iLounge

Company: Sumajin

Website: www.Sumajin.com

Model: SmartWrap

Price: $5

Compatible: iPod 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, iPod mini, iPod photo, iPod shuffle

Sumajin SmartWrap Earphone Cord Manager

By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Thursday, January 20, 2005
Category: Clips and Cord Managers - General

Pros: A simple rubber headphone cord manager that affordably reduces tangles.

Cons: Very simple concept that one could easily replicate.

Certain products are almost too simple to review, but they’re still worth recommending to our readers. Sumajin’s Smartwrap ($5.00) is one of them.

A bone shaped piece of flexible flat rubber with one diagonal groove on each of its ends, the Smartwrap does only one thing: it manages your headphone cord. You place the Smartwrap someplace in the middle of the cord, wind the cord around Smartwrap’s center, and then lock the cord’s two ends in the rubber’s grooves. Consequently, your five-foot cord shrinks to two feet and you’re no longer left with a ton of dangling wire wherever you walk.

Because the Smartwrap’s made from rubber, it doesn’t damage your cords in any way. Sumajin doesn’t recommend it for other types of cords you may want to organize - such as stereo components - but that seems a natural enough future extension of the brand given how well and easily the Smartwrap works.

There’s a vague fashion component to the Smartwraps as well: Sumajin sells nine colors of them (white, clear, black, orange, blue, green, purple, red, and pink) as well as five colors of matching ear foam replacements ($1.00 per pair, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow) to match. We tested a black Smartwrap, which definitely shows off the iPod’s white headphone cords, but would probably have preferred white or clear ones.

Back when we used to review products with “excited” (A), “happy” (B), “it’s OK” (C) and “sad” (D) ratings, the Smartwrap would have rated “happy.” It’s not exciting or a necessary accessory, but it is unquestionably a handy, affordable, and safe option for those who want to manage their cords. If you have a need for it, we have no hesitation recommending it. On the other hand, do-it-yourself and other equally simple options are available, and those who don’t like the style can look elsewhere.

Jeremy Horwitz is Editor-in-Chief of iLounge.