There are iPad cases and then…
There are iPad cases that actually protect your iPad.
Why are there two camera cutouts? More on that later! Is this the perfect iPad case?
Not quite... but its pretty darn close!
This is the Mous iPad Pro case for the 4th Gen 11 inch and 12 inch iPad Pros.
And I am Alex, I do down to earth tech reviews and I am here every week!
Guys, I am really excited to share this video with you because I’ve been wanting to test
this out for ages!
And even though the latest one is not available for a couple more weeks I thought I’d do
a video on them anyway, because I think they are awesome!
Not a sponsored video by the way.
As soon as that 2021 model drops I will be covering it too, so stay tuned so you don’t
miss out on that.
Mous are such a cool brand, they are giving you 20% OFF valid till the end of August!
That's amazing!! They actually made their team available to talk to me and go over the
details on this product. That’s really cool and I will share what I can later in the video!
So rather than me just saying this is a great case, buy one….
At least now I can give you a bit more detail of the intricacies that go into this design
of this case and the reasons behind each feature.
And hopefully that makes for a much more interesting video for you! And hopefully it answers some
of the questions that you might have.
I know I enjoyed learning about their design process, what goes on behind the scenes in
their research and development so I hope that comes across.
Not only that, I told Mous I didn’t have the iPad Pro 2020 so you know what they did?
They sent me one!
I have to send it back. Maybe.
So big shout out to Remi and Az who spent a lot of time with me going over my questions
and the details of the product.
What makes the Mous case special? If you have a Mous protective case for the
iPhone or S21 Ultra you could think that this is just a bigger version of that.
And to be honest that is what I used to think too.
Mous whole ethos and the reason they came into the market is because they saw these
beautifully crafted cases but with little protection.
Or super protective cases that looked like a tank.
So they came in, trying to find a middle ground of protection and style.
And a third very important point as well which for me is maybe the MOST important one...is
functionality.
Functionality is key in all of their products. And you will find lots of good examples of
this.
They added magnets to their Limitless products for example so that you could use it in many
different situations.
And that is definitely true here with this iPad case.
The pencil still magnetically attaches to the case, so it's not just a holder, it actually
does what the Magic keyboard does in that aspect.
But bringing the same level of extreme protection, style and functionality to such a large device
is much harder!
And even their product team didn’t realise how hard it would be to achieve extreme protection
for the iPad.
The main thing they tried to resolve was something called Torsion. We getting fancy with our
words, but don’t worry we don’t need an engineering degree guys!
Essentially when you drop a flat and thin item it hits the ground and it twists, and
that is what breaks the device.
The larger the device, larger the torsion, larger the twist.
So this corner would move in this direction and that corner would go into the other, and
basically making the device shatter.
This is where the raised lips come in on the iPhone and S21 Ultra.
But…that same principle can’t be applied to the iPad as the raised lips would have
to be centimetres high for it to be effective!
So they had to innovate to solve that problem.
And how did they do it? There’s 3 key design areas here.
Rigid materials, AIROFOAM and the FOLIO
Firstly they introduced extremely rigid materials to the case. This is what stops the torsion
that we talked about.
Sounds obvious but so many cases out there, you pick them up and they just flex all over
the place!
Mous have built this extremely rigid fibre glass back plate.
And that’s why, you will see this extra cutout here. The backplate is so rigid, that
they added this to make it easier to get the iPad out of the case.
With this, it makes it really easy to remove it.
Yes, they could make the case less tight, and less rigid but that wouldn’t make it
as protective.
So kudos to Mous really for thinking out of the box here and adding that second cutout.
And because this backplate is fiberglass, it means it’s very light and they’re not
adding any extra bulk. Genius really.
It’s not the thinnest of the cases, but if what you care about is protection… This
is the one for you.
The second really cool protective element is AIROFOAM.
Mous took their learnings from Airoshock, which they use on their smartphone cases,
and further developed that for the iPad.
Because for the iPad… Airoshock alone wasn’t gonna be enough.
