Review: OttoSkins

OttoSkins are protective decal skins which when applied to your electronic gadget provide protection from scrapes and scratches while offering you a personalized look.

The skins are available in a variety of patterns and designs for a wide range of gadgets.

From iPods to iPhones, netbooks, laptops and gaming consoles, there’s probably an OttoSkin for at least one device you own.

Let’s take a look at a few of the skins OttoSkins was kind enough to send me to review.

The Otto family of products began with Otto, our namesake, a 120 lb. Great Dane that was gray with unique black spots… who also happened to be our dog. OttoSkins follows the example of “Otto the dog”. He always got plenty of stares from anyone who saw him, just as you will with your new OttoSkins

The first skin I grabbed to install was their Mona Lisa for the iPhone 3G/3GS.

Each packet of OttoSkins comes with a few complimentary stickers.  I love stickers!

Installing the skins takes patience but it’s not difficult.  The nice thing about them is that you can remove them and reapply them over and over again until you’re satisfied they’re installed just right.

Once your device is clean of dust and debris you remove the skin from it’s backing sheet, lay it down on the device centered and the smooth it out removing any bubbles and wrinkles that form as you go.

The finished, installed skin adds virtually no bulk to the back of your phone.  It covers no buttons or ports but does protect the precious back area of your phone from scratching.

On the iPhone you see that only a small amount of the white portion of the phone is left uncovered when the skin is applied.

The skin itself is thin enough that you’ll still be able to use your device in some cases.  Mostly forming fitting cases work best.  Slider cases prevent more of an issue.

Here’s the Mona Lisa OttoSkin installed on my iPhone 3GS inside a Griffin Reveal Case.  It creates a fabulous look.

The skin for the Mac Book Pro 13″ consists of one large sheet for the top of the computer.

I did have a little more trouble installing the skin for the Mac Book Pro.  Since it’s so large it’s difficult to center it properly without any sort of frame of reference.

However, since the OttoSkin is fully removable I simply kept applying it and removing it then reapplying it until it was on just right.

The finished result came out perfectly.

I love the look of the Wood Skin.  And the illuminated Apple logo shines through as well.

The iPod Skin consists of a back piece, front piece, click wheel cutout and button cutout.  Each piece has to be installed separately.

I started with the back piece which covers the flattened back part of the iPod.  Most of the chrome on the sides is left exposed.

And then I installed the three front pieces for a totally complete look.  Each of the pieces fits together for a clean and centered design.

There was no problem using the fully skinned iPod inside my Belkin case as well.

The last skin I used was for the iPod Nano 3rd generation and consisted of the same four pieces that the iPod Classic did.

However the back piece for the Nano covers more of the chrome including the sides of the device.

After the back piece I moved onto the front side of the Nano and installed the three final parts.

And just like the my other devices I tested and was successful in using the OttoSkined Nano inside one of my cases.

There are many categories of which to choose OttoSkins designs from.  You’ll be sure to find one that fits your taste.

The skins are easily installed and easily removed.  They work in conjunction with most cases so you’ll get as much or as little protection as you wish.

OttoSkins has some nice promotional features on their web site as well.  Spend $100 in skins and get free shipping.  Or order 4 skins and you’ll save 25% on your entire order.

Check out all the skins on the OttoSkins web site.

M.S.R.P. - $14.95 – $29.95

What I like - installs and removes easily, many designs to choose from.

What I don’t like – no screen shield included.

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Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod and Touch Devices, Apple MacBook Laptops, Mobile Phones