The Smart Cover is a uniquely Apple product. My review will be coming shortly so I won’t reveal all of my thoughts about it here but as a teaser I can tell you that it’s a beautifully constructed accessory for the iPad 2 with a couple of minor but annoying flaws. What you can’t argue with however is the ingenuity behind it’s function, which is why this teardown of the Smart Cover by iFixit is so interesting. It gives you a look under the hood to see the surprising amount of engineering behind this relatively simple product.
In their teardown of the Smart Cover, iFixit discovered 21 separate magnets not including the 10 in the iPad 2 itself that make it work. The cover is held on to the edge of the iPad on the hinge side with a series of polarized magnets that help it align properly along the edge of the iPad 2 with what seems like magical precision. These work in conjunction with magnets set into the iPad itself.
The two outer segments on the Smart Case are metal panels to help support it in stand mode while the two inner panels are simply plastic, probably for weight and cost decreases. The right hand panel has a series of magnets that attach the case to the iPad 2 through the right bezel, triggering the auto-lock and holding it in place. The left panel has an embedded metal plate for those magnets to attach to in stand mode to help it hold the iPad 2 up.
While the overall costs of materials are estimated to allow for a significant profit at the $39 price point of the vinyl version, the amount of engineering that went into this simple accessory just shows off how much thought is placed into even accessories to Apple products.
looks very cute! and not very hard to install! thanks for telling abt it!
A little bummed out. I have to be honest. I ordered the cover because it looked cool. But that coolness wears off, when the fallacy of protection and false assurance kicks in. Protection is limited to cosmetic scuffs and annoying fingerprints. But not drops. Not sure that the cover is any better, much less smarter. It does not offer much in protection. I was skeptical about the cover to begin with. Nevertheless, if your looking to protect your investment with a simple cover, we run the risk of inflicting some damage from a simple accident. I had to reassess my needs after a near fatal drop with the cover. I ordered a few days ago a leather Mivizu iPad 2 case called the Sense, and I also ordered an Otterbox hardshell. Best, the Mivizu folio is affordable priced at $26.99 against apple’s not smart price of $69.99 http://www.amazon.com/Mivizu-Sense-Leather-Feature-ciPD2mvzSMRTblk/dp/B004V0CCQK
Anyways, for real protection look elsewhere.
I don’t think the Smart Cover is all that much about protection, other than a bit to the screen itself. That seems quite obvious to me (and I would think anyone). But, I also doubt MOST of 3rd party covers offer that much protection against drops either, given the weight of the iPad. Putting a thin layer of silicon or plastic isn’t going to do much if dropped but keep some scratches away. (The Otterbox and a few others being exceptions, not the norm.)
To me, the Smart Cover is mostly about having a built-in unobtrusive stand. For protection, I’m planning on getting a sleeve like the ColcaSac ones or something similar. But, like a laptop, I’d avoid dropping the iPad.
i just won an ipad 2 here: http://bit.ly/sgj9hz
claim your free ipad 2 here: http://bit.ly/sgj9hz
Hello Webmaster, I noticed that http://www.theipadguru.com/2011/03/14/ipad-2-smart-cover-teardown-reveals-complex-21-magnet-construction/ is ranking pretty low on Google and has a low Google PageRank. Now the Google PageRank is how Google is able to see how relevant your webpage is compared to all the other webpages online, if you cannot rank high at the top of Google, then you will NOT get the traffic you need. Now usually trying to get to the top of Google costs hundreds if not thousands of dollars and very highly optimized targeted marketing campaigns that takes a team of experts months to achieve. However, we can show you how to get to the top of Google with no out of pocket expenses (free traffic), no stupid ninja tricks, no silly mind control techniques, and this will be all white hat with no blackhat software or tactics that could possibly land you on bad terms with Google and put you in the dreaded “Google Sandbox”. We’ll show you how to easily capture all the targeted traffic you need, for free, multiple ways to land fast (not months) first-page rankings in Google and other major search engines (Bing, Yahoo, Ask, etc), even show you strategies on how to earn daily commissions just try Ranking Top of Google, please check out our 5 minute video.
qgqvk…
qzjuudlfu ixzeo mtlfyhg eocg exjqjdpsbhpsicr…
… [Trackback]…
[...] Informations on that Topic: theipadguru.com/2011/03/14/ipad-2-smart-cover-teardown-reveals-complex-21-magnet-construction/ [...]…