Q: Issues with the Smart Keyboard (iPad Pro 9.7)
I recently purchased the iPad Pro 9.7 inch, Space Grey, Wifi, 128GB. Operating system's iOS 9.3.1.
A couple of issues I've faced in my four days of using the iPad with the Smart Keyboard:
NOTE: The following issues persist despite a technical support call I made which lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes. I had to restore my iPad to factory settings by connecting it to iTunes via my PC to reinstall the latest iOS.
i) Switching apps: If I want to shift, say, from safari to adobe, it's quite easy to do so with the keyboard. However, there is an intermittent problem when switching apps. When I try to open Adobe while I'm using safari, the iPad screen shows the apps that are open as soon as I press the command and tab key.
What's supposed to happen - I choose to open Adobe, Adobe opens.
What happens instead - Adobe does not open. Another application 'X' that's running, opens. It's quite frustrating, because there is no pattern to this. If I once again use the keyboard shortcut to open Adobe, now some other application 'Y' that's running, opens.
This happens, I have observed, often when the App Store is up and running.
ii) Command Key: At times, soon after I use the shortcut keys to switch apps, on the screen pops up the shortcut box (shortcut pop-up) - this is supposed to happen if and only if you press and hold down the Command Key.
This happens often when I switch to Safari.
iii) Unresponsive Keyboard: A problem I faced today for the first time. My keyboard just won't respond. I had to disconnect and re-connect the keyboard for it to function.
iv) Unresponsive Space Key: To wake up the iPad, hitting the space key suffices. You don't have to press the home button. Yet, at times, the space key does not respond and you have to use the home button.
v) Quick app-switching causes keyboard shortcut function to crash: If I want to switch from app 'X' to app 'Y', but by mistake switch to app 'Z', I would immediately want to shift to 'Y'. However, I can't do this in quick succession. I have to wait for a second or two before I can switch from app 'Y' to app 'Z', else the switching app pop-up crashes and you have to once again wait for a second or two before switching.
My diagnosis:
I) There could be a problem with the smart connector on my iPad. A hardware issue. But that would not explain why the switching app pop-up appears and switches correctly but ends up opening the wrong applications. It also would not explain why the problem is intermittent.
II) A software glitch. That however would make me the first one to be facing the 5 issues all at once. Sort of. I was surprised that apart from issue #3 and #4, there was almost no mention of the other problems.
Restarting the iPad or disconnecting and reconnecting the keyboard helps. But I don't think anyone would be willing to do this 4-5 times on a daily basis.
iPad Pro 9.7-inch WiFi, iOS 9.3.1
Posted on May 10, 2016 12:43 PM