eBay version of SmartCase - Quick Look
So I finally received the product from eBay. It's still active at
eBay SmartCase. It's definitely not of the same quality as the cover sold for our fruit flavored friends but for the price it's not bad at all.
First off it doesn't attach to the tablet. It uses the 'sleeve' approach where the tablet slides, with a rather right fit, into the cover. The material for the cover is a pretty industrial rubber that has a nice feel to it...smooth yet not slippery. The cover portion...what you might refer to as the 'smart' part I suppose, is made of the same rubber material with slats of a firmer material to give it stability.
My observations:
- It's a nice solid fit that can definitely provide some full-time protection for the tablet.
- It has cut outs for the proprietary port, all the buttons, the speakers and the camera
- Use of this cover, for the most part, helps retain it's slim characteristics that we bought it for
- Folding the cover portion into a stand works fairly well in both positions as shown in the photos
Some Cons:
- I definitely would not be comfortable counting on this as a rugged form of protection. Because of the nature of the cover (it folds) it does not provide a solid surface of protection against the screen. To be fair though, I don't think that is the intent of this product.
- The rubber material it's made of, while having a nice feel, seems to be a slight magnet for dust.
Overall, I think this is going to be a nice way of providing full-time protection to the tablet while still looking nice and retaining the general sleekness of the tablet. I'll probably use this for normal portability. However I will continue to slip the tablet (with the smart case) into my reinforced sleeve for extra protection when throwing it into my backpack. For $17 and free shipping it's definitely worth it.