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Why do you put a screen protector on your phone?

Why do you put a screen protector on your phone?

  • To actually protect the screen

    Votes: 183 88.0%

  • To reduce glare

    Votes: 20 9.6%

  • I like the feel better with a screen protector on

    Votes: 20 9.6%

  • To try to prevent the screen from shattering when the phone is dropped

    Votes: 26 12.5%

  • Some other reason

    Votes: 15 7.2%
  • Total voters
    208
joshrholloway

joshrholloway

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2006
48
6
Nashville, TN
Just curious about this. I've had the original iPhone, the 3G, and the 3GS. I have never once had a scratch on my screen. I don't think I baby my phone either, I handle it pretty typically but I have dropped each only once or twice at most.

So do you use a screen protector to actually protect the screen? Do you use it for glare? Do you prefer the feel of it? For the iPhone 4 folks, do you think it will help prevent the screen from shattering?

I'm just wondering because every time I have used a friend's phone with screen protectors on it, I can't stand the look and feel. Most of them I've used give more friction on the screen and right now the way my finger slides across feels perfect. Also most of these seem to peel at the edges and just make the phone look ugly in my opinion.

No flaming here — I'm not trying to knock anyone who does use screen protectors at all. I'm just trying to find out more about the people who use them. If you love them, I'd like to hear why.
 
Do you really need to ask why people use a SCREEN PROTECTOR? I would have though that was self explanatory!

Just an FYI, lots of people get scratches on their phones from daily use. Duh!
 
joshrholloway said:
I'm just wondering because every time I have used a friend's phone with screen protectors on it, I can't stand the look and feel. Most of them I've used give more friction on the screen and right now the way my finger slides across feels perfect. Also most of these seem to peel at the edges and just make the phone look ugly in my opinion..
Click to expand...

To protect the screen from scratches and general wear.

Look & feel can vary, as can the propensity to peel at the edges. Over the years of trying different types, I've found the wet-application vinyl ones to be the worst for orange-peel surfaces, a bit of a sticky feel, and peeling at the edges over time. They're not necessarily bad, brands like Invisibleshield or BestskinsEver can be decent, but they do wear and peel at the edges over time.

I much prefer the reusable dry-application sheets such as the ones from Clarivue or Boxwave. The downside is that these cannot protect curved body surfaces such as the back of a 3GS.
 
ClutchThese said:
Do you really need to ask why people use a SCREEN PROTECTOR? I would have though that was self explanatory!

Just an FYI, lots of people get scratches on their phones from daily use. Duh!
Click to expand...

I never got a single scratch on the screen of my 3GS in the year I owned it.

How?
- I did not put in a pocket with keys or change.
- Half the time I carried it in a holster, not a pocket.
- I did not lay it face down on any surfaces.
 
I had one on my 3GS to keep the display fingerprint free. The coating will eventually wear off and the finger prints will be noticeable. This is the only reason I had a screen protector on.
 
I'd rather watch what's on the screen than my reflection in the screen so I go with a matte cover.
 
Because i have a 2.5 year old who is a whizz on the phone but not as careful as me and I like the front without chunks taken out of it.
 
It's 50-50

50%: I've scratched every generation of iPhone even though I was careful.

50%: The grease and finger oils drive me nuts on the factory glass.
 
I've just put a protector on my new iPhone 4, my first iPhone. I carry my cell phone in my pocket with keys and occasionally with change and such and was worrying about the phone too much. My old cell phone (about three years old Moto V3XX) was all scratched up on the outside and while I don't care too much about the phone's general appearance I do care about the screen being in decent shape.

If someone would convince me I don't need to worry about this I'd just leave it alone, but for now I've bought the Invisible Shield which is actually much nicer than I thought. it also makes the phone a little less slick and while this isn't great appearance wise it makes me a little less nervous about dropping it.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

I actually don't have a screen protector on mine but I have a skin covering the rest of the phone. I'm just going to be careful to keep the phone away from things like keys.
 
djgulia said:
to actually protect the screen and keep finger prints off.
Click to expand...

ntrigue said:
50%: I've scratched every generation of iPhone even though I was careful.

50%: The grease and finger oils drive me nuts on the factory glass.
Click to expand...

Notice both of you you have the 3G. Fingerprints/smudges became a thing of the past with oleophobic coating (especially if you wear it naked in the pants pocket, which self-cleans the screen) and unless you get an oleophobic screen protector, fingerprints are actually worse on films than naked oleophobic-coated screens.
 
Cynikal.Mindset said:
diamond earrings + glass screen =/= a good combination.

thats my reason...cuz every other phone I've had ended up with a scratched screen from my earrings
Click to expand...

I never even thought of this. I wear earrings and they do touch the screen when I hold the phone to my ear... hmmmm.
 
Because i love contributing to the economy by buying a screen protector that use a material less scratch resistant than the iphone glass? :D
 
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