Fucker finally came and I’m happy to report it’s well worth the wait.

As soon as I saw the DODOcase website back at the beginning of May I was smitten. I’m a big fan of Moleskines so this just seemed a perfect solution to my case problem. When I bought the iPad in the States I neglected to pick up a case and both the official Apple one and subsequent third party designs left me cold so I’ve been carrying the little bastard around naked.

That changed on Friday. Let me get the negative out of the way – this was a long wait. DODOcase are a small company and each case is made with a lot of care and attention to detail. Being way across the Bay from San Francisco meant I also had to wait for the international mail to do their thing. When it seemed that that was taking a tad longer than expected I dropped an email to DODOcase as there was no way for me to track the package. Sadly I’m still waiting for a response, so customer service is certainly taking a pounding while demand is high. I found out that the case hadn’t got lost in the post when I got a note from my local postal depot informing me that I had a package with a customs fee to pay. So that was $49.95 for the case, $25.00 for the shipping (basic international postage with no other option – I would have gladly paid more to have it arrive via courier) and then just over £14.00 to cover the missing VAT.

So getting the thing here was a little annoying. But fuck that, it’s a thing of beauty.

My iPad has been a brilliant travel companion up until now. If I’m not on a train or a plane then it sits on the couch waiting for me to check something on IMDB or keep on top of email while watching Michael Caine stab Brian Blessed with his helmet(!). But now it’s all dodoed up I don’t put the thing down.

In fact this weekend I started (and finished) reading a novel on it for the first time. Up until now I’ve dipped into all sorts of written content on the iPad but have always been aware of how unbooklike the experience is. Simply having the DODOcase open mimics a hardback enough to fool my deteriorating brain. This alone is worth getting one for.

The iPad fits very snugly inside. I can’t see a good reason for ever wanting to take it out to be honest (although I don’t have a dock and am told that may be an issue). Oh and you can’t hold the thing completely upside down while open and not expect gravity to fuck with you. It’s also less of a protective case and stand (although it does double as both) and more of the missing element that the iPad needed all along to become more important than your children.

My iPhone by the way has been completely neglected. I’m told the iPhone 4 is a bit of a tit and if it hadn’t been for the iPad I’d have been one of the first in line to play with it, but to be honest I’m finding it very easy to ignore in favour of its larger sibling.

The iPad 2 however…

Few more pics here.*

*Yep. Reluctantly using Flickr again despite the Yahooliganism.