Which is more vulnerable, the plastic or aluminum housing on the back of your phone, or the glass screen on front? It would seem to be the glass screen. And screen protectors abound; the latest, the Impact Shield, is from the case maker Tech21.
Tech21’s claim is that its three unique layers of polymers - one adapted from bulletproof glass - does more to protect your screen than others, while providing better optical clarity.
In a test, the $30 screen protector was easy to apply. You peel off a tab, line up the clear screen and then let go. A silica-based adhesive takes over, sticking itself to the screen. You can squeeze out any bubbles if need be, or peel the shield off and reapply it. Some other screen protectors can’t be removed and reapplied. Others require much more careful application to keep out bubbles.
In a demonstration using a wire brush, small scratches on the surface of the protecter visibly filled themselves in. It was like watching a time lapse of a wound healing or the demonic self-repairing Plymouth from Stephen King’s Christine.
There are quite a few screen protectors available, and all make claims of substantial protection. In fact, the screen protector manufacturer ClearPlex posted a video in which its screen protector appears to stop pellets from a .410 shotgun shell. There are also companies like Zagg, Amzer and Spigen sgp that demonstrate the hardiness of their screen protecters by hitting them with hammers, sanding them, sawing them and everything short of dropping them from 100,000 feet.
So which one is the best? There is no way of knowing without tests, and there is no standard for testing, just stunts. It’s probably safe to say that any of them are better than nothing.
