review: ipod touch screen protector from Ikross
The iPod Touch is a sexy piece of technology. Hell, it better be sexy after I sold my left nut to buy one. By far the best aspect of this iPod is the fact that it has an amazing screen.
From the moment I got my iTouch, I worried about scratching up that pretty little screen. I even rearranged the contents of my pockets so I wouldn’t have to worry about keys putting nasty little marks into the glass. The next logical step was getting some sort of case or screen protector. I choose to go with just the simple screen protector over the case. Full cases are too bulky for my taste, and take away from the form factor that the iPod offers.
After a little googling around, I picked up the “Apple Ipod Touch Premium Ultra- Clear Reusable LCD Screen & Body Protector with Lint Cleaning Cloth” off Amazon for a grand total of $8.97. The shipping was actually more than the protector itself, so I wasn’t expecting anything of great quality.
When I receiving the product, I wasn’t surprised or impressed. “100% Japan MATERIAL” was plastered across the front of the packaging. That’s… great… I’m sure this Japanese plastic is much better than regular plastic. Maybe I should make a shirt for myself that says “50% Japan MATERIAL”. Yeh… that’ll get me chicks like crazy.
Despite the funky packaging. I went ahead and applied the screen protector on my Touch. The installation was pretty much cake. Remove the plastic backing (like you would from a sticker) and plop the thing onto the screen. The fit was almost perfect. So perfect in fact that it was a little difficult to get it to sit directly on the screen without pushing up against the black molding. I ended up not being able to get the protector to sit completely flat at the bottom of the screen, which resulted in a little air bubble which wouldn’t go away.
So how well does it work? Surprisingly well. The protector itself is super thin, clear, hard plastic. It is actually hard to tell that it’s there. The screen looked no different before/after, no lost in color or brightness. The touch sensitivity didn’t even seem to degrade at all. The feel of the screen wasn’t quite as smooth. This is only really noticed while dragging your finger across the screen (such as unlocking).
This thin plastic shield does its advertised job. It does keep the Touch’s screen from being scratch directly. However, after six weeks of use the plastic itself has become way more scratched than the unprotected screen would have. This makes me question the purpose of such a product. If the result is I’m still starring at a screen that’s scratched, then is it really worth the trouble?
The only other issue I had, is the plastic seemed to slowly slide toward the bottom of the ipod. After a month, it had migrated maybe a millimeter. It might have something to do with the way I use the Touch or maybe the way I put it into my pocket head first, I’m not sure. But the result of this one millimeter of travel was the small bubble on the bottom edge of the screen growing much larger to the point where I decided to try to remove the plastic and reapply it. Not a good idea. The adhesive works so well that I had difficulties removing the protector. Once I did get it off and repositioned, it didn’t really sit right in a few places. I think I might have bent/creased the plastic on removal.
Overall I’m satisfied with what I got. For the cost, I was expecting much less. I would give this particular iPod Touch screen protector a 7 out of 10. The only places it loses points is in the ease of scratching the plastic, and the fact that the protector slowly moved off center over time.
