Acme Made’s Infinite Angle for iPad 2 ($60) is a truly unique case at a point when new creative options for the iPad 2 seem to be drying up. While the faux leather folio-style design has been seen plenty of times before, what sets the case apart is how it converts into a stand on your choice of angles. It’s nice to see some companies continuing to innovate rather than sticking with the same tired designs, though the price to be paid for such innovations will be a turnoff for some potential users.
At first glance, Infinite Angle doesn’t seem that dissimilar from the original Apple iPad Case. The shape of this case—including the cutouts along the back for the buttons and ports—and the look of the material are pretty much the same. There’s an opening along the left side of the frame to push the iPad 2 in, with a flap to hold it securely in place.
We do prefer Acme Made’s faux leather to the polyurethane material Apple used, as the iPad Case very quickly attracted grease and smear marks, though Infinite Angle does have a few faults that Apple’s design didn’t have. Even though it remains usable, the Home button is partially covered by the frame surrounding the bezel. Along the top, the microphone is completely covered. In our testing, however, we noticed only a very mild degradation of the audio quality—FaceTime conversations remained all but completely unaffected by the obstruction.
Although it has some faults, Acme Made’s case also has benefits that set it apart. Instead of relying on a tuck-in mechanism for transforming into a stand, the company used a rather ingenious new system.
A nylon strap fully encircles the case, with a magnetic tab at the end to hold the front lid shut. When the front is folded behind the back, you pull on the tab to retract the strap, creating a landscape viewing stand for whatever angle is necessary. A plastic clip holds the strap tightly in place at your desired position. Infinite Angle also has magnets inside the front cover to activate the automatic sleep/wake feature.
We really like that Acme Made took a different approach with this case; Infinite Angle provides good stand functionality without extra bulk or clutter. The problems that we encountered aren’t deal breakers, but the high price was somewhat of a show-stopper.
