Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first day using both my Fire tablet and the keyboard together, and I'm typing this review on the keyboard. Initial impressions are very positive. The build quality of the plastic casing and the responsiveness of the keys themselves is very solid. If it lives up to its claimed battery life, or even half of it frankly, it will be a great product. Here's a pros and cons list for those of you that like bullet points like me: Pros: --build quality seems top-notch. No flexing, seams you can get a fingernail into, or unusually/unnecessarily thick places. All edges are smooth and well-finished --battery life--the last thing you want is to constantly have to be worrying about charging all your peripherals in addition to your tablet itself --easy and reliable bluetooth pairing; took about 10 seconds max --full access to most tablet functions from keyboard/case; i.e. sleep/wake on opening/shutting works, can navigate to home, go back a screen, adjust brightness, volume, screen lock, play/pause media, skip or go to previous song/track, etc. all from the keyboard itself. --size of keyboard: I am 6'6" and wear XL Mechanix brand gloves, and I can type as quickly as I care to with no typos. It's not a full-size keyboard (I'd guess 93% or so based on having owned one of those awful Dell "netbooks" back in the day), but it's close enough to not be cramped or impair functionality --the shell for the Fire tablet holds it securely and attaches firmly to the rest of the keyboard case, yet is not overly-difficult to remove for independent use. Re-attaching the shell to the keyboard is similarly easy --all ports, buttons, speakers, etc. on the tablet are completely accessible and uncrowded when in the case shell Cons: --tilting angle--this is my biggest complaint which is why it's first. I didn't get a protractor or anything, but if 90 degrees is straight up and down, there's no way to tilt it back away from you more than 15 or 20 degrees off center. Almost all laptops, chromebooks, etc. these days can tilt nearly 180 degrees, and many can flip all the way around, yet why does this tablet case not do that? Even getting to a 45 degree angle would be a huge improvement. As I stated before, I am pretty tall, so this issue may not bother others as much, but I basically can't use this in my lap. It simply does not tilt far back enough for me to look at the screen except at an extreme angle. Similarly, if used at a table with a chair it must be a good bit away from me or I must hunch to look directly at the screen. If it's sitting on a surface of some kind (kitchen countertop for instance) it is basically impossible to view without detaching the device and laying it flat with some random item to prop it up to a correct angle where one edge is a few inches off the ground (2-4 probably). Due to this pretty major flaw I will have to purchase a second case for general use that offers more versatility in terms of viewing angles, portrait vs landscape, etc. --no way to cover or protect the screen when the device and shell are separated from the keyboard itself other than just turning it over screen down (not a huge deal because it will probably be in "show mode" in the wireless charging dock pretty often anyway). Still, you won't be able to leave it lying around if you have small children, pets, or careless housemates unless it's also connected to the keyboard part and closed up, but then at that point it's a bit weighty to easily carry around the house. Brings me to my next point: --heavy: it adds noticeable heft to the whole setup if the tablet and keyboard are mated at the time. Fortunately, if you're using this handheld or supported in a lap etc. for media consumption you'll probably have the tablet detached from the keyboard anyway. Still, it may make a difference in terms of how it carries in a messenger bag, sling bag, or the like. Included here are the weights of each component individually, and the whole setup together: --device alone for reference--between 16 and 17 ounces or about 465 grams --keyboard alone--just over 17 ounces or just under 500 grams --device shell alone--between 4 and 5 ounces or around 125 grams --whole case/keyboard combo with device installed--almost 2 and 1/2 pounds (just under 40 ounces) or about 1100 grams I took these weights on my OXO brand digital kitchen scale, so I played it a little loose on the weights because it's not super precise. Precise enough to learn to make sourdough bread during the lockdown though. Anyway, as you can see the addition of the keyboard case more than doubles the weight of the device alone, but then again any case will add weight. It just really has some heft in the hand to me. Summing up: I'll be keeping this item even in spite of the two major cons (tilting angle, or lack thereof, and weight), even though the cons will necessitate the purchase of another case, because it seems so well-made and its advertised battery life is so fantastic. The degree to which the tilting angle problem reduces its functionality did result in the deduction of one star though. If you could tilt it more like an actual laptop, or like most other cases for that matter, it would be a five-star product for sure, and it wouldn't require the purchase of a supplemental "on-the-go" case.