Think Those Pricey Glass Screen Protectors Are a Ripoff? Think Again

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Posted By: Dan Cohen

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Numerous companies now offer tempered glass screen protectors to protect your smartphone or tablet; they’re quite pricey — some may think too pricey. If you are one of them, you may want to reconsider your conclusions after I share my experience. You see, as I went to grab a jacket yesterday afternoon I dropped my iPhone. I NEVER do that …

I picked my phone up and was hoping beyond hope that it was okay. It wasn’t.

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My heart sunk. My brand new iPhone 5S was shot. Ouch.

Then I remembered I had put a glass screen protector on it. I went to peel it off, hoping beyond hope that it was just the protection that had broken.

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It was. Better still, the phone was just fine.

So while the screen protector was pricey, it was way less expensive than a new screen. And that doesn’t take into account the inconvenience and time-suck I avoided by not having to deal with getting my phone fixed. When it comes to tempered glass screen protection…

why-cant-i-be-you

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About the Author

Dan Cohen
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. Dan is married to Raina Goldberg who is also an avid user of Apple products. They live in New Jersey with their golden doodle Nava.

9 Comments on "Think Those Pricey Glass Screen Protectors Are a Ripoff? Think Again"

  1. Michael Anderson | October 24, 2013 at 3:58 pm |

    But the REALLY amazing thing? 5443 unread emails! Egad! 😀

  2. dancohen | October 24, 2013 at 4:02 pm |

    Lol I’m bad but not THAT bad. I actually have a redundant email address to which tons of emails are filtered and forwarded. Once in a while I just go and archive what’s there and… It has been a while.

  3. loopyduck | October 24, 2013 at 4:27 pm |

    While an intact screen is certainly a relief, I have to wonder: was your phone saved by the valiant sacrifice of the protector… or was the protector simply more prone to breaking (not being Gorilla Glass but rather normal tempered glass and not having its edges protected by a metal frame in direct contact) in the first place? Tempered glass is weakest at the edges, after all, and that appears to be where the damage started (as opposed to a direct strike to the flat surface).

  4. dancohen | October 24, 2013 at 4:31 pm |

    Good question… And I’m glad I didn’t need to find out…

  5. Michael Roselius | October 25, 2013 at 8:21 am |

    Dan – you forgot to mention which one of the over-priced glass screen protectors you were using. Now that you have done the field testing 🙂

  6. dancohen | October 25, 2013 at 8:39 am |

    Michael- it’s not that I forgot to mention but that… Errrr… I could not recall which one it was. 🙂
    I do appreciate your recognizing the level of my dedication to the site seeing that I field-tested with the phone I actually use. Hehe

  7. Mitchell Oke | October 25, 2013 at 6:58 pm |

    I’ve been thinking about one of these glass protectors, but couldn’t justify the ~AU$40-50 cost in place of a $1.99-for-five plastic one. The slicker surface would be nice, but they do seem to be a drop-one-time-only kinda deal.

  8. Ian Stearns | October 27, 2013 at 1:18 am |

    I have always had Zagg Invisible Shields on all my phones, iPad for years and although I had been happy for their protection they never felt the same or looked the same on the screen. I switched over to Tempered glass on my iPhone and iPad a while back and yes they were more expensive but they made claims of great protection and what was better was they promised the same look and feeling of the original face and it does! sorry about your unfortunate fall but it’s good to see that it did protect your iPhone well. Well worth the cost then!! thanks for sharing this

  9. AndroidShiz | October 27, 2013 at 6:30 pm |

    I love em. I found some no name glass protectors on eBay and amazon that were only 10-15 ea and they work and feel just as good as ones I’ve got that were almost 30 bucks. Saved my screen several times. Love the one I have now. It’s only 2.5 mm thin. It’s black borders cover up the Samsung logo giving me a clean Nexus/ iPhone type look.

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