ZAGG and Best Skins Ever have forever been at each other in deciding which is the best screen protector for the iPhone. Now having recently tried both, which one is better?
ZAGG’s Invisible Shield is the more expensive of the two, and only comes 2 pieces, the front and back. The skins come packaged with a rubber ‘squeegee’ and a bottle of spray which you can use to help apply the skin on your phone.
The main problem I found with the Invisible Shield, was that it was cut to the iPhone dimensions a bit too closely. Placement of the front and back sheets must be incredibly precise, otherwise you risk peeling from the edges as time goes on. Even if you do manage to get it exactly right, I still feel the back skin is slightly too big.
I’ve also found that the back skin will move slightly over time just by holding the phone, which may eventually result in the edges of the skin lifting off.
Best Skins Ever has several purchasing options, allowing you to purchase just the front screen, front and back, or a ‘total body’ skin which includes the front, back and extra for the sides as well. The total body option is still cheaper than the Invisible Shield, but doesn’t come with the squeegee/solution. Instructions are listed on the website instead here.
Having the back skin of my Invisible Shield peel off recently, I replaced it with a BSE back skin and I find that it’s cut to a better size to fit the back, meaning placement does not have to be as exact and it will be less prone to peeling.
While BSE may come with the extra skins for the sides, I have decided not to use them as I don’t feel that that part of the phone requires protection, and I don’t think that they would last very long on the sides. It may be a good alterative to a bumper if you are experiencing death grip issues and want to keep your phone slim.
At the end of the day, BSE and Invisible Shield are essentially the same product. Both are equally indestructible, and even have the same application method. Therefore it comes down to price. BSE is much cheaper as you are not paying extra for the squeegee and fancy packaging, and as an added bonus you get extra protection for the sides should you choose. Therefore my pick for iPhone screen protectors definately goes to Best Skins Ever.
Used a Best Skins Ever protector on iPhone 3G, Inivisble Shield on iPhone 4. Replaced the back skin on iPhone 4 with a Best Skins Ever version after the Invisible Shield version started moving and peeling. Front of iPhone 4 still using Invisible Shield.
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