together we are delivering a truly exceptional music experience for mobile users, offering content that is extremely easy to discover, purchase and use.

"We currently have the largest international footprint of any MP3 digital music seller and we look forward to expanding our business with RIM throughout the year."

This isn't the first tablet 7digital has found itself on. Back in October, the company announced that it was chosen as the primary music service for the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

The BlackBerry Playbook UK release date is mooted for late Spring, but you can check out our hands on BlackBerry PlayBook review to see how well the tablet performs.

The Daily, the first iPad-only newspaper, has been launched in the US today and marks a new era of profitability for news gathering, believes its creator Rupert Murdoch.

Speaking at the launch of The Daily, Murdoch looked positively enthused about his iPad-only product and the opportunities it offers, saying: "The Daily is not a legacy brand. It's not moving from print to digital, so this means that we can take chances."

Murdoch is currently targeting the projected 50 million Americans that are set to own tablets this year, and believes that this digital format will be prosperous for news media outlets.

"We can and must make the era of news gathering financial viable again," Murdoch explained.

"There's no paper, no multi-million dollar presses, no trucks – so we are passing these discounts on to the reader, by offering The Daily at just 14 cents a day."

Re-imagining news

As for the his first stab at a digital only newspaper, Murdoch believes that this is a saviour of journalism, saying: "The iPad demands that we completely re-imagine our craft.

"The magic of newspapers and great blogs lie in their serendipity and surprise, and the deft hand of their editor. The Daily will be the model for how stories are told and consumed."

But it won't just be iPad only, with Murdoch noting that it will eventually be ported on to other tablets, explaining: "As other tablets get established we will develop the technology to get on them. We expect to be on all major tablets. But we see this year and next year belonging to Apple."

There's no current UK release date for The Daily but you can bet Murdoch has a British version of the pape in the works and will want to get this out before other publishers get hold of App Store subscriptions.

Apple's iPad 2 is a fantastic tablet that enables you to do loads of things, including browsing the web and writing notes. The touchscreen keyboard is perfectly fine for a small amount of typing, such as website addresses, but typing for longer periods can prove to be uncomfortable and slow.

There have been a number of iPad-compatible keyboards released that help combat this problem, such as the KeySonic KSK-3201MacBT.

But how does the Logitech Fold-up Keyboard for iPad 2 hold up? While a lot of iPad and tablet keyboards make themselves portable by being integrated into a case for the tablet, the Logitech Fold-up Keyboard for iPad 2 folds itself away. This makes it easy and unobtrusive to transport with the iPad 2, but also results in a keyboard that feels flimsier than its competitors.

Because of this, it doesn't feel as comfortable to use as Logitech's own (non-folding) Tablet Keyboard for iPad, which to be honest isn't much more difficult to transport, despite its lack of hinges.

Verdict

The Logitech Fold-up Keyboard for iPad 2 isn't a bad device by any means, but there are other iPad keyboards that do the job even better, and can help protect your iPad from knocks and scratches at the same time.

VLC Media Player is popular among Windows, Mac OSX and Linux users because it allows you to play back virtually any media file without the need to install additional codecs.

It's free and open source, and has developed over the years into a very polished piece of software.

The one place we didn't expect VLC to pop up was on any of Apple's iOS devices - Apple has traditionally preferred to keep the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad somewhat locked down with regards to the media formats it can play.

Consequently it's been hard to get DivX, MKV and FLAC files, to name but a few, to play without first converting them.

And yet here it is - VLC Media Player on the iPad.

We downloaded for free direct from the App store using our iPad's W-Fi connection, although as per the norm you can also do it via 3G or using iTunes if you so wish. It's a speedy download which weighs in at 10MB.

To use VLC to play your files, you need to go to iTunes, click the Apps tab, and then in the 'File sharing' section, select VLC and then 'Add'. You can then browse the files on your computer to choose which ones you want to stick on the iPad.

See full-res image

You can choose any file format you like, although as we found out, that doesn't mean for a second that they're all guaranteed to play, oh no (if you're an MKV junkie, look away now).

Once you've uploaded your files, it's a matter of opening the VLC app on the iPad, and all your files will be waiting for you, neatly lined up on a bookshelf not too dissimilar to the one in Apple's iBooks app.

We'll start with the good news. DivX/Xvid files work flawlessly. We tried a variety of different files using these formats and they all worked first time. Skipping through the vidoes is quick and easy, and video quality is bang-on too. There are no video artefacts that aren't present when viewing on a PC, and sound quality is fine too.

However, it's not all pink and rosey. Naturally, we also tried a variety of Matroska MKV files - the de facto HD file format of choice among internet dwellers.

They showed up in the app well enough - they were even recognised and labelled as HD files - but when attempting to play them we were given the message: "Warning - your iPad is probably too slow to play this movie correctly."

See full-res image

You can choose to try to play it anyway, but all the MKV files we tried (at never a higher res than 1280x720) were unwatchable. The audio played mostly ok, but the picture was a mess. So alas, there was to be no playing of The Big Lebowski in 720p - The Dude does not abide.

