Smart Cover Archives - The Real Mac Genius

The Smart Cover for the iPad 2 is by far more advanced than the original iPad Case with its slim design, magnets, and an auto sleep mode. It’s crazy that the cover for the iPad 2 is as much a marvel as the device itself. I’m actually surprised Apple didn’t brand it with its logo. Yet the one area where the iPad Case beats the Smart Cover is in providing full protection for the iPad. The Smart Cover lacks a back. It’s easy to see why this is so, and until a third party vendor comes up with something, your options are limited.

However, with a second cover and an X-Acto knife, you can have the best of both worlds. The TPU Thermoplastic Polyurethane Resin Skin Cover from Hand Held Items is a flexible, yet protective back cover. It’s advertised as a special type of material that won’t crack. That property can be used to combine it with the Smart Cover. Once you have the TPU cover, place it on your iPad 2. Mark on it where the magnets of the Smart Cover will attach to the iPad’s left side. Then, using the X-Acto knife, cut out the marked lines. The top hole will be the easier of the two, since for some reason, there is already a hole there. Snap the Smart Cover on and check how it fits. Adjust as necessary.

IMG_20110401_084011 — iPad 2 with Smart Cover and TPU case

The beauty about this mod is that the Smart Cover’s functionality is not imposed upon at all. It still folds nicely for propping the iPad 2 and will put it to sleep when placed across the screen. The iPad 2’s slim design is not compromised at all with a bulky case. The only downside is that you might need to pull the Smart Cover’s edge slightly to make it perfectly line up with the iPad 2’s side (though that might not be the case with some fine tuning). For those wanting to mod the TPU even further, a standard hole punch tool will provide a nice opening for the iPad 2’s mic on top.

The TPU comes in a variety of colors, though it looks like clear and a couple of other varieties are out of stock as of the publishing of this article. For $5.99, the price can’t be beat.

Take fully protecting your iPad 2 into your own hands.

Special thanks to Lorie Lee for the idea.

iPad 2 Zooms by the Motorola Xoom

How fast is the iPad 2? How about adding a dual core A5 chip and 9 times the graphic speed. When you’re flipping through your pages on the home screen, you will notice the changes. The faster graphics make games smoother and more realistic. Certain games with video will show a smoother transition and not as sluggish you could say. The A5 dual core will do two times the work at once. While your multitasking to get to your applications faster or watching a movie, your whole iPad will seem like it’s hyped up on steroids. Everything just works faster and better with dual core. The new iPad two went face to face with the Motorola Xoom, and let’s just say it wasn’t a fair battle.

The iPad 2 and Xoom both share a dual core chip, but nothing can compete with the A5 chip, especially the Android powered chip. Our friends at AnandTech ran some benchmark speed tests, and it completely tore the Xoom apart. The iPad 2 beat the Xoom by almost 3.7 times faster. It also topped the original iPad by 5.4 times faster by framerate. With the faster speed of the new iPad 2, the developers will be able to create better apps that offer better graphics and faster performance. I think that the Xoom will never be as fast as the iPad because of who it’s built by. Apple’s A5 chip is the new best thing, but this certain chip will always be fast and will tear apart the competition.

The new iPad 2 is a different type of tablet and also has new technology then the original iPad has. It comes with the dual core A5 chip and 9 times the graphic speed which I talked about before. It kept the same 10 hour battery life which to me is astonishing considering the fact that the iPad is technically doing twice the work then the original iPad. The new iPad 2 also has the three-axis gyroscope which is really cool. You get to see apps in a different way, and it may also seem like it’s more realistic. The iPad 2 has the new Smart Covers which make the iPad look more colorful. The Smart Covers are a magnetic attraction for the iPad 2. The iPad 2 it self has built in magnets that align perfectly with the Smart Covers. The Smart Cover can fold backwards so that you can turn it into a keyboard stand or a FaceTime/video stand. The Smart Cover comes in two textures, Polyurethane and Leather.