invisibleSHIELD for the Apple iPhone
Company: Zagg
Price: Full Body Coverage $24.95, Front Coverage $14.95
http://www.invisibleshield.com
The iPhone is a unique device compared to Apple’s other portable media players. The iPod is rarely handled by the user. The most of the interaction the user has with the iPod is to press play and then put it back in your pocket. The iPhone wants to be used.
The design of the iPhone is important to the entire experience, and using a bulky case robs you of a large piece of that experience. The invisibleSHIELD protects your iPhone without limiting its functionality. It won’t protect your phone from blunt trauma but the invisibleSHIELD will help keep your phone looking like new.
The InvisibleSHEILD for the iPhone comes in two different versions; a whole body set or just the front piece. The material is tough enough to make the front only version the best screen cover available for the iPhone, but the real value is having the full body of the iPhone protected. The full body shield comes with a complete front and back pieces for the phone, a rubber applicator, and a tube of the application solution.
When opening the product and being faced with the task of applying the shield, I grew very nervous during this step. The idea of using liquid to position the shield scared me. I was going to spray my $600 phone with a liquid? The front piece is the easiest to apply and set in place. The back gets a little tricky because it includes pieces that have to fold around the corners of the . The shield itself is extremely adaptable and after each end is down it’ll conform to the shape of the phone within about an hour. Don’t worry about the sides of the phone not being down exactly flat or moving out of place. As the shield dries it sets itself in place and morphs to the shape of the phone.
The small pieces of the Shield are frustrating to apply. There are two thin strips for the top and bottom silver borders, and four tear drop shaped pieces for the corners. I made the mistake of placing the small pieces over the larger portion of the shield, so it overlaps and creates a small bump on the side of the phone. The place where I managed to line the shield up correctly, on touch feels like it’s a single large piece of plastic.
The whole iPhone feels like a single piece of plastic is covering it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you handed me an iPhone with the invisibleSHIELD applied and told me that you had the iPhone dipped in plastic. I’m trying to avoid using the word plastic. The invisibleSHIELD is not made of plastic. It’s made from a material developed by the Defense Department to protect helicopter blades in flight.
The material is ultra thin and impossibly strong. But at the same time it’s adaptive to whatever you put it on. It stretches easily (which is how I managed to overlap some pieces of the material) but wants to grip to the surface that it has been applied too. After applying it I left one unsightly air bubble on the back of the iPhone. I attempted to use the applicator to smooth it out but failed, so I just ignored it. After a few days I noticed it was starting to shrink. After a couple weeks the former bubble is a barely noticeable tiny bump in the surface of the shield.
I’ve tested and used some iPhone cases in the past and found all of them to be bulky and all of them to harm the usability of the phone. It was not as fun to even hold the iPhone with the extra bulk applied. The invisibleSHIELD does not suffer from this. In fact it might have the exact opposite effect on the phone. I think the shield enhances the usability of the iPhone.
The shield gives the phone a much more grippy fee, making it much more substantial when placed on surfaces. I’m able to leave it the center console in the car and not worry about it falling. Setting it on a normal table and pushing the phone around gives the feeling that it’s better anchored to the table.
I’ve seen videos from YouTube.com of people taking keys or knives in an attempt to slice the invisibleSHIELD. I tried to scratch the shield using my car keys, a steak knife and a pocket knife. Rubbing the point of the key against the shield did nothing. The small indents that were left vanished shortly afterwards. The steak knife lightly pushed into the side of the shield left no marks. The pocket knife was able to leave permanent marks in the shield, but none that were visible unless caught by the light at the right angle. When I tried the pocket knife on a standard screen protector it sliced clean though.
After a few weeks using the shield I feel that my iPhone is safely protected from everyday use. The shield is clean and barely noticeable. I put my friends to the test by handing them the phone to show them a website, and then after asking what they thought of the new case. Everyone I tested didn’t even notice that a case is on the phone. The most important part of the invisibleSHIELD is in the application.
One of the corner pieces has fallen off and lint is getting under a few of the edges because I didn’t line up the shield exactly as it should have been aligned. Other than the difficult application process the invisibleSHIELD is a must have case for every iPhone sold.
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