If you pause the video and skip through using the progress bar you can see all the individual frames, so compatibility doesn't seem to be an issue. It seems like the iPad genuinely isn't quick enough to decode the files. Or maybe the app isn't quite efficient enough at harnessing the iPad's A4 processor? We'll probably find that out the answer to that soon enough.

There's bad news in other areas too. We tried to use VLC on iPad to play .MPG, .MOV and .WMV files too - they transferred across easy enough, but they didn't even show up in the app.

Can it play FLAC files?

We were also excited to see if the VLC iPad app would be able to play other media formats like lossless FLAC files. Unlike the desktop version, it can't, we're afraid. Again, our test files didn't even show up in the app, despite transferring over without a hitch.

We tested with a 320kbps MP3 file too - that didn't show up either. So it seems pretty clear that the VLC team has had to make some fairly hefty compromises in order to get this app through the approval process. A universal media player this is not - even MP3 and MOV files which the iPad natively supports, do not work in VLC.

Still though, the fact that it was approved at all is a good sign. And this is surely the best method yet of getting DivX files playing on the iPad - no more time consuming transcoding. It's just a big shame that MKV playback is so awful - we're sure the A4 chip should be capable of decoding those files.

VLC on iPhone

And if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner looking on with envious eyes, worry not - word is there's an iPhone version of the app on the way, so stay tuned for that one.

Asus' EeeKeyboard is finally available for US customers to pre-order on Amazon, with a scheduled shipping date of late April.

TechRadar has contacted Asus UK to find out more about the company's plans to release this intriguing-looking wireless keyboard PC in Britain, so stay tuned for updates on that front.

In the meantime, what we do know is that the Asus EeeKeyboard is listed on Amazon at $599 for the model with the following specs - 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, Windows XP Home, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a gigabit Ethernet jack, Bluetooth 2.1, a 16GB SSD, HDMI out, integrated Ultra-Wide-Broadband (UWB) receiver, three USB 2.0 sockets and a 5-inch LED-backlit, multitouch display with 800 x 480 resolution.

High price point?

While some critics have suggested that the spec is too low to justify that price point – particularly in light of Apple's recent release of the $499 iPad tablet PC – although it remains to be seen whether or not the 'use case' (essentially being able to convert your TV or any other screen into an instant PC) can justify that price.

The inclusion of the UWB receiver for wireless playback of video and audio content on a monitor or TV is what many are suggesting might give the EeeKeyboard the edge over similarly priced netbooks and tablet PCs. That's certainly what the guys at Asus must be hoping.

We will of course bring you all the latest news and a full review of the new Asus EeeKeyboard as soon as we (finally!) get our hands on one.

Via Netbooked

The first thing to do when you've just bought a tablet for your PC: draw a willy. The second thing to do is post said willy on forums and ask what people think. You will have to be prepared to answer any police inquiries should you post it somewhere inappropriate though. The Genius tablet is perfect for digital phallus representations, as well as a host of other functions and it's also a fair bit cheaper than them posho Wacom tablets.

On a more serious note, though, Windows 7 now supports gesture-based control. This means that you can browse the net from the mere flick of your tablet's pen, so if you're even semi-into design related stuff you'll never need to reach for your keyboard and mouse again.

Browsing the net using a tablet is fairly tricky to begin with, but once you get the hang of it it quickly becomes second nature. Windows Paint has also been improved to support pressure-sensitive devices, so before you know it you'll be knocking out Da Vinci-style masterpieces, complete with Tom Hanks-befuddling hidden codes.

The G-Pen also includes a couple of jog wheels, which can be repurposed to zoom in on web pages or adjust your volume. And, for under £90 it's surprisingly solid and well made; making it probably the most recommended of these devices if you're starting out as an amateur artist. Even our (professional) art bods like it. For drawing willies.

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Embedded mobile projectors will soon find their way into the consumer electronics market, according to BenQ and Texas Instruments.

The development of Texas Instrument's Pico projection technology means that devices such as mobile phones will have in-built projectors before long, ready for on-the-go presentations and the like.

But it seems that it's not just in the phone world where this technology will be used, but in other gadgets as well.

Pico projection

At a BenQ launch event in London yesterday, TechRadar spoke to the VP of DLP Front Projection Products for Texas Instruments – the company behind DLP chips – Lars Yoder, and Business Development Director at BenQ Europe, Bo Cramer, about what the future holds, and they were both quite excited about where projector technology is going.

"There are a lot of emerging markets we are looking at at the moment," said TI's Yoder. "If you can imagine projectors in digital cameras, cell phones and laptops, that's where Pico projection technology is going to go.

"Projectors could also be used in hotels in the lobbies, in Emergency Exit signs… there are many possibilities."

Netbook projections

The variety of products that could use projector technology was also something Cramer enthused about, but he was more specific about where we might see Pico projection, specifically in BenQ products: "We have got a version of the netbook coming out [the Joybook Lite U101] and I can see in the future that a projector could be a great application for this format."

And when are we likely to see this technology in the mainstream market? "Several years" was the answer.

Considering BenQ has a working, albeit, in-development phone that uses Pico technology at the moment, several years may well be a cautious estimate.