Apple Thoughts: XO Skins for iPhone 4

I've used XO Skins since the iPhone 3G came out. In fact that XO Skin is still on that iPhone (my son uses it now) still providing protection. I've also got one on my recently retired 3GS, so I was happy to see they came out with a version for the iPhone 4. If you aren't familiar, XO Skins are a thin layer of polyurethane that provides protection to a wide variety of electronic devices, such as phones, laptops, GPS devices and much more. XO Skins makes the skins device specific, and pretty much covers any electronic device out there. Don't believe me? Well head on over to their product page and see for yourself. For the iPhone 4, they offer two types of protection: front screen only for $11.96 USD and front and back screens with side protection for $19.96 USD

Figure 1: What comes in the package.

I was sent the front and back screen protection package to test out, which also included the side protection. The side protection consists of several strips of the same protective skin (in the above photo they surround the front screen protection on the right side), cut to cover the band around the iPhone 4. I'm sure you are all well aware of the problems that were reported with the antenna. If you are having that issue, you can install these side protection strips and they may just fix it since they cover the metal band surrounding the iPhone 4. If you don't like them, I suppose you can always go back to the duct tape, but these skins are much more attractive. Personally, I haven't had the issue so I didn't use them.

Figure 2: Edge of protection.

The thing I like about XO Skins is that they don't go all the way to the edge, they stop just short. What this prevents is the flipping up of the edge of the skin as the phone is used in day to day operation. I've found that on the protective skins by some other companies, they run the skin to the very edge of the device, which allows it to be rubbed up and peel back from the device. It also makes it harder to get the skin installed since you have less margin for error. The install for the XO Skins was very easy and only took a few minutes. And don't be alarmed if you see some foggy areas on your screens, after about 24 hours it goes away. As far as clarity and touch response, and I didn't find any reduction in either.