i just recently got the ipad 2 and i’ve been torn about what to do for a case. for my iphone 4, it was important to me that the case be ultra-thin. i didn’t want to add additional bulk to the phone. eventually, i ended up with a switcheasy nude black case. this case is super thing, yet provides the protection that i want for my iphone.

when making the decision to get an ipad case, i was confronted with the same question: what is important to me for an ipad case? it turns out that what was important for me for the iphone is not what is important to me for the ipad.

so what did i want? i did not want the smart covers because the thought of spending upwards of $60 for just a cover with no back protection on the ipad was simply appalling. i did, however, want something that took advantage of the “smart” factor of the cover. i wanted something that when i opened up my ipad, it would make use of the magnets to turn on and off the ipad.

adding bulk to the ipad 2 was a concern of mine, but i also wanted something that would provide full front and back protection of the ipad 2 especially when it was not being used.

it was not terribly important to me that the ipad 2 case had an integrated stand in it. it was important that i would be able to charge the ipad 2 easily and that access to all of the ports were readily accessible.

but really, the biggest factor of the decision was that the case had to be beautiful.

with all of those things in mind, i ended up with the pad and quill octavo for ipad 2. there are a couple of competitors out there to this case that from the outside looks like a moleskine journal. what spoke to me about this particular case is that it does have an integrated magnet to use the smart features of the case.

for me it was a toss up between the dodocase and the octavo and the on/off feature with the magnet sealed the deal for me.

i’ve received the case and the quality of the case on first glance is pretty stunning. the specially carved speaker channel seems to amplify sound that goes through the ipad 2 speaker instead of muffling it.

i do have to admit that when i first installed the ipad 2 in the octavo, i was a bit disappointed with just how much bulk this case adds to the ipad 2. the ipad 2 is firmly seated in the case and there’s no chance that it will fall out of the case.

i realized that though heft matters, i’m not sure if i got a different case if i would use the ipad 2 differently. would i hold it differently because the overall weight is less? the truth of the matter is that the ipad 2 isn’t really a device that i can hold comfortably in 1 hand for a prolonged period like some of the other tablets in the market that are just much smaller and weighs much less. (i’m thinking the galaxy tab, for example)

workmanship on the octavo is pretty solid, my only complaint (and it is a nitpick) is that there is a knot in the wood border that holds the ipad 2 in the case.

because these are hand crafted cases, i would have thought that pad and quill would have paid more attention to these kinds of details. this is a premium $70 case, after all. it looks like a blemish when you look at the case from the outside and i think that i’m just disappointed that i just ended up getting a bad build. this is the only complaint i have from a cosmetic point of view.

outside from that, i love the case and highly recommend it to anyone.