Analogism

My plan was always to purchase some sort of protection for my iPhone 3G, and when I noticed how my first iPhone 3G was scratched, if ever so little, even though I took great care of it, I was on a mission during my wait for the return of the iPhone. It was no easy task. I didn’t want a bulky pouch or leather casing, so my list got pretty narrow rather quickly.

So I read all the reviews, and I watched all the instruction videos and learned from other peoples success stories and failed attempts with their feedback and conclusions and the whining and the crying and joyful dancing. I finally decided to go with a combination of the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD Apple iPhone 3G Back protection and the BodyGuardz for Apple iPhone 3G Front protection (Screen only), and a micro-fiber cleaning cloth of course. I decided not to go with the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD front due to the orange peel effect reported by so many all over, and who likes oranges on their iPhone?

I placed my orders and waited and waited (the overseas shipping way), and finally after a few weeks they arrived a couple of days apart. So, all that was left was to actually install the bastards. Which would be the hard part from what I’d learned from all those reviews. I decided to do it in my server room, figured it’ll be the safest way to escape dust particles. And just to be on the safe side, I cleaned the room before I started.

Get this: As I opened my ZAGG invisibleSHIELD, I noticed (see photo below) that the spray bottle had been disassembled. I can only assume that the stupid customs have opened it and poured it out. I got so mad, there is no limit to how much I despise the customs, both the US customs and the Swedish customs. I have had my share of encounters with them both, so even though I can only write this off as a purely coincidental incident of bad luck, I still hate them. I got to keep the BodyGuardz spray bottle intact, so I decided to take my chances hoping it would work just fine with both protective products.

I decided to start with the front, installing the BodyGuardz cover. I figured I had a practice run to fail since you get two covers from BodyGuardz, so if I mess up, I’m still all good. Wouldn’t want to fail and have to order more and wait another whatever number of weeks, no no.

All ready to go. Spray fingers, spray cover when removing it from the paper, apply, align. Align. Re-align. Align.

Cover is on, wet and aligned. Time to squeegee the wet and bubbles out of it.

OK, I squeegee the hell outta that thing. I was afraid I had oversqueegeed, as you can see all the scratches in the cover. But I decided not to freak until I had waited 12-24 hours like the box said, depending on conditions like weather, humidity, temperature bla bla equals wait. So, I waited, like the good geek I am.

And while we wait, let me just tell you. The micro-fiber cleaning cloth from BodyGuardz, which states it is lint free… is not lint free. Not by a long shot. Sure, the lint is micro-fiber sized, but there is lint. There is lint I tell ya! I just got tired of replacing micro-lint with micro-lint polishing that thing over and over again, so eventually I just went for it and hoped for the best.

Installing the ZAGG back protector was no easy task. Well, removing it from the paper was the hardest I think. And guess what! I ran out of application solution! Go figure… Stupid customs. I did however manage to make due with what I had left, I pfft, pfft, pfft desperately, and I got it in place. Slightly crooked, but still. And I had to skip the tiny guys that goes on the top and bottom because of it, but I’m still happy. To be honest, I just want to make sure I have the screen protected. Everything else is just bonus.

So to summarize, I’m happy. Not too impressed by the ZAGG back protector. Yes, I did installed slightly crooked, but still, there are quite a few gaps where I’m certain the protector will get peeled off and dirt will get stuck and create an ugly dark edge. However, the back of my iPhone 3G is protected, and that’s fine. The front protector by BodyGuardz however is a different matter. I am very impressed by it. All the scratches are completely gone and there’s practically no orange peel. It’s sleek and barely noticeable, and feels very able to protect my phone. I can not even touch the screen light enough for the phone not react. I don’t think there is any loss of operability what so ever. One thing I’m not sure what to think of is the tiny jack in the BodyGuardz screen cover. I didn’t cause it, it was like that straight out of the box. Very odd.

It took me about 5-10 minutes each to apply them, but like I said, the back result is a bit crooked, so I could have put a little more effort to it. But it wasn’t very hard or time consuming. The wait for it to dry was worse. Also, I squeegeed the back as I went when applying, like the video below said. And lastly, yes, the BodyGuardz application solution works for ZAGG invisibleSHIELD, at least it did for me. As far as I know. Maybe it’ll fail me in a month or two.

I do notice a slight bulky feeling, but really, it’s what… Like 1-1.5 mm? I’m happy! The grip is better, my iPhone is protected and it’s barely noticeable, at least the screen protector. And functionality wise, the screen is 100% perfect. I still have a few tiny bubbles on the back, but they’ll likely disappear after a few days. What more can you ask?

This is the installation video from BodyGuardz:

And the installation video from Zagg: