Not too long ago, we reviewed Crimson’s initial foray to the iDevice accessory field, the Aluminum Frame Case. And we must that that they did a great job in that solid accessory. Now Crimson comes back with another offering that will add a greater value to your gadget – particularly to an iPad 2. They’ve produced a line of screen and surface protectors of varying assortments depending on what the user wants their tablet to be. So here is Crimson’s Premium Screen & Surface Protectors for the iPad 2. Will it match up to the quality that their AFC has brought about? Well that’s comparing apples to oranges but nevertheless, we’ll see how it fares in this review.
Features
- Made from the highest quality, multi-layered, Japanese-manufactured film
- The ultimate protection against dust, scratches, oil and dirt for your iPad 2
- Advanced silicone adhesive minimizes bubbles during application and alows for easy removal without residue
- Surface protectors can be cleaned with water and reapplied
- Ooes not affect iPad 2 touch screen responsiveness
- No "rainbow" effect
- Microfiber cleaning cloth included
Unboxing & Presentation
Each surface protector comes in a simple-yet-effetively designed blister cardboard case with the company logo in special print on top. Then for the iPad 2 protectors, the package has an illustration of the tablet in front with a superimposed representation of the surface protector in front. Though these protectors come in different varieties, the said representation of the protectors won’t be reflected in the package. The only difference that consumers can see is the actual text saying what kind of protector is inside. Aside from this, the package is of a typical Crimson product with red borders all over the place.
Opening the package reveals a neatly-made plastic folder-like enclosure sealed by two “crimson” tabs at both sides. Now this is kind of ironic as it shows that they’re really giving protection to their protectors. Well that’s a given since you wouldn’t want to damage it just by handling or putting it out of the package. Opening the enclosure you’ll see the contents, attached via plastics with adhesives at one end and attached to the folder itself. Then conveniently, the instructions on how the protector is placed is inside the enclosure as well, so technically nothing is wasted here.
Contents
Now here’s what you get out of the package. You have the surface protector itself, still attached to its adhesive back covering. Then the instruction sheet as mentioned earlier which gives quite a detailed explanation on how these things are fixed. This is very much appreciated since many of us who use touch screen devices often want to attach a screen protector but is afraid of actually applying it. Primarily because of confusion which has the adhesive and which hasn’t or how to even place it with the not-so-helping directions. Crimson tries to nullify that by giving a clear instruction set on how to place the protectors. Then as a bonus, they’ve also provided a microfiber cleaning cloth for cleaning the surface of the device prior to attaching the protector, as well as to clean the protector itself when placed in the device.
Review
That’s one tough package to open…
Crimson has provided us with three assortments that their iPad 2 protectors come in. There’s Anti-Fingerprint, Anti-Reflection and Anti-Glare. Now the latter two may confuse some as to what their difference it — don’t worry, we’ll explain that in a bit. First, let’s take the material itself. According to the packaging, the surface protectors are actually made of 4 layers of materials. At the top is the Hard Coat based on what finish the protector is, then a layer of PET 100μ follows, then the Silicon adhesive and finally, a layer of PET liner. Now that might be some babble speak for some, but at the bottomline, do we feel that it’s composed of 4 layers? Yes and No. Yes because whatever the finish is, the device underneath is well protected as as far as 2 weeks of usage goes, there’s not much to no scratches that are seen in these protectors. No because the film is thin enough to be non-obstructive and it doesn’t affect the responsiveness of the touch screen, given that it’s capacitive.
Onto the specifics – first, the Anti-Fingerprint variant. If there’s one thing that most people hate when having touch screen devices, is having fingerprints all over the place. Now that introduces nasty looking fingermarks, as well as this oily feeling when trying to touch or swipe the screen of the device. This is where the anti-fingerprint variant comes in. Though not really totally impervious to prints, it definitely lessens it than without a protector. And while the film is made for such purpose, it still helps that one should clean the surface once in a while since as said, it’s not totally fingerprint-free – but heck it works.
Then we have the anti-glare and anti-reflective variants. Now, we’ll tackle these two at once since many will probably have some confusion on how these two differ. Glare causes the screen of a device to be unreadable due to light hitting it. When hitting under direct sunlight, you’ll notice that you can’t see what’s on the screen and you have a washed out display. Now this is where the Anti-Glare variant helps. It allows the screen to be still readable despite being under heavy light. And while it doesn’t totally remove the effect of glare, it helps a lot in making your tablet readable. The Anti-Reflective variant works more generally, in a sense, than the Anti-Glare one since for the former, it alleviates the mirror effect that these touch screens can introduce due to their nature of construction. So if your one of those who sometimes use their iPads as mirrors, then you better not get this one.
For the other aspects of the protector, installation is pretty straight forward. Now like other protectors, you should have a clean and dust-free surface prior to installation. However, Crimson takes a step further by having their surface protectors washable. Yes, if you want to clean your protector prior to reapplication (again, yes – it is reapplicable) then just use water to clean it and you’re ready to go. Granted that this is a tricky thing to do, we still appreciate that Crimson gives the option to have protectors that can be applied again just after cleaning.
Now the only minor gripe we have on these protectors is that what if we’d like our iPads to be both anti-fingerprint as well as anti glare? Now putting two protectors isn’t really much of an option so it would be nice if there’s a more general surface protector that will cover more ground in terms of the variants they have. But all in all, we understand why Crimson went this path in terms of their protectors.
Final Thoughts
Overall, these protectors do what they’re supposed to – no questions about that – and they have little bonuses to complement that. Crimson also puts out a few variants to choose from, which is another plus. The only thing left to ask at this point is – is it worth the price? Now Crimson retails these protectors from $23.95 to $26.95. Some might find it expensive protectors, some might not. But at the end of the day, if you want to protect the screens of your iPads with the additional benefits provided by the features that each variant of these protectors have, then it all worth it. For more information regarding Crimson and their products head onto their website at crimsoncase.com.
