The makers of the Colcasac were kind enough to send us a Colcasac iPad 2 Sleeve for review! Colcasac makes high quality, hand made sleeves for many electronic devices. We were given the Hanakapiai iPad 2 Sleeve for review which retails for $35.
They use minimal packaging that looks profession and let us know more about their product. Their sleeves are made of all natural products; hemp, jute, and cotton. Initially we were worried that the internal padding would build up lint around the ipad which we tested in the below video. It doesn’t shed and is very well made.
Click To see more Photos of XO Skin Protection Film for iPhone 3GS ReviewToday I am going to check out the XO Skins iPhone 3GS protection film. This film is designed to protect your iPhone screen and body from being scratched as you use it. The skin is clear and you can hardly tell it is applied when installed. Read on for all the details on the XO Skins Protection Film for the iPhone 3GS.
XO Skin for Sprint Touch Pro 2 – review
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In the box-
1 XO skin
Tiny spritzer bottle of application solution
Squeegee
Application-
Application was pretty easy. The skin applies similarly to window tint- you wash your hands & your battery cover, then hose it down with the solution, coating your fingers as well to prevent fingerprints. The solution stays wet for a while, allowing you to reposition the skin till you get it perfect. Despite this, I still managed to get it a bit off-kilter, but it turned out okay.
XO Skin for Sprint Touch Pro 2 review
The screen protector side was a bit trickier, you have to be very careful when spraying on the solution to avoid getting into your phone. I just held the bottle close to my screen & spritzed very carefully. There were some bubbles and cloudiness after applying it, but they all cured out within a day or 2.
XO Skin for Sprint Touch Pro 2 review
Wear-
This skin held up pretty darn well. The morning after putting it on, I picked it up and was surprised to see a mark on the back of it. After a little while it was gone though. These skins have sort of a stretchy, rubbery texture, allowing for gouge marks to smooth themselves out. After a month of use, the only sign of wear was a small bubble on the back side.
XO Skin for Sprint Touch Pro 2 review
BUT- that was most likely a result of my application, I think I overstretched it a bit in some spots. The screen protector part was great- it added a bit of grippiness to the screen and was totally scratch resistant. I had no peeling edges, no shrinkage, and no fuzz accumulation at the edges.
Summary-
Overall, this is a pretty worthy option for a skin-type protector. One thing that I did not like about it was that it only came with a battery door cover & a screen protector. I thought maybe I overlooked the bezel cover, so I checked the box again but sure enough- no bezel guard was included. I thought this was a serious design oversight. As we all know, whenever we drop our phones, the first part to get scuffed up is always the front bezel. So I would strongly suggest to XO that they start including a bezel guard as well. Also, I must note that these are NOT reusable. Once it’s set, you can’t take it off without stretching it out & ruining it.
es seem to be taking over the world – everywhere you look, someone has their phone out and is texting, checking email or updating their Facebook status. These phones come in every size and shape. They are available for almost any budget, and some offerings come in a model that doesn’t even have a phone (such as the ipod Touch). With all these devices filling our pockets, the one thing everyone needs is some protection for these devices.
XO is a company that specializes in protective skins for portable electronic devices. Everything from cell phones to digital cameras, they offer protection from scratches for those sensitive devices. For this review I am testing an XO Skin for my iPhone 3Gs. While I have tried hardshell/soft rubber cases and skins in the past, I’ve never found a protector that I could happily live with. I don’t have a carrying case for my phone, so it lives in my pocket. Any protective skin that is rubber is unacceptable because you can’t get your phone out of your pocket if your pants are even the least bit tight fitting. Anything plastic adds enough bulk to the phone that it feels like you’ve got some bulky Android phone bogging you down. The perfect fit would have to be something that is slick surfaced like plastic, but thinner than any other plactic case I’ve found to date. This is what XO Skin has set out to create – the perfect skin. How’d they do? Read on.
Design and Application of the Skin
The skin itself is a thin polyurethane that adheres to the phone. The good part of this is that it forms an airtight seal on the device. The bad part about this is that if you’ve never tried to carefully affix something on a curved surface like the back of an iPhone, it’s not an easy proposition.
The basic steps are that you turn off the device completely. Lightly spray the skin piece that you’re attaching with the included spray liquid. As long as the skin is wet, it will not stick to the device. As soon as the skin dries it sticks in place. Luckily you can rub some liquid under the edge of the skin and work it back off if you stick it in the wrong place. Personally as a perfectionist I worked for about forty five minutes getting the skin pieces on how I wanted them. The face cover of the skin went on easily and stayed in place rather well. The round dot for the home button also went on smoothly. The back of the skin took quite awhile to attach. This piece is especially hard since it compasses most of the curved parts of the iPhone. I never did manage to get it on exactly straight, and upon further investigation learned that it was about 1/16″ too small to completely cover the back of the device. The curved pieces to cover the metal bezel around the phone are next to impossible to apply. I spent more time on these than any other pieces. Since they are long and thin, they dry very quickly. This means that you have very limited amount of time to get them in the right position. Be sure to apply the two end pieces of these before the long side pieces. The end pieces have to be spaced just right to get the side pieces on correctly.
