MacLife UK – August 2019

Image rights from left: Brydge, Apple, iterate GmbH.

There’s no shortage of iPad keyboard cases out there, though

relatively few that Ľt the 2018 11–inch and 12.9–inch Pro

models. The Brydge Pro, which comes in both sizes, costs

a bit more than some others, and is designed to make your

iPad feel like a laptop. Indeed, its feel and Ľnish are great.

Charge it up over USB–C and Brydge says the battery

should last up to 12 months on a single charge. These iPad

Pros can also send power out, so you can charge the

keyboard from the iPad in a pinch. The connection is

Bluetooth 4.1, and pairing is quick and easy. In addition

to the regular keyboard you get special keys like unlock,

Home, and a key to invoke Siri. The keyboard is backlit with

variable luminance, and the feel of the keys is excellent.

The iPad sits comfortably in two sockets and can be held

in one of three modes: Laptop, which genuinely does make

the whole thing feel and look like a tiny MacBook; Tablet,

where it simply folds away; and Movie, where turning the

iPad around creates a stand. For typing, this is the best iPad

keyboard around.

THE BOTTOM LINE. An excellent, high quality typing

experience for your 2018 iPad Pro. HOLLIN JONES

Mountain Duck is an enhanced version of the

open–source Cyberduck (cyberduck.io) tool. It can

mount FTP, WebDAV and selected cloud storage as

virtual drives in Finder, allowing you to access and

update them like regular folders.

Supported cloud providers now include Google

Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Amazon S3. All the

tools you need to set up and mount drives can be

found via the menu bar, and a Finder extension

also adds handy options to the right–click menu.

Version 3 adds a new smart sync feature, which

allows you to cache all or part of your online

storage to balance the convenience of offline

access against drive space considerations. Changes

are uploaded in the background like regular cloud

apps, and icon overlays provide a clear indication

of a file or folder’s status. There’s also built–in

support for Cryptomator, making it easy to

encrypt sensitive files across all your vaults.

THE BOTTOM LINE. Integrate your cloud, web

and FTP storage into Finder with this simple but

powerful tool NICK PEERS

Brydge Pro iPad Keyboard

Make your iPad Pro feel like a MacBook

$149.99 — $169.99 From Brydge, brydge.com

Made for iPad Pro 2018 11–inch and 12.9–inch

Mountain Duck 3.0

Use online storage folders

as virtual drives in Finder

$39.00 From iterate GmbH, mountainduck.oi

Needs OS X 10.11 or later

BRYDGE PRO iPAD KEYBOARD

Excellent keys with a premium feel

Amazing battery life

Makes your iPad look and feel like a MacBook

Adds some weight and bulk when in use

EXCELLENT

MOUNTAIN DUCK 3.0

Smart sync feature

Simple to set up and use

Cryptomator support

Slightly overpriced

GREAT

Tough testing, trusted ratings

maclife.comAUG 2019 43