I am now the happy owner of one of Tesco's Blue Tooth keyboard cases for their hudl 2 android tablet. The keyboard case appears to be only available in black and is made of what Tesco describe as "soft PU". So no leather for your £40.00. But then if you have the Tesco vouchers available you can buy one for £20 worth of vouchers as they are offering a "double up" deal. Despite not being leather the case has a nice soft matt finish and appears durable enough.
The keyboard is about the same size as the hudl 2 with the area covered by keys being about 18.5 cm by 8cm. The keys are a reasonable size given the space available, but people with large finger tips may find the keyboard a little harder to type on. The keys have a positive action so with a little practice it is possible to use it for touch typing, though it is easier to accidentally duplicate a character during typing than it would be with a standard computer keyboard. I found the small size format lead me to overreach and hit the wrong key occasionally, but I am sure that this will improve with a little practice.
One of the better features of the keyboard and case is that they are specifically designed for the hudl2 and the UK market. So most of the keys contain the symbols where you would expect them to be. For example the £ sign is shifted 3. However to achieve the small keyboard footprint the character keys to the right of the "p", ":", and ">" have been lost. So characters like "{ }" "[ ]" "@" "#" etc. are available but located where you would not normally expect to find them. The keyboard also features a number of android keys, many accessed in combination with a "fn" button, offering actions to facilitate editing, play back of music / video, and access to the Home Screen, Search, Mail, Lock and Back actions.
The case extends just far enough beyond the edges of the hudl2 to provide adequate protection. When closed the case is about 2.2cm deep at its deepest point. So a hudl2 in this case provides a lot of functionality in a small convenient package. Being designed for the hudl2 the rear facing camera is not blocked, even when the case is closed. However the case will block the rear facing speakers unless the case is folded open into the typing position. Battery life is claimed to be around 90 hours of operation with the charge lasting around 4 weeks if the keyboard is left switched off. Connecting the keyboard to the hudl2 is covered in the supplied instruction sheet and is a simple matter of turning on the hudl2 and the keyboard and then going into the hudl2 settings to make the connection.
There are a couple of issues that concern me a little. The hudl2 is secured in the case by two "L" shaped brackets which grip the bottom left and right corners of the hudl2. They appear to do a good job of holding the tablet securely, even having a hole so that the microphone is not blocked. However there is also a bracket attached to the top half of the back of the case that clips over the hudl2 top edge. This clip will have to be clipped on the hudl2 every time you close the case and unclipped whenever you want to fold the case back for typing. I suspect that this may mark the hudl2's case after a while.
The second issue is the micro usb slot and supplied cable. No charger is supplied, but you can use the one that comes with the hudl2. However on the hudl2 the micro usb slot is positioned with the shorter edge facing downward, whilst the keyboard has the shorter edge facing upward. Both the keyboard cable and the hudl2 cables look like they should fit in either slot, but they only fit readily in the slot they were intended for. So you are going to need to keep both cables handy and be careful that you always select the correct cable for the device you are charging. Since both cables are black and look extremely similar mistakes could be easily made, which might lead to a damaged usb slot. It would have been better if the two usb slots where installed with the same orientation and with readily interchangeable cables.
Overall I am impressed with the keyboard and case. I am not sure I would have paid £40 for one, but given the opportunity to purchase one with doubled up Tesco vouchers I think the case is excellent value and will prove extremely useful.
I hope you find this review helpful.
Kind regards
Johnathan