It's very similar to Airoshock, but here comes a bit physics now. This is made with a non-Newtonian
fluid. So it's technically a liquid!
But under stress (i.e. when you drop it) the viscosity changes.
Mous call it "intelligent molecules" (sounds like a marketing gimmick)
But these molecules... when they experience a shock, they gather and form hydrogen bonds.
And that consumes a lot of the energy from the fall.
It makes it go from this soft malleable foam to a hard shell. Which is what adds that extra
layer of protection.
And the coolest thing about this is that after that shock it goes back to normal.
So it's not like it will protect your device once and lose that protection, you should
be able to drop it again and again and the foam will still be effective as it was the
first time.
Very clever!
Before we talk about the third design feature of this case, just quick reminder guys to
subscribe to the channel if you are finding this useful and like this video as that really
helps the channel.
Specially being a small channel, every single thumbs up and subscription counts. I have
produced about 100 videos now for and I had a ton of fun creating them, and I hope you
like my stuff.
right, the third key design aspect is the Folio itself.
Now here is where I have two different opinions. Their folio is really well lined, with this
lovely micro fibre material, it has a great velvety feel to it.
The good news with the Mous iPad case is…if you are like me and you don’t want to use
a screen protector…
Provided the folio is closed when you drop the iPad, the screen will be protected anyway.
Of course if it’s a large fall then you do risk having the screen shatter.
So for that 100% protection of the display, you might need a screen protector.
My opinion changes slightly for the smaller iPad.
I think for the smaller iPad if you get a decent enough screen protector that doesn’t
interfere with your main usage, that’s great!
And Mous have a great screen protector as well. With my 20% OFF if you use ALEX20 at
checkout.
But personally, for the larger 12 inch iPad Pro, I really wouldn’t use a screen protector
with it.
That's just my preference, mainly because I think you are paying extra for that larger
display and having something stuck to it is ultimately reducing that quality.
But it looks like my opinion is not the most popular!
I put a poll to my community a couple of days ago and the result was, that most people do
actually want that 100% protection.
Out of about 300 votes, 50% want the extra protection, 35% are a bit like and prefer
not to have it.
And 7% also want protection but they like the paper feel to it, so they go for something
like paperlike.
And 9% don't care about tablets.
And when it comes to the 2021 iPad Pro, I think that a screen protector would reduce
one of the main features of the new iPad Pro for me which is the Liquid Retina XDR display.
Right? You paid extra for that and putting a screen protector sort of lessens that a
little bit.
But I do understand some people may not care about that and... either want that extra protection
or they might want those protectors that resemble paper.
That’s not for me so I can’t really comment on that too much.
On this 11 inch iPad Pro here, there is a Mous screen protector and the experience is
great actually.
Does it take away from the feel of the display? Yes I little bit but only marginally.
Fitting it in Very tight so I’d recommend turning off
the iPad before doing this or be prepared to create several random screenshots of your
Home Screen.
There is a good reason why this is so tight and is to provide you with extra protection
and let case absorb as much of the impact as possible.
Can you use this with the new iPad Pro? Yes but, because the new iPads are ever so
slightly thicker than the previous generation, it misaligns some of the cutouts.
Does it still work? absolutely. But I’d wait a couple more weeks because Mous may
or may not have something
in the works.
So what is my veredict? Is this case protective enough for your iPad?
100%
Is it stylish? Yes, and I really like this style. It's not the thinnest but I think having
this rugged style and grippiness to it is more important than being thin.
Does it add functionality? Absolutely! Some cases are just a cover where
this doubles up as stand as well.
I think in this case, the product makes the iPad usable, without getting in the way of
the design features like the pencil attachment here.
Could it have more functionality? Yes, I think it could do with maybe a sleeve or card holders
but that is a minor thing.
I am reviewing other cases and some that go well together with a stand as well, like this
one so make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on that.
What would I really like to see?
I’d like to see some of the style that we get on the smartphone cases, to be replicated
on the iPad cases.
Imagine how cool it would look if we had a matching iPad and iPhone/S21 Ultra case?
I will see you... and your smiling faces, on the next one.