Kensington Folio Trio Mobile Workstation for New iPad and iPad 2 – ‘Book Mystique Review

If you use your iPad as a mobile business or education tool, haven’t given up on pens and paper entirely, and need to keep these elements organized, the Kensington Folio Trio Mobile Workstation could be ideal for you.

The Folio Trio from the outside looks like an attractively-styled but fairly typical zip-closure business folio in unadorned black faux leather, with only an embossed Kensington logo in the lower front corner of the outer front panel. The outer panels are softly padded, which give it an easy-on-the-hands feel, and contributes to protection of the iPad inside.

Inside you’ll find an open-face sleeve that fits both the New iPad and iPad 2, a variety of pockets in two main compartments to hold various papers, tickets, business cards, and so forth, a three-ring binder (removable), and elasticized loops to hold your pens, pencils, and touchscreen stylus. The Folio Trio is large enough to hold letter-size and A4 size paper and notepads.

Speaking of styluses (styli?), Kensington sent along one of their newer models of several types available, along with the Folio Trio test unit.

The Kensington Virtuoso Pro Stylus is a “pure” touchscreen stylus (no pen), as opposed to models that include a ball-point pen at the opposite tip, and is an attractively-styled pen-like design available in either black or white. I found it to be nicely weighted, and it features a fine tip for writing, drawing, pointing, tapping, and chasing those wretched little blue object selection dots around.

A stylus can also be used to point, tap, a so forth on touchscreens when you’re wearing gloves in cold or inclement weather. Another use is for when you’re using an iPad or other touchscreen device with dirty hands, such as when following onscreen instructions in a workshop or recipes in the kitchen while cooking.

At its MSRP of $19.95 the Virtuoso Pro Stylus seems to be a relatively competitive value with a high standard of finish and quality feel, works as expected, and comes with a two-year warranty.
For more information, visit:http://bit.ly/P86X8V

Getting back to the Folio TRrio, the iPad is secured in its sleeve with a fold over and tuck in flap, which makes inserting and removing the tablet quick and easy, but it’s quite secure when in situ. Apertures and cutouts are provided for access to the machine’s analog controls. The sleeve is mounted on an “origami” type system of folding panels with a 360 degree swivel that allow the tablet to be oriented in either portrait or landscape orientation and at an infinite range of incline adjustment from flat to 90-degree-vertical or even past vertical. The iPad is held in place at the desired degree of inclination by Velcro “teeth” on the edges of the tablet sleeve that engage the all-Velcro material face of the Folio Trio’s center panel. This actually creates a surprisingly solid and steady typing platform, unlike some iPad holder solutions that don’t hold the device rigidly enough to prevent wobble and vibration as you type on the virtual keyboard.

Note that the Folio Trio is not a keyboard case, and has no real provision to carry a keyboard along with, although you might be able to cram an ultra-thin Bluetooth unit inside. However, if a n external keyboard is a must-have, you would probably be better-off considering a keyboard folio case, of which Kensington makes several.

However, The open Folio Trio will serve as a good, albeit somewhat large footprint, iPad stand for use with an external keyboard at your home or office workstation. Speaking of footprint, the Kensington Folio Trio makes a better-than-decent lap desk typing platform as well, although again a somewhat large-footprint one. The case’s soft surface is comfortable on the thighs, and finding a comfortable viewing and typing angle is easy. The back cover of the case sort of flops to the left, but shouldn’t be much of a problem unless you have the three-ring binder stuffed full.

I found that binder to be the Folio Trio’s least well-engineered feature. Not so much the binder itself, but its positioning on the Folio Pro’s spine causes paper mounted in it to be scrunched a bit when you fold the inner divider panel (that holds the iPad sleeve) to the right to expose the folio’s front compartment. Other than that, the Folio Pro seems well thought-out and nicely functional.

When it’s time to close the case, just disengage the Velcro, orient the iPad in portrait mode, and lay it flat. The device is held well away from the Folio Trio’s corners and edges, which enhances its protection from bumps or being dropped.

It’s a bit on the pricey side and definitely not a compact iPad case, indeed having a footprint larger than that of my old PowerBook Pismo, and that’s when it’s closed. However, the generous dimensions are required in order for the Kensington Folio Trio to fulfill its intended functions, and will be appreciated by the product’s target user demographic, and as fore-noted, it’s a better iPad typing platform than I had anticipated, and should do a fine job of protecting the tablet. I found myself liking it more the more I used it, which is a good sign. I’m giving the Kensington Folio Trio a 4 out of 5 rating.

The Kensington Folio Trio sells for $79.99.

For more information, visit:
http://bit.ly/PmdAER