Once the skin is applied properly, you need to leave the device to dry overnight as the directions say, or you can also use a low heat hair dryer to help move the process along. For the first couple days the face will look cloudy when the screen is off. The packaging states that this will go away, and it does. I have to say that the screen is perfectly clear to the point where you have to hold it at an angle and look at the reflection of a light to see that there is a skin on the face.
XO Skins Box
Plastic pieces
Applicator
Features and What’s In the Box
1 Apple iPhone 3Gs XO Skin
1 Bottle of Application Spray
1 Applicator/Squeegee
Installation Instruction Card
Features: Clear Scratch Proof Protection
Fills Small Scratches
30-Day Money Back Guarantee
Easy to remove – leaves nothing behind
Lifetime Replacement Warranty
Usage and Testing
For the first two days while the device is still drying out some, the corners pick up massive amounts of pocket lint. While this tendency goes away after a couple days, I was left with some light blue spots under the skin at the corners. It’s important to remember that this skin is flat when you purchase it, and is applied to a round surface. As such it is not possible to get this device to fit on the corners perfectly. There is the slightest of a pinched corner on each corner of the iPhone. This corner can get hung on your pocket if your trying to get your phone out. the first reaction is to be worried that you might pull the skin off accidentally. This is definitely not the case. It’s got to be impossible to take this skin off accidentally.
The one bad thing about the skin is that instead of a nice glass feel that the iPhone has, you are left with a plastic feeling touch screen. It’s very hard to get used to a different touch surface, even after almost a month. I would suggest this skin for someone who just bought a device, or for a device with a plastic screen instead. The touch functionality of the iPhone was not hampered in any way. Everything from typing emails to playing games worked just fine with the skin on the device.
The protection offered is really quite amazing. My iPhone is completely protected now from scratching and chipping. There is an interesting video on the manufacturer’s website showing a Dremel sharpening stone bit being used to deface the XO Skin on an iPhone. The video looked real, and I didn’t exactly what to take a drill to my iPhone, so this test wasn’t performed for this review.
Side – Front
XO Skins iPhone 3Gs Protective Skin
Overall, with a price of about $20 for the full body skin and $12 for the screen-only skin, the price is right for the amount of protection that is offered by the XO Skin. The slick plastic surface takes time to get used to, if you are already accustomed to the iPhone screen, but for a new user it makes it almost invisible and would not be noticeable.
On the flip side, I’d rather have a little bit better fitting back but that may not be possible in a flat skin. Another relevant point is that if you don’t like it, I am doubtful that it would adhere to another phone properly.
The final rating reflects the overall usefulness and value that the XO Skin offers. It handily beats out other rubber or hardshell skins.
Pros: Protects well; Goes on invisible; Doesn’t make screen cloudy; Slick touch surface.
Cons: Not easy to put on the iPhone; Collects pocket lint initially; Non-smooth corners that can get caught on your pockets; Plastic touch screen requires some getting used to.
XO Skins Review, plus Motorola DROID & HTC Hero Protective Skins Giveaway!
The kinds folks over at XO Skins gave us some skins to try out on various models of Android phones and we’ve left 1 over to give away to a loyal reader. The skins are clear protective overlays to cover most of your phones’ surface to protect against nicks and scratches. You can see in this video how well they work. It’s been a couple of weeks since applying the skin on my personal Android phone and must say it really does work. For those who like to stash their phone in their pocket, you won’t have to fear as much about scratches and damage with these skins.
XO Skins are not limited to Androids phones like the DROID, Hero, MyTouch or G1(priced at $15 bucks with free shipping). They offer a wide array of protective covers for devices such as iPhones & iPods, Blackberries, laptops, digital cameras, game consoles, GPS devices, and more.
I’ve used several protective covers for my various iPhones since my first one back in 2007, so I’d say I have quite a bit of experience with them. Last week I was sent one to try out on my iPhone 3GS from XO Skins and I was pleasantly surprised by a few things. Just what exactly you may ask? Read on!.
Figure 2: Very specific directions which is a good thing.
To start off with, the packaging can’t be beat, and while that isn’t always an indicator of quality, you know what they say about first impressions. Inside we find what counts, which is a set of skins (front and back), a small spray bottle of application spray, a small but sturdy squeegee and a set of detailed instructions. Actually the nicest set of directions for one of these products that I’ve seen, with several warnings spread throughout such as “keep the squeegee wet to avoid burn marks” and “let your device set to dry for at least two hours before turning on.” I would prefer to get two sets, as I have with other brands, but these skins are very forgiving so I found that even with my tendency for making mistakes installing these, one skin was all I needed.
Figure 3: One set of skins.
