Apple Stores Now Offering Belkin Screen Protector Application

[noobinator]

It's just annoying that anywhere besides Amazon/eBay screen protector prices are outrageous. My local T-Mobile store sells these glass screen protectors for like $40 and they are $7.99 on Amazon.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

shatterproof? Is that actually backed with a guarantee?

It's plastic. Pretty impossible to shatter stretchy plastic.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Screen protectors! Whatever will they think of next? Go Tim!

Rumor has it they are going to release a case with a built-in battery. Oh wait that wasn't a rumor. OK, Ok I got it a retro Swatch look-a-like MacGregor Plaid Apple Watch band. Heh.
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It's just annoying that anywhere besides Amazon/eBay screen protector prices are outrageous. My local T-Mobile store sells these glass screen protectors for like $40 and they are $7.99 on Amazon.

Yes, but that is why Prime was invented.

 

[dk001]

Machine and clean enclosure will help with the application process. Although I am not a fan of the glass protector.

I have always had screen protector in the front and the body skin in the back. Never had a case since 3GS. Screen has been pristine and so has been the body. Oleophobic coating scratches easily even if the glass doesn't. I prefer to have a screen protector, but application is a skilled process. I have able to train myself to apply the skin nearly flawlessly.

Body skin on the 6s and the plus provide the much needed grip, its not at all slippery. Bestskinsever.

Ballistic glass up front, Java leather skin in back. Hides the fingerprints and provides great grip.
Belkin... definitely sub-par...

 

[ITAlex]

In the 1960s, Corning Glass had developed a very durable type of glass they called "gorilla glass", because it was so tough. They had stopped making it, but in 2005 the CEO of Corning (Wendell Weeks) explained the material to Jobs, who immediately wanted to use gorilla glass for the first iPhone.

"[Jobs] said he wanted as much gorilla glass as Corning could make within six months.'We don't have the capacity,' Weeks replied. 'None of our plants make the glass now.'

'Don't be afraid,' Jobs replied. This stunned Weeks, who was good-humored and confident but not used to Jobs' reality distortion field. He tried to explain that a false sense of confidence would not overcome engineering challenges, but that was a premise that Jobs had repeatedly shown he didn't accept. He stared at Weeks unblinking. 'Yes, you can do it,' he said. 'Get your mind around it. You can do it."

As Weeks retold this story, he shook his head in astonishment. 'We did it in under six months,' he said. 'We produced a glass that had never been made.' Corning's facility in Harrisburg, Kentucky, which had been making LCD displays, was converted almost overnight to make gorilla glass full-time. 'We put our best scientists and engineers on it, and we just made it work.' In his airy office, Weeks has just one framed memento on display. It's a message Jobs sent the day the iPhone came out: 'We couldn't have done it without you.'"

Weeks is a brilliant businessman who knows how to make glass, but his initial inclination was "it can't be done". It was only by confronting Jobs' challenge (and I mean really confronting it) that he and his company were able to make it happen (to his own surprise). Of course, we can't just ignore real physical constraints, but most of the time constraints are self-imposed and say more about us than they say about actual limitations on our actions.

Another wrinkle of that story was that Steve complained about only getting the secretary during the call when he had asked for the president.
Weeks called him back and asked for Steve Jobs and only got the secretary. Touché

There it goes, beautiful stories about the iPhone is its creator: Steve Jobs. I enjoy reading all these stories based on reality, and not unsupported facts.

 

[DUCKofD3ATH]

Yes they did, the glass one is $34.95 plus tax.

You ought to send a note to the article editor. They'll change the text so people aren't misled.

 

[jedifaka]

See Motorola Turbo 2. Its plastic screen is laminated to make it almost unbreakable. But since plastic is obviously softer than glass and likelier to scratch, the outmost layer is designed to be user-replaced as needed.

What if iPhones came with pre-installed screen protectors incorporated into the design. Like NASCAR/racing windshield peel-offs. Peel off a layer of your gorilla glass every 6 months or so for a perfect shine again.

 

[mistercontradiction]

Putting a protector on a phone can be easy (hint: use tape). I don't think I'd pay for that.

Putting a protector on an iPad can be a pain, but is still quite doable. I might pay for that.

What I would DEFINITELY pay for is Apple to put an ANTI-GLARE screen protector on their glossy MacBook systems.

I have an anti-glare protector on my 15" Retina MacBook Pro, and it is SO much nicer. It was a major hassle putting it on, though.

I once put an anti-glare film on a 27" Thunderbolt Display. Not for the faint of heart.

