InvisibleSHIELD Review – Sprint CDMA HTC Touch Pro

I ordered an InvisibleSHIELD a week ago and it has finally arrived. Prior to installing the skin, I swapped out my chrome defective phone with a brand new replacement so that I would have a clean phone with no scratches.

The InvisibleSHIELD comes nicely packaged and includes the plastic protective skin, a plastic squeegee, and a bottle of “Shield Spray”, which is mostly water. A perforated plastic sheet holds the many individual skin pieces in place. Unfortunately, Zagg did not include a legend, so you’re left to figure out what goes where. Therefore, it would be a good idea to tear out the individual skin pieces and compare them to your phone before you begin so you’ll know what piece goes where.

Installation is easy, but takes time and patience. If you rush this process, you will have poor results. Total time from start to finish was about an hour and 15 minutes to install. First, you must remove your battery to avoid any shorts due to the water used in the installation. Then, find which skin piece matches the phone, peel it off the sheet, and spray the Shield Solution on both sides of the skin. The water in the Shield Solution prevents the skin from sticking to your phone on contact. That way, you have some time to slide the skin into place. Apply the skin to the phone and use the squeegee to drive the air bubbles out.

Be patient with the air bubbles

Once you’re finished, let the phone dry out for at least a few hours before inserting the battery. That way, the adhesive has time to set in. Once cured, the InvisibleSHIELD stays firmly attached to the phone. No edges are peeling up and I don’t for see that happening anytime soon. If you have air bubbles, which you are bound to have, don’t worry, just let time do its work. It typically takes 1-2 days for the bubbles to clear up on their own. I’m about 20 hours into my new skin and I still can see air bubbles. However, they are gradually clearing up and it doesn’t look half as bad compared to immediately after the installation.

The main tip I have is to work slowly. Make sure the edges line up correctly to avoid overhang. Also be sure not to stretch the plastic out too much; the skin is manufactured to pretty tight tolerances. If you stretch the skin, especially while applying it to the chrome siding, you may have to trim a small amount of over hang.

The skin itself is slightly textured and feels almost tacky because of the soft plastic. Some people don’t like this tacky feel, but I do because it gives you a nice firm grip on the phone. Phones like the HTC Touch Pro tend to be a little slick and slip out of your hand easily as a result. The tacky feel of the skin also helps keep the phone from sliding around, making it much harder to knock off a table. Touch screen sensitivity remains the same as far as I can tell. I like the screen protector because it is slightly tacky and makes my finger “stick” to the screen instead of sliding around. One of the huge annoyances I had with the phone were all of the fingerprints and grease streaks over the screen and chrome. With the InvisibleSHIELD, fingerprints and grease are almost completely eliminated!

I was impressed by how much surface area the skin covered. I’d say at least 90% of the phone is covered by the InvisibleSHIELD with the exception of items like the power button, volume controls, USB port, microphone, speaker, reset button, and stylus opening. The major impact points, like the sides and edges, are completely protected and I’m pretty confident that the phone will survive a fall no ugly scratches or dents.

Finally, here are some pictures of the Touch Pro with the InvisibleSHIELD installed. These pictures were taken shortly after the installation so you will notice some air bubbles. Be patient and the air bubbles will clear themselves up.

Tagged as: HTC Touch Pro, invisibleshield, PDA / Smartphones, Product Reviews