A few months ago, I reviewed the GLAS.t for iPhone 4S. At the time, I believed it to be the best screen protector for iPhone. Fast forward to this date, and I still have yet to see a better alternative to protect the screen of your iPhone.
If the iPhone has changed since my original GLAS.t review, something that hasn’t changed is the quality and reliability of the screen protector. The folks at Spigen SGP are pretty smart. They know I love their products so they sent me a GLAS.t for iPhone 5 for review. Spoiler alert: it’s 99% positive…
Before I get going, and for those of you who have never heard about the GLAS.t, it’s a screen protector for the iPhone made of tempered glass. At 0.4 mm, it’s noticeably thicker than your average screen protector. The advantage of glass though is that you don’t have this awkward sensation every time you touch your screen. As a matter of fact, you don’t even notice the screen protector. It just feels like it’s not there.
The Installation
There’s always a tricky part when installing a screen protector for iPhone. Depending on what type you buy, you might have to spray some liquid on it, or be very careful not to ruin the screen protector by applying it wrong. Although it doesn’t require any watery solution to set it up, the GLAS.t is no different than most screen protectors. If you mess up the install, your second chance will be a very slim one.
However, to be fair to the GLAS.t, it has a strong advantage over its competitors. Because it is 0.4 mm thick, it is sturdy and doesn’t bend or fold in your hand. This alone makes it a much easier screen protector to install than anything I’ve used before.
But just like most screen protectors out there, you only have one chance to get it right. In my experience installing GLAS.ts on several devices, I have found it to be the easiest to handle, and the installation on my iPhone 5 was no different. I believe it took me more time cleaning up my screen and making sure it was perfect than it did to actually install the GLAS.t. This is how easy it is. Again, your experience may vary.
The Good
As I explained above, the main benefit to using the GLAS.t is that it is made of actual glass. It looks, feels, and reacts just like your iPhone screen. Once installed, and assuming you installed it right, I can guarantee that you will not see the difference, and after a few minutes, you will probably forget it’s here.
To me, this is the most important part of a screen protector: it has to feel like it’s not there. I’ve tried my fair share of screen protectors in the past, and have yet to find one that feels as natural as the GLAS.t. Those plasticky screen protectors definitely aren’t cutting it for me.
The Bad
Unfortunately, everything about the GLAS.t isn’t perfect.
Because it’s 0.4 mm thick and made of glass, the GLAS.t adds a little bulk to your iPhone. It’s not much and you can barely feel it, but it’s there. I don’t use cases, but because it adds a bit of thickness to the device, I assume some cases might not work properly with the GLAS.t. Hard cases are probably a no go, while cases made of softer materials seem to work out fine from my experience with a couple cases I had on hand. According to Spigen SGP, all their cases work fine with the GLAS.t.
The other downside of the GLAS.t is that it adds a little weight to your device. Remember, it’s made of glass, which is heavier than plastic. Because the iPhone 5 is about 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S, the added weight doesn’t strike me as much as it did on my iPhone 4S. And again, I feel like it’s just a matter of time until you forget all about it.
Conclusion
Just like I did with the GLAS.t for iPhone 4S, I can only recommend the GLAS.t for iPhone 5. From my experience, it is the best screen protector out there. I obviously haven’t tried every screen protector, but I have used and tested dozens of them. The GLAS.t is without a doubt my number one choice and recommendation.
It sure adds a little thickness and weight to your device, but, probably just like I did, you will forget about those details within a short period of time of actual use of the screen protector. Besides, the quality, look, and feel of the GLAS.t surpass these minor drawbacks.
You can get the GLAS.t for iPhone from Amazon, starting at $7.99.