I bought this for my mom as a Mother's Day present. She has an iPad 2 and loves her Smart Cover, but it left the back of the iPad unprotected and we quickly found that Apple's aluminum is dismayingly scratch-prone. With a bewildering array of products on the market, I chose this one based on the Amazon reviews. It turned out to be EXACTLY what my mom wanted.
Description: It's made of a hard, smooth, transparent plastic that snaps on tightly to the back of the iPad 2. There are generous cut-outs for all the ports, cameras, buttons, etc., and the Smart Cover hinges.
Good points:
- Perfect fit. Snaps on and stays on, but also easy to remove when necessary.
- Specially designed to work with Smart Cover with no modifications; it protects what the Smart Cover does not.
- All ports and buttons remain easily accessible; you don't need microscopic fingers to reach into tiny gaps.
- Transparent (and pattern-free), so you can see the Apple logo and anything you have engraved on the back. This also makes it aesthetically neutral, so it will match whatever other accessories you have and will never go out of style.
- Adds minimal thickness and weight to the iPad.
Less-good points (subjective):
- As an owner of the heavier first-gen iPad, I personally prefer a "tackier" grip on the case that makes it easier to hold on to without sliding out of your hands. This one is still a bit on the slippery side, but it's easier to hold than the iPad itself. (And if you fold back the Smart Cover instead of removing it, you won't have the slippery iPad problem anyway.)
- Though the case protects the iPad from scratches, it isn't scratchproof itself. After months of heavy use, I imagine it will get pretty scuffed and will be unattractive.
- The case is held on only at the corners, and the lips don't extend beyond the narrow aluminum rim of the iPad. There's nothing wrong with this, but if you have a transparent protective film placed over the screen, this case will NOT help to hold it down around the edges as some cases will, so the film will be more likely to peel off.
Not sure:
- Based on the thickness and design of this case, I THINK you should be able to use your iPad with most dock-type products without having to remove it. But we don't have any docks to experiment with.
- The plastic seems durable, but the case has not been subjected to any (inadvertent) stress tests yet. The lips that hold the case to the iPad are quite small (at the corners only) and if one or two of them broke, the case would be functionally useless.
Overall:
This is exactly the product we wanted, at a very reasonable price. It's well-designed, well-engineered and is the perfect companion for a Smart Cover.
Carbon emissions from the lifecycle of this product were measured, reduced and offset.
As certified by
ClimatePartner certified
The ClimatePartner certified product label confirms that a product meets the requirements for the five steps in climate action including calculating carbon footprints, setting reduction targets, implementing reductions, financing climate projects and communicating transparently to continuously reduce emissions.
Certification Number
N1APY1
