Question about film vs glass

[philliplavelle]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get your thoughts on this:

I ordered a GPEL glass protector but it wasn't due to arrive, so Saturday, I raced to the TMo store and had them fit a PureGear Extreme Impact.. It was a kind of film protector.. dry, I believe.. with a squeegee thing to make it look better.

The girl made a right hash of it. It looked like it had been in a car crash. But she couldn't do it again because it was the last one they had in store. And when I got home, the tempered glass had arrived anyway, so I took it off and applied that.

Now, I'm thinking of going back to the film. Reason being that as nice as the glass is, there is no oleophobic coating and the reflection is terrible in bright sunlight. I live in LA, so that's a problem. Yesterday in the park, I could barely see my screen.

Now here's my question: when the PureGear was applied, the screen didn't look 100% clear. It's hard to describe it exactly, but there was this faint fuzziness.. which was most apparent when looking at the white elements or lighter pages.

Do you know what I mean? And if so, is that something that goes after 24 hours of use or longer? Or is it permanent with those protectors?

The reason I ask is that I don't want to rip off a $20 glass protector, replace it with a second $30 plastic one and then be stuck looking at a screen and feeling 'meh'..

I'm so paranoid about scratching the screen. Drops and cracks not as much because I'm insured.. but all that stuff that's caused by pocket lint or bits of sand (again, very common where I live near the coast.) I remember my S7 Edge last year.. I cared for it like a baby and yet, within a few days, there was a scratch in the coating of the glass and it was awful..

Anyone with experience able to weigh in on this please?

Thanks!

 

[sele835]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get your thoughts on this:

I ordered a GPEL glass protector but it wasn't due to arrive, so Saturday, I raced to the TMo store and had them fit a PureGear Extreme Impact.. It was a kind of film protector.. dry, I believe.. with a squeegee thing to make it look better.

The girl made a right hash of it. It looked like it had been in a car crash. But she couldn't do it again because it was the last one they had in store. And when I got home, the tempered glass had arrived anyway, so I took it off and applied that.

Now, I'm thinking of going back to the film. Reason being that as nice as the glass is, there is no oleophobic coating and the reflection is terrible in bright sunlight. I live in LA, so that's a problem. Yesterday in the park, I could barely see my screen.

Now here's my question: when the PureGear was applied, the screen didn't look 100% clear. It's hard to describe it exactly, but there was this faint fuzziness.. which was most apparent when looking at the white elements or lighter pages.

Do you know what I mean? And if so, is that something that goes after 24 hours of use or longer? Or is it permanent with those protectors?

The reason I ask is that I don't want to rip off a $20 glass protector, replace it with a second $30 plastic one and then be stuck looking at a screen and feeling 'meh'..

I'm so paranoid about scratching the screen. Drops and cracks not as much because I'm insured.. but all that stuff that's caused by pocket lint or bits of sand (again, very common where I live near the coast.) I remember my S7 Edge last year.. I cared for it like a baby and yet, within a few days, there was a scratch in the coating of the glass and it was awful..

Anyone with experience able to weigh in on this please?

Thanks!

I never use glass screen protectors because of the problems you described above. However, I also find it very futile to buy screen protectors costing more than $10-$12. For my G8P I bought Spigen $7 2 pack wet-application type and I am happy with it. It is not crystal type so when the screen is off, you can see little wavy marks/patterns like it is a soft material but nothing is noticeable once the screen is on. Since it is wet-application type film, the screen remains wet for a day or two and you can see rainbow spots on the screen while using the phone but once it drys off, you can hardly see the film. Overall, I am happy with this until they come up with something cheap and better.

 

[Rukbat]

Cheap 3./$10 protectors work just as well. Plastic protects the glass - just a little - from shock, but it scratches. (But for $3, having to replace it even every year isn't a big deal.)

Glass protectors don't scratch as easily as plastic (but they do scratch as easily as the phone screen does), they just keep the phone screen from breaking into long shards that can slice your fingers. They crumble. But hit one on a sharp edge and it does crumble - and can take the phone's screen with it.

So I use plastic protectors. I still have the original one on both phones after 3-1/2 years. No breaks, no scratches, and I've used only 2 of the 3 that come in the pack. So that's $6.67 for more than 3 years of protection for 2 phones. (And the phone that gets knocked around? In an Otterbox Defender. That thing's a tank.)

 

[Kalvin Kerns]

Cheap 3./$10 protectors work just as well. Plastic protects the glass - just a little - from shock, but it scratches. (But for $3, having to replace it even every year isn't a big deal.)

Glass protectors don't scratch as easily as plastic (but they do scratch as easily as the phone screen does), they just keep the phone screen from breaking into long shards that can slice your fingers. They crumble. But hit one on a sharp edge and it does crumble - and can take the phone's screen with it.

So I use plastic protectors. I still have the original one on both phones after 3-1/2 years. No breaks, no scratches, and I've used only 2 of the 3 that come in the pack. So that's $6.67 for more than 3 years of protection for 2 phones. (And the phone that gets knocked around? In an Otterbox Defender. That thing's a tank.)

Which protectors do you use?

 

[jeffmd]

I was a die hard polyurethane skin user but when I switch to using glass I loved it. Unfortunately glass and the samsung curved screens do not mix...at all. I currently have a hastley cut polyurethane custom skin while waiting for a precision cut one to arrive. However I may instead opt for a wallet style case and go with a naked screen.