It takes a leap of faith to trust your expensive electronics to a waterproof case. But LifeProof’s new Nuud case takes that trust to another level since it leaves the iPad’s display exposed, assuming it will protect itself.

And it’s a safe assumption to make, since the iPad’s front panel is a solid piece of strong glass that can easily shrug off a few drops of water. But that doesn’t make exposing your half grand investment to its arch nemesis any easier. When installed the case creates a vacuum seal around the outer edge of the iPad’s display, but makes sure to properly cover the home button and all of its other ports to keep H20 out. A special headphone adapter with an o-ring seal lets you use waterproof headphones with the case, and the camera lens on the back is covered with anti-reflective glass so you can still take pictures while the whole thing’s submerged up to 2m under the sea.

The only thing you can’t do is actually use the iPad’s capacitive touchscreen while it’s submerged. But LifeProof claims that the case is really only designed for use in situations where the display might get splashed, not as a way to watch videos or surf the web while snorkeling. [TechCrunch via TechFever]