Official Apple Ipad Smart Cover Review

When a new device is released the manufacturer usually goes to town on accessories for it, in attempt to make the experience for the device even better, and to obviously maximise sales as much as possible !

When the Ipad was released so was the smart cover, this is referred to as a “smart” cover due to its clever ‘open to wake’ function. Basically when the cover is placed over the screen the device sleeps, it doesnt lock or turn off, simply sleeps. When the cover is removed from the screen, the device wakes again without delay.

As you can see from the second picture above, the metal strip design comes in useful as this can be folded up into a triangular shape to act as a stand to prop the device up, this helps ergonomically with typing and can also be arranged in a slightly different way, almost upside down, to make watching movies and films far better and easier without the need to hold the device up. This arrangement is shown below.

The cover protects the screen well, it attaches to the screen via magnets in the long strips of the design and clips on to the iPad at its side via a hinge like magnet.

One of the downfalls of this product is its lack of protection to the back of the device, although the back of the device is metal and usually wouldn’t receive much damage, many people would like the back of the device to be covered, although an additional back only cover could be purchased if this was the case.

Another downfall, and possibly the biggest in my eyes is the price. There is no way of sugar coating it, the cheapest Official version of this cover is approximately £35, an extravagant fee for what you receive in return. The leather option of this case is more expensive again coming in at almost £60.

When I first got my Ipad, I refused point blank to pay the price so went for a cheaper alternative from Ebay, this looked and functioned exactly the same, but the magnets weren’t as strong and the overall build quality was far inferior, bearing in mind the product was only £7, it wasnt that bad a purchase.

One major point to bear in mind if the cheaper option is one you would consider, buy the correct Ipad models product, at first glance the version of the cover for the Ipad2 and Ipad3 are identical.. but the difference is in the magnets, the way they are polarised effects the ability of the “open to wake” function to work correctly. I bought an Ipad2 cover expecting this to work fine with my Ipad3, but this function doesnt work at all, but works perfectly fine with the Ipad2 my mum has. Generally, an Ipad3 case will work with an Ipad2 but not always vice versa, the Ipad2 needs the magnets to effectively be magnets, whilst the Ipad3 version needs them to be polarised in a specific direction.

To summarise, the product does what it is intended for well, but a bit of market research will bring many more options to your eyes, some of which have incorporated the same “smart” features and aren’t as painful on the bank balance.