Brando WorkShop Ultra Clear Screen Protector for 5G iPods

I bought the Brando Workshop Ultra Clear Screen protector for my iPod last week. Thought I’d do a little review of it, perhaps it will be helpful to some of you looking for a little extra scratch protection. So I bought it from Brando Workshop. Total came to $12 USD, there was free shipping for it. I bought it last Wednesday and it came today, so it took a little over a week (from Hong Kong to Ontario, Canada).

I chose this one because I read excellent reviews for their PDA protecters, so I figured this would be a good way to go. And since I really don’t want to use the water application that the InvisibleShield requires, it was down to this or Martin Fields Overlays which I also heard good things about. Since Brando and Martin Fields had similar products but Martin Fields came to about $15.98 USD and Brando was just $12 USD, I thought I’d save a couple bucks since I’m just using this to protect the iPod from scratches.

It has 3 pieces: the front, back and button. It comes in pretty nice packaging. The films have 2 “backings”, one of which is tinted. I was stupid and didn’t read the instructions on the stickers that were sticking out and didn’t realize I should remove one clear backing and then put it on, THEN remove the tinted backing. Ergh.

Installation was pretty easy. Dust wasn’t really an issue, as long as you do the scotch tape method (as shown on the Martin Fields site). If you’re stupid like me and removed BOTH backings at the same time, it becomes a wee bit hard to tell which side is the adhering side. So I by accident applied it on the wrong side and I was like, “why are there so many freaking air bubbles???!” and then I guess I eventually flipped it around… so everything applied nicely.

  You can barely tell it’s there (but don’t mind all the finger prints on there).

 The back shield is similar to Martin Fields in that it just covers the non-curved part of the iPod. This is alright I guess, but if you really want all around wrapping, I think the InvisibleShield is the only option (which also will set you back $25 USD).

   Yeah, I might re-do the back side. But most of the ickiness you see on there is due to fingerprints on the thing, I’ll have to wipe it off later.

    With the screen on, you can honestly hardly tell it’s there. There’s no weird rainbow pixelation effect or any distortion of any kind, nor is there a weird texture like with the InvisibleShield. There’s also no “unsticking edges” like I heard about on some of the Martin Fields threads on iLounge. All in all, it’s a really good product. I’d recommend it — especially if you want the Martin Fields Overlays look but for a few bucks cheaper. And if you read all the instructions, unlike me, you’d probably have a much easier installation process!

Brando WorkShop Ultra Clear Screen Protector for iPod 5G – $12 USD
Brando WorkShop Ultra Clear Screen Protector for iPod nano- $10 USD