 

[Ynot]

I wonder how this protector would work with a Lifeproof Nuud. The Otterbox Defender annoys me to no end with the fingerprint sensor. But I am clumsy and need the case and protection. I didn't have my phone even 24 hours and had dropped it several times.

Never Use a Screen Protector with LifeProof Nuud it will leak when the Protector start so go soft in water. LifeProof warns about it in the FAQ.

 

[malexandria]

I would love an anti-glare screen protector.

 

[Autokon]

Personally, I want to see someone get this done and post some pictures. I'm VERY curious if the belkin glass protectors will suffer from the haloing issues that some glass sp's suffer from.

Someone post some pics! =)

 

[nStyle]

Screen protectors are soooo 2007

 

[ignatius345]

Your criticism comes off as pretty weak stuff. Apple's screens meet standards for withstanding normal usage. Some people are clumsy or use their devices in ways that increase the likelihood they'll get damaged if dropped. For those people (and for the ones who just want to protect their expensive devices agains misadventure), screen protectors make sense.

I'm saying the same thing you are. If this additional layer is good for the durability of the screen and doesn't degrade the user experience, why is it not built into the phone in the first place?

 

[nebo1ss]

This seems like a policy reversal on Apple's part. I seem to remember not that long ago that they stopped stocking screen protectors in their stores and was not recommending them.

 

[ignatius345]

Question: Why not install the glass covers at the factory or simply make the glass 0.5mm thicker so that it can withstand a drop to concrete.

Exactly. Seems like a lame compromise and an admission of the weakness of the iPhone display to offer installation of what amounts to a sticker over the screen instead of just improving the manufacture of the screen.

 

[dannys1]

Bollocks, it'll still have what looks like a hair line crack down the edges and around the touch id.
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Exactly. Seems like a lame compromise and an admission of the weakness of the iPhone display to offer installation of what amounts to a sticker over the screen instead of just improving the manufacture of the screen.

There is nothing wrong with the strength or scratch resistance of the screen, but people are morons and buy screen protectors anyway so Apple might as well cash in on it like they do with cases.

 

[mattopotamus]

It's plastic. Pretty impossible to shatter stretchy plastic.

I mean the fact it will make your screen shatterproof. At least that is how I read it.

 

[rcappo]

I would rather get it applied in a clean room at the factory by machines.

 

[WigWag Workshop]

Why would a guy at Radio Shack, or a 3rd party or even my friend at work for that matter put them on crooked?

Back when the 3GS came out, my co-worker went to Radio Shack to have one installed. I think it was called tough shield or something like that, and the guy who put it one jacked it all up. I think it was one of those life time ones that are permanetaly affixed.

 

[Sheza]

This is a godsend for people like me who are really anal about screen protector alignment and bubbles. I refrained from putting one on my iPhone 6 because of the added complications of the curved glass. It's now got quite a few scratches on it, despite only ever being placed on its own in a jean pocket, or put on a desk.

 

[countryside]

There is one reason why I don't use them, the bubbles. I will be for sure using this with the iPhone 7, if this truly works.

Does anyone know the price for the screen protector and the service, knowing Apple it cannot be cheap.

 

[Retired Cat]

Exactly. Seems like a lame compromise and an admission of the weakness of the iPhone display to offer installation of what amounts to a sticker over the screen instead of just improving the manufacture of the screen.

Glass is inherently brittle, and there's just no way around it. Even with all the chemistry advances that Corning has made over the past decade, that fundamental property has stayed consistent.

You can either have (1) scratch-resistance and tactile smoothness or (2) shatterproof but scratch prone.

I use a plastic screen protector on my iPhone 5. The clear plastics used today have almost no penalty for display clarity, and I don't care about the lost tactile feel. I'd rather the replaceable plastic film take the hit from accidental abrasion than the more permanent glass. The plastic also serves to help contain fragments in the event the glass gets shattered.

 

[wikiverse]

shatterproof? Is that actually backed with a guarantee?

This video has weird porno music so skip to 30 seconds for the good part, but I've used one of these screen protectors before and it was amazing.

Look at how hard they're hitting it with the hammer, the entire whiskey glass is bouncing off the table.

 

[topdrawer]

This video has weird porno music so skip to 30 seconds for the good part, but I've used one of these screen protectors before and it was amazing.

Look at how hard they're hitting it with the hammer, the entire whiskey glass is bouncing off the table.

glass weakness is at the edges.

 

[acctman]

the only good thing about this is, if Apple screws up the install they'll replace and redo it until it's perfect