[Device Reviews and Information] euroclie:
Hi all,

I just received a glass screen protector ordered a couple of days ago, and would like to provide feedback here with a little review in case other users are interested in that type of accessory.

The glass protector I ordered is the one from the Ulefone website:

http://ulefone.com/products/power/glass-protector.html

You can also find it in many (chinese) online stores at various prices.

TLDR: maybe not the best investment I made to protect my Ulefone Power...

The glass screen protector is well protected in a thin metallic sliding case, and the case itself was wrapped in a large quantity of bubble wrap for shipping, so it arrived in perfect conditions in my mailbox approximately 10 days after ordering it online.

I've quite a long experience of screen protector installation (PDA & smartphones), so I used my usual method (in the bathroom after a long, hot shower to saturate the air with humidity and avoir dust), but I still had to lift the protector once to remove a rogue dust grain with the included adhesive (nice addition), and that was very easy. All in all, painless installation.

The result? Well, a bit disappointing to be honest but let's start with the bright side:

1) The protector's build quality seems good.

The edges are really smooth, the protector is ultra-clear, even though probably a bit more reflective than the naked screen.

2) Robust protection.

Having already used that kind of glass protectors, I know for a fact that it does provide a huge additional resistance to puncturing shocks. Here I have no doubt that the glass is sturdy enough to play its protecting role - but I didn't want to put it to the test, so it's only a feeling! Also note that it's not intended to protect your phone from bullet or sword attacks! ;)

3) The protector doesn't affect the digitizer.

I used the phone for half a day already, and haven't once witnessed an erratic screen digitizer behavior, the phone respond to touches and swipes as if there was no glass protector at all.

Now that the bright side is covered (pun intended), let's look at the dark one:

1) Main issue: the glass protector seems too small, at least to my taste.

On my last phone (Yotaphone 2), I also ordered a glass screen protector, and the gap between the screen edge (or more acurately the phone's front edge) and the protector was approximately 1 mm on every side. For those not familiar with glass screen protectors, know that a slightly smaller glass protector makes sure that the protector will not stick out on the sides of the phone and gather dust or be lifted up after installation, so 1 mm is rather good, it looks as if there's a tiny bezel around the screen, and since the protector's edges are usually smooth, it makes for a nice touch as well.

Here, though, the gap between the glass protector and the device's edge (*) is roughly 2.5 mm (between 2 and 3 mm, in fact depending which side you look at, and varying also according to your skill to center the glass protector perfectly or not). This is really much more noticeable, and I don't like much the resulting look. This dimension issue is a bit strange as it's not a scalability issue, since the cutout for the camera/speaker on the top of the screen is correctly shaped and sized.

(*) Note that on the Ulefone Power, you guys know that there's a black border all around the LCD, covering the area between the LCD edge and the phone's edge. This glass protector's width is exactly the same as the LCD, so at least all the touchscreen area is under the protector. It would have been much worse if the protector was smaller than the LCD, because you would sometimes have to start or stop a swipe/touch gesture outside of the protected area, and with the protector's depth the gesture wouldn't be so smooth/pleasant.

2) Second issue: Moderate sticking along the glass protector's edges.

This one is purely cosmetic: I don't think that the glass protector will peel out and fall, nor should dust get under it on the edges, but even though the center of the protector becomes invisible once installed after pressing the glass on the phone's LCD, the edges are somehow not so well "glued" to the phone, and there's a very thin layer of air between the phone and the protector. Visually speaking, that's an irregular 1 or 2 mm lighter area all around the protector's edge, especially visible on the black border or LCD when the phone is switched off. If you add this to the first issue, that means that the very edges of the screen (uncovered by the protector) are "normal", then you've got two milimeters on both sides that are lighter than the rest of the screen, then the inside part of the area covered by the protector looks normal again (if a tiny bit washed-out nonetheless).

This issue is probably going to evolve more or less over time, I'll update this review after a while. The problem might actually disappear (this has happened to me, as the protector may need a bit of time to settle) or on the opposite get worse... Only time will tell!

Here's a raw picture of the screen with the protector, you can see mostly the second issue (borders of the protector not sticking completely to the phone) but also the protector size issue:

Below are two pictures (top and bottom of the screen), with heavy lighting setting modification to "enhance" the visibility of the "screen protector size" issue, and you can also spot the "borders not adhering to the phone" issue.

3) Minor issue: Anti-blue light protection.

I didn't notice this before stepping outside in bright light: one of this glass protector selling point is its capacity to absorb blue light emited by the LCD to protect our eyes. I'm not sure how efficient this protection is, and there's no immediate noticeable effect, but as soon as I got outside it caused another issue: the screen looks "bluish", even when switched off. I mean, the first time I grabbed my phone I thought that the LCD screen was switched on and that the device was crashed with a perfectly blank BSOD. Then I pressed the power button and was happy to see that the phone was working normally, but the screen just had a strong bluish tone.

Here's a picture with the screen off, left part is an indoor shot, right part is outdoor (rainy weather, no direct sunshine). No color alteration, only cut & paste here:

And a last one, with the phone switched on and the screen at about 25% brightness:

I'm sorry I can't post a picture of the screen outside without the screen protector for comparison, I don't want to remove the glass protector yet, until I find a replacement from another brand.

Hope this will give you more info to chose the right screen protector for you!

PS: Anyone here familiar enough with XDA forum to know who we have to convince to get a full-feature Ulefone subsection? This thread is handy to gather stuff in the same place, but it'll soon be difficult to find something amongst so many pages!