So first off I started with the back skin. I have never been able to get these types of products to really fit all that well along the sides of my iPhone. This was no different. I did try but it is a matter of holding down the corners until they stick and they never quite look right. I tend to believe that this is a problem really with just the shape of the iPhone in general rather than the skin. So I did what I normally do and I trimmed off the sides so that the back skin would just fit up to the curved edge of the iPhone. You might think it would affect the appearance, but they actually look ok, and besides, your iPhone really should be in a case anyway shouldn’t it? If it isn’t, the problem area is usually the back of the iPhone and not the sides, so if you set it down you still would get the protection of the skin. You also get the extra gripping ability with this skin on the back which is an advantage. As far as fit on the back, this actually fit the best of any skin I’ve tried, even before trimming.
Removal was very easy, but this was after only about hour of drying time. I then tried to put it back on and had no problems, but they do caution against it as the skins can stretch and not fit correctly. I don’t think I would do this after much longer than an hour, but since I needed to test it, I took one for the team and took a chance. Yes, I sacrificed my back skin for this review, but after all, aren’t you, dear reader, worth it? But I digress. After removal I tried a little test of my own and only after exerting quite a bit of downward force and the sharp end of some scissors was i able to puncture the skin. You can also watch the video below to see some other examples on how well your screen is protected.
And now for the front skin. One problem I’ve always had in the past with skins for the face of my iPhone has been that they never fit quite right, which eventually will cause the edges to peel up. At this point all you can do is either cut them back or take the skin off altogether since the adhesiveness is gone along the edges. Someone must have told XO Skins about this because, at least for the iPhone 3GS skin I was given, it fit perfectly. The size was just a bit smaller than the actual screen, as you can see from the photo below, so the edges didn’t touch or go over the silver trim on the sides. What this does is keep it from pulling up since it sits flat against the screen. This also helps in the installation of the skin as you have more freedom of movement to get it set in just the right spot.
Figure 5: Just close enough
After the front and back skins were on, I had to make sure that my iPhone covers still fit. I use a thin cover from CoZip most of the time, but I also use the Mophie Juicepack Air so I needed to make sure it fit in both. And it did. The only real concern for the Mophie was thickness of the back skin since the front of the iPhone is exposed and wouldn’t hinder the case attachment. However it was no problem and fit perfectly even with the skin. This has been a problem in the past for me with some of the other protective covers I have used so I was pleasantly surprised that the XO Skin was thin enough to allow me to continue to use my current covers.
I have just a few warnings when installing these types of products. Number one, make sure your hands are clean and you use plenty of the applicator fluid on your finger tips so you don’t leave fingerprints on the underside of the cover. Also, it is best to apply this when you can leave your device sitting for a few hours before turning it on, and when I say few I mean at least two to give it plenty of time to dry.
So what are my thoughts on this skin from XO Skins? I was pleasantly surprised at how it fit and how easy it was to apply. Especially the front skin for the face of the iPhone, they nailed the dimensions so you don’t get the overlap problem that I have had in the past with skins from other companies. And you don’t have to buy a full skin if all you want is screen protection as XO Skins splits it up. For the iPhone 3GS the complete skin is $24.95 USD, or just $14.95 USD for screen only protection. XO Skins makes these skins for a wide variety of phones and computers, so you can pretty much cover any electronic device you have.
Provides: Protection from scratches and scuffs Developer:XO Skins Minimum Requirements: iPhone 3G Price: $24.95 (Full Body) or $14.95 (Screen) Availability: Now
I knew the XO skin was going to be a high quality product before I even opened the box. The packaging alone gave me some good vibes, and I was quite surprised by the contents inside as I opened it. I was expecting a plastic skin and nothing else (as per usual when buying skins), but instead got a few more items I soon found out were for applying and maintaining the skin, which confused me. I figured it would be as simple as putting the skin onto the iPhone, but I was wrong.
The XO skin comes with a very detailed installation instruction sheet (with pictures!) that makes the process of applying the skin quite simple as long as you follow them properly. The included bottle of application spray and squeegee may intimidate you at first, but they actually make the process easier than applying some of the competing products that require you to continually lift and reapply the skin until you get the positioning perfect. It only took me about two minutes to apply the skin to my iPhone 3G.
It is recommended that you wait overnight (12 hours) to let the skin set properly (something which I didn’t realize until after I applied the skin), which can be inconvenient to some. Also, if you do not follow the installation instructions properly, you’re at risk of water damage to your device due to the solution that you must spray on before applying the skin, which would be a pretty big price to pay for not following instructions.
When it comes to quality, XO definitely went all in. This skin has to be one of the sturdiest that I have ever seen or used for the iPhone 3G. Scratching your screen is next to impossible with the skin on, I tried (not too aggressively, obviously) with a set of keys and a screwdriver, and couldn’t produce even the tiniest scratch, which is definitely a very good sign.
All in all, the iPhone 3G skin by XO Skins is definitely worth the slightly expensive price tag if you’re really looking for quality in an iPhone skin.
(4.0 star rating)
Provides: Protection from scratches and scuffs
