The Smart Cover becomes stupid surprisingly quickly when it comes apart
I’ve had the Smart Cover for my iPad 2 since the iPad 2 came out, and generally speaking I love it. I wish I could have a similar cover for other devices, as it protects the part of the tablet I care about: the screen. As such, the Smart Cover has been with my iPad more or less constantly, surviving waves of testing out other cases that simply fell short of the expectations eventually.
Lately, however, the Smart Cover has started coming apart at the seams. The inner lining near the hinge part is becoming unglued, peeling off like a sticker. Obviously this isn’t good, as a case should last longer than 1.5 years with normal use, which I dare classify mine as. When it’s a product priced at last 2-3 times above what it should cost, I expect the Smart Cover to last as long as there’s a compatible iPad for it.
Those considerations aside though, there’s another issue with this particular fault: it seriously affects the Smart Cover’s functionality. Seems like the margins for the Smart Cover’s stand functionality are very small, and even a few millimeters of play makes it impossible to make the thing stand up the way it’s meant. If you reverse the fold, like people have been doing since the start because it’s so much stable, it still works. There’s also significantly more play when the cover is on the back, making the whole thing simply feel sloppy.
I have to say I’m disappointed with the quality of the Smart Cover. While mine is showing age, I expected it to last much longer than this. I certainly have older, more used cases for various products, and those still work just fine. Then again, those don’t try to glue stuff that should be sown. Form over function seems to be an Apple trait.
