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Should we use a screen protector?

goalc

Member
Jul 31, 2010
77
1
My wife has just bought a SGS and was going to add one of those thin, transparent screen protectors. However some of her friends with oter touchscreen phones say that they reduce the effectiveness of the touch screen and so shouldn't be used, but her concern is that if she doesn't then the screen might get scratched easily...

What do you think? Should she put one on or will it make using the touchscreen more difficult/less effective (this is the fist touchscreen phone either of us have ever had!!), or is the screen scratch-resilient enough so that it doesnt need one?

Any comments are appreciated :)
 
Right now I am using a cheap transparent screen protector on mine (might get a better ZAGG invisible shield protector later [2nd Video]). I didn't notice much of a difference, screen is still very responsive. Why not buy a cheap one off ebay for like $5 and give it a try first ??. Galaxy S has a glass screen, so it wont scratch as easily as phones with plastic screens (resistive touch or regular non touch phones), But it can scratch [1st Video]. I don't want to take the risk, so I applied a screen protector rightaway.

Galaxy Scratch & Drop tests

ZAGG invisible shield
 
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I wouldn't worry about reduced accuracy - capacitative screens cope much better than the old resistive types with having a screen protector on. I find my Galaxy is just as responsive and accurate with a protector on as without.

And yes, the glass screen is certainly tough - but it does scratch. I got a very fine scratch on the screen even though I was babying the phone until I got a decent protector. It's only visible under certain situations, and is invisible now that there's a protector on.

I've found that there's no real easy way of knowing what screen protector to buy - there are issues with most of them, aside from accuracy. The main issue for cheap protectors is that they're very thin, and so are next to impossible to apply without getting some bubbles under the protector. On the other end of the scale, the expensive ones (at least some) tend to be too thick and attempt to give "ultimate" protection, when it's not really needed. With the tickness comes issues like the "rainbow" effect, which is more annoying than any other issues, imo.

The best I've found is a cheap
 
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you might want to visit the xda forums, go to the vibrant accessories forum - a lot of postings describing user's assessments of the different screen protectors
Vibrant Accessories - xda-developers

and what everyone else said, definitely a good idea - there have already be 3 or more reports from folks scratching their screens

as to bubbles, when applying, don't be too upset if you can't get all the bubbles out - it's surprising but the bubbles seem to totally disappear after 2-3 days - mine had about 13 and only thing i could figure was that either the protector or the screen must be permeable allowing the air to escape
 
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Why hasn't anyone mentioned that all clear screen protectors are finger print magnets, and all matted screen protectors make your screen looks foggy?

a) possibly because it's not a major issue for most folks, or maybe screen protection is more important than the fingerprint magnet aspect

b) and 2ndly, i can't speak for the other brands, but while my clearfreak was greasy looking at first and seemed to attract fingerprints for the first 5-6 days but then seemed no different than when i had the screen uncovered. suspect the vinyl is giving off some oils still while new, and as those dissipate, that effect diminishes, at least it did on mine
 
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The screen is something you use and touch all the time. Really for the price of the phone, versus the cost of a screen guard, you honestly don't need to think if spending that money is worth it. I put on a screen protector right away, and even though I have no clue when it happened, I noticed some small scratches on the screen protector. Seems worth the extra $5.
 
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