So, this weekend, I got my fiancee a RAZR MAXX and she brought up the whole "should I have a screen protector?" question. This question has been debated by smartphone users since the first smartphone came out.
From my experience, there are 3 major types:
1-Clear plastic. This is the one that you see the most, usually very cheap and uses an adhesive on one side. These are the fun ones that you end up having to use a credit card to iron out the bubbles and almost NEVER get them all out. The advantage is that they are fairly inexpensive and totally clear so there's minimal screen distortion. The disadvantage is that ironing out the bubbles and getting it "just right" can make you want to throw the phone across the room and the "smoothness" factor and swiping can get sticky and not be as fluid.
2-Matte/Anti-Glare/Anti-Fingerprint. These screen protectors are applied the same way and the clear platic ones but have a very different finish. They're excellent at blocking glare and truly are fingerprint resistant and their price point is similar to that of the clear plastic models. They also allow for the smoothness of swiping to not only be maintained, but improve, in my opinion. The HUGE downside, however, is that the screen clarity suffers drastically. You can see a lot of distortion "lines" and "dots", especially with apps like Facebook that are predominantly white.
3-"Xtreme Gaurd". This screen protector takes a little more leg work to apply. Instead of using a standard adhesive, it has a water activated solution on one side (Yup, water, eek!). It's applied the same way as others with a few differences. When you squeegee the bubbles out, water will come out of the sides so having a dry towel is a must have! Also, since it isn't just a sticky adhesive, it has to set. I applied this protector to my phone 2 days ago, it took about 12-16 hours to fully set. Initially it looked very bubbly and grainy but after about 8-10 hours the solution began to set and all the bubbles disappeared! It has a little bit more of a rubbery feel but still maintains very smooth swiping while giving you a more "tactile" feel to it.
After a few days with the Xtreme Gaurd, I'm going to be sticking with this one for a very long time. If you'll excuse the terrible pun.
Now, we all know some of us use them, some of us don't. We want to know what YOU prefer! Do you have a certain type you prefer or are you a "naked" phone person? Have any of you had an experience where the screen protector saved your phone? Let us know!
Edited by arcanexvi, 03 December 2012 - 01:15 PM.
ArcaneXVI is really nice and made this into a Poll for me ;)
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