In September of last year, a patent appeared on the Internet describing a new model of hack audio jack that Apple could have implemented in iDevices. As most of the patents are filed and forgotten in the Apple archive, many people thought that we will not see this new audio jack very soon, but the iPad 2 contains a little surprise. As you can see in the image above, the iPad 2 has a new Model of the 3.5 mm audio jack, the jack being now built according to the curvature of the external casing to maintain the pleasant appearance of the new design.
The original iPhone also placed the headphone jack on a curved exterior surface, but did so by inserting it, with the disastrous side-effect that only headphone plugs that strictly adhered to the spec would fit deep enough into the recessed space to complete the connection.
This time however it looks like there's no recession at all. In fact, the opposite seems to be true: A plug fully inserted into the jack will have a surprisingly large portion of its ground ring (the outermost metal band) exposed to the elements.
In this plug, Apple used a new technology that allowed the development of a much smaller audio assembly, perfect for the thickness of the tablet. It is interesting that this new model of audio jack does not allow water to enter inside the tablet considering that the entrance to the case is blocked by a mechanism that opens only when we insert the headphone jack into it. The mechanism being closed, water does not enter and your tablet will not suffer too much if you drop a cup of water on the table next to the audio jack. Probably few people have noticed this change and those who have noticed it more than likely do not know what effects it has, but you now know.
