Watching Apple's promotional video again now, I like everything that the company showcases in the ad. The cover itself looks cool--I went with the green on a whim, but I'd really be content with any of the colors Apple sells. I like the viewing angle the Smart Cover can fold up to create, and I like the strong angle it offers for typing. (I tried a variety of cases for the original iPad; none came close to matching the swell angle the provided.) The Smart Cover latches on easily, and with a satisfying click. And the clever way the cover wakes up your iPad when you open it, and puts it back to sleep when you close it? That's brilliant.

I will say, however, that I can rarely fold the Smart Cover into that typing/watching triangle as delicately as the hand model in the video. Folding the Smart Cover into position isn't , but I find it just a bit clumsier a process than I had anticipated.

But my chief complaints with the Smart Cover relate to elements of its use that Apple doesn't cover in the promotional video at all. My biggest grievance is that there's just no perfect way to fold back the Smart Cover when you actually want to your iPad in hand. The video shows iPads waking up, going to sleep, and being used on a tabletop. What about when I want to hold the dang thing?

Initially, my thought was to flip the Smart Cover around the back of the iPad, just as you might do when reading a magazine. Since I'm right handed, I generally hold my iPad in my left hand so that I can tap with my right. And because there are no magnets to keep the Smart Cover latched on when you swing it around to the back of the iPad, it doesn't stick there--it just flops down at various annoying angles. I tried switching to holding the iPad in my right hand so that I could grip the Smart Cover to keep it in position, but I really prefer letting my right hand drive when working one-handed.

senior contributor Andy Ihnatko an accordion fold; he likes the extra thickness that approach affords. But I find that if I put the iPad down, the accordion quickly unfolds itself. I tend to end up folding the Smart Cover roughly in half behind the iPad, so that it sticks magnetically to itself with the microfiber side facing in. The approach works, but it still feels silly that the folded flaps flop down if you let go, instead of sticking somewhere.