The first thing I thought when I saw the video about Matias One Slim for the first time was: this is a great idea!

So, after a couple of months I decided to order the Matias One Slim, for Mac, of course. The keyboard was sold out since months and new shipments were expected for late February. I ordered it from U.S.A. less than 10 days ago and my keyboard is now here (thanks to Swiss customs that slowed the shipment process, of course).

Generally, I’m a big fan of Apple keyboard, even the slim makes me feel really comfortable. Matias also produce a copy of the old Apple keyboard, the Matias Tactile Pro that I tested a couple of years ago and was simply amazing. One of the greatest mechanical keyboards I’ve ever tried, but this post is about the One Slim.

Packaging

The packaging comes in a perfect Apple style box, slim, white and well presented. The box is very well configured, the keyboard stays inside it without move and even the MiniRizer (the small stand that comes with the keyboard), helps the keyboard to avoid movements.

First Look

Looking at this keyboard for the first, I started complaining because it looks like a big mess, there’s a lot of stuff printed over every isle. I don’t like when something looks confusing in first instance, I prefer simple and pretty basic stuff, but the aim of Matias (I think) is to help even who is not habit to work with Mac, and needs extra symbols, to find the correct character on the keyboard avoiding a Google search.

General Quality

The keyboard isn’t too much expensive, neither is cheap, I think that the cost of 79.95$ (+ shipment if living outside US) is a fair trade. The keys look solid, the general frame as well, even if the whole body is in plastic. The bluetooth works great, of course it has not been built supposing a use for long ranges, but it does what it should do. The connection is very quickly, btw.

Keys

The keys are isles and, like the current Apple keyboard, the general usability is great. Fast typing is possible, either because the keyboard has all possibles combos on every isle and this helps a lot if, like me, it’s needed to write in different languages (I write in english, italian, german and french almost every day), all symbols are clearly visible.

iOS Connection

The main feature of this keyboard is the connectivity with iOS. Of course the keyboard works great even with the iPad, I tested it. To switch from the Mac to the iPhone/iPad just press the bluetooth button on the top right corner and it’s possible to write SMS, notes, mails, etc… really fast. I really like this feature, I use a lot to write messages on iPhone since the introduction of iMessage and this makes me saving a lot of time.

The stand, called MiniRizer

The stand is good for iPhone, not for the iPad. Forget to use it as an iPad stand. I said that is good because the lack of the space to connect the iPhone to a cable is a big miss. At this point I prefer to use the original stand for the iPhone, so I can have a cable connected and I can use the phone for testing purposes.

Conclusion

I’m really happy with this keyboard and I’m considering to get the Windows version as well, for my home PC. I would suggest it if you really need to save time writing on iPhone during the work, it’s really a nice keyboard with a rocking feature: 8.5/10.0.