Screen protectors
Ever since my first Palm Pilot back in the early 90s, I’ve been paranoid about getting scratches on the screens of my devices. I remember back then they really didn’t have companies which made protectors for devices and I found myself going out and buying some of those cling on “window decals” and cutting out some of the clear portion where the decal wasn’t. Anyway, long story short, I eventually found the Boxwave anti-glare units and used those for several years now. After getting my Pre, I did some Googling and found some Clarivue protector reviews. I decided to give one a try, and if I liked it, I’d buy some for my Nintendo DS, iPod Touch, and Lumix LX3. Well, at first, it seemed really good and was comparable to the Boxwave. Seeing that you get 2 sheets for $10.99 and the Boxwave goes for $12.95 for a single sheet (similar pricing for the other products), I decided to go ahead an order the remaining sheets for my other gadgets.
Well, I guess I ordered prematurely, because as the days went on, I started noticing some hairline scratching on the Clarivue which you can’t normally see in everyday use, but when outside on a sunny day, you can move your device around and you’ll see them. Over the course of a few weeks, these scratches became more and more obvious to the point now where I can see them all the time – not just in sunlight. Also, the adhesive used on the Clarivue doesn’t seem as good as the Boxwave. For example, I’m not sure how this occurs, but when I put on the protector, it looked fine. No bubbles, no particles underneath the film, all looks good. Then, a few days/weeks later, there’d be what looks like a speck of dust underneath and an accompanying bubble of air. How does this magically appear? Sometimes they are near the edges, which means the speck might have creeped in, but sometimes they’re not and i’m not sure how something like that can surface below the protector.
Anyway, after these get to the point where I think they look bad, I’ll replace them with a Boxwave anti-glare (i love the anti-glare as opposed to the clear). I guess you get what you pay for – and the Boxwave’s are worth it. Hopefully they’ll make one for the new Droid phones soon. I’m planning on dumping the Pre for the Droid (or other Android phones).
See ya.
SteveO