HD Anti-Glare Film before and after
FWIW, I pre-ordered HD Anti-Glare Film - iPhone 4 (two fronts) on June 17.
They arrived yesterday Jul-29.
Last night I installed one. Kudos to PS for splitting the adhesive-side covering into four sections. I peeled off a middle section and got everything lined up, then held that section down while carefully peeling back the remaining sections and letting them fall into place. I found one dust speck that I'd missed and easily removed it using a small length of tape. The cut-outs fit perfectly. It's the most accurate placement I've ever achieved.
I used PS anti-glare on my 3G for two years. As others have noted, the texture of the new HD anti-glare is finer; it has an excellent tactile quality that is difficult to describe but very nice indeed.
Because the Retina Display is so stunning I was curious about how the HD film would alter the experience. I decided to take before+after pictures in a pitch dark room with hopes of sharing an objective view of the difference.
Using an unfamiliar camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3) to take macro photographs of an intense light source in total darkness turned out to be more challenging than I expected!
I was trying for close-ups, but ran short on time and in the end simply photographed the iPhone from a 20-inch height. Camera settings were
ISO = 100
Focus = auto, single point
White = auto
Flash = off
Photo quality = 180ppi 10MB
iPhone display brightness = default (50% I assume)
The camera took pictures at 180ppi resolution and in hindsight made me wonder -- was it worth the effort considering iPhone 4's 326ppi display?
Photos here are naked on top and dressed on the bottom. The Photos app played a slideshow at 10 sec intervals while I took a series of photos with naked screen, installed the film, repeated the series. I used GraphicConverter to crop the original series (no scaling -- the original areas were ~98% blackness and 2% iphone!). I had to slightly scale down the second series (besides crop) to get the dimensions to match -- I didn't get the phone/camera/zoom in exactly the same place as before.
The first pair displays a 100% white image. If it doesn't look 100% white on top -- well, so much for auto-white in a black room! But I included it to see if there is any stark alteration in color with the film installed. Looking at the installed film with no light shining from behind could lead one to expect images veiled in smoke or fog. But in reality the effect is very subtle -- certainly not stark.
The next two pairs display classic calibration patterns. The phone displayed them beautifully before and after, but the camera painted them pastel. Yeah, call me an amateur.
The next five pairs display various rainbow patterns. With these the camera paints the dressed phone as slightly more grainy. To my eyes the effect is even more subtle when staring directly at the phone.
In case anyone notices, yes there is a hair on the right hand side of the rainbow dressed pics. I didn't spot it while looking through the camera's tiny-and-pales-by-comparison LCD monitor while making the photos.
Personally I think the PS anti-glare HD film is a great match for the Retina Display. The naked iPhone 4 display is stunningly detailed compared to a naked 3G/3GS. The dressed iPhone 4 is just as stunning compared to a dressed 3G/3GS. And to my eyes, the dressed iPhone 4 remains stunning compared to a naked 3G/3GS.
I prefer dramatically reduced reflections and freedom from smudges. The PS anti-glare film is enhancing my iPhone experience and it was worth the wait.
[ remaining pics posted in a moment ]
