The BodyGuardz protection for iPhone offers what is becomming a very viable option in device protection. Not only can you protect your device now, but you can use it in its inteded form without the added bulk of a full case. If you are not yet sure what I am referring too then you are in for a treat. Bodyguards appears to be a plastic and/or vinyl material that you apply to your device and once in place acts as though it was meant to be there.
The installation of the BodyGuardz protection on the iPhone 3GS went fairly well. This would be the third brand of similar product in which has been applied to our test iPhones. After reading the included instructions I washed my hands and proceeded to make sure that the iPhone was thoroughly clean. For those who don’t know, you apply the Body Guardz wet with their provided solution. You then proceed to squeegee out the remaining liquid to remove air bubbles and form a seal. After the patience testing, but worthwhile application process I was left with few if any air bubbles and a decent end result. The company recommends waiting 24 hours from application prior to use of the device. Twenty-four hours later the end result was somewhat satisfying.
As mentioned before I have use three different products of similar application technique and material. Out of the different competitors (Zagg and Best Skins Ever), the BodyGuardz offered the best overall covering of the iPhone. That said, the BodyGuardz is also the most rigid and difficult to apply in my experience. The part covering the screen has no air bubbles, but the back hd a few air bubbles left and in the parts where I had squeeged out the air during application, the material had stretched and left a stretched look to the material. The vinyl itself also has a few built-in wrinkles. The areas with wrinkles have no air bubbles, but just a slight orange peel effect to them.
Despite the downsides of the product, the BodyGuardz offers the strongest material I have seen yet as compared with other brands. The covering looks decent, but is most satisfying on the touch screen where other products leave a tachy feeling and make the different multi-touch gestures more difficult. With BodyGuardz you get a smooth and responsive touch screen that feels very close to the bare glass on the iPhone itself. The protection offered by BodyGuardz is unmatched except by a case that has actual thick rubber drop protection. When you want to keep the small size of the iPhone as the designer intended I have seen no better protective solution. The best part is, BodyGuardz includes 2 seperate kits with the one purchase. You can use this if you damage your old covering, put it on a second iPhone or give it to a friend.
