One of the biggest selling points of the Apple iPad 2 is that it's thinner and lighter than the original iPad. One thing it's not, though, is any less fragile, with its sprawling 9.7-inch glass touch screen. When you get an iPad, it's pretty much a given that your very next purchase needs to be a case to protect the tablet. And the most innovative iPad protector I've seen so far is Apple's own Smart Cover for iPad ($39 to $69 direct). Actually, the Smart Cover is less case (in the traditional sense), and more mere screen protector, but it does just that, protects your iPad 2's display effectively and elegantly—and without adding bulk like a lot of other cases do.

The Smart Cover is a single (9.5-by-7.3-inch) flexible sheet, that's about as thick as a stick of Doublemint chewing gum (less than 0.1 inch), with three vertical ribs. This is one of the best features of the Smart Cover: It adds virtually no thickness to the iPad, but you don't get protection for the brushed aluminum back of the tablet. The cover is constructed of either polyurethane ($39) or aniline-dyed Italian leather ($69) with a soft, felt-like microfiber lining that sits against the iPad's display. The polyurethane version is available largely in brighter colors including pink, orange, lime green, light blue, and light gray. The leather colors are more muted with beige, tan, charcoal gray, black, and red. I tested the lime green polyurethane cover. The polyurethane side feels like rubber and provides a nice grip. The microfiber lining is soft and almost velvety.

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There's a long hinged, magnetized metal bar that runs down the left side of the Smart Cover, which, when placed in close proximity to the iPad's magnetized left panel, attaches itself easily, and shields the entire surface of the iPad's screen. Magnets around the edge of the iPad's screen keep the Smart Cover in place. Detaching the Smart Cover is just as simple. Since it works with the tablet's embedded magnets, the Smart Cover is only compatible with the iPad 2, not the original iPad or any other tablet.

The ribs come into play when you peel the cover back. You can flip the cover over into a triangular shape and it perches the iPad up at about a 30-degree angle, which makes typing on the horizontal on-screen keyboard very comfortable. Flip the iPad over and the triangle pushes the tablet further upright so it's at a perfect angle for movie watching or FaceTime video-chatting.

A very cool feature: When you place the cover on the screen, it automatically puts the iPad to sleep. And when you lift even a corner of the cover, it wakes the tablet up. (You can deactivate this feature in the iPad's Setting menu, if you prefer.)

One of my biggest questions upon seeing how the Smart Cover works, was whether the magnets would be strong enough to keep the cover in place in a crowded backpack or handbag. In my tests, in three different bags, in various states of fullness, for varying amounts of time, the Smart Cover always stayed in place, protecting the iPad's screen. I did see the iPad power up, and then down for a second when the cover was jostled and lifted from the screen, but that was a rare occurrence.

One knock, and this is on Apple's marketing, not the Smart Cover itself: The company claims that the microfiber lining "gently buffs off any screen smudges or fingerprints as you move." In practice, when the iPad was covered with fingerprints, they didn't miraculously disappear after the iPad took a trip in my bag. But I never expected that they would.

Overall, the Apple iPad Smart Cover is a really, well, smart idea. And an innovative, attractive, and effective design make it a smart choice to protect your new iPad 2, and well worth the $39.

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