Review: Power support iPhone4S screen protector

Courtesy: Mobilefun.co.uk

If you have not heard of Power Support and their screen protectors, that means two things: (1) you're probably like a lot of other people that don't know about them, and (2) you aren't aware of what are (IMHO) the best iOS screen protectors on the market!

Power Support provide screen protectors for quite a range of devices, and crucially, for the iPhone 4 and 4S. I say crucially, because the 4/4S have glass front AND back panels to them, and this opens up a whole set of scenarios for scratches and related damage!

I've tried a number of screen protectors, and the key things for a good one, are in my view:

• simple install
• doesn't leave residue everywhere on removal
• tough material that is hard to damage 
• doesn't impede visibility of screen
• doesn't interfere with touch sensitivity

I should note at this stage that Power Support provide two different versions of the screen protector - anti-glare, and crystal (for clarity) - I had the crystal version since I wanted to maintain as much visual aesthetic from the amazing iPhone screen as possible.

Regarding the ease of install, there are no screen protectors I've used that are hassle-free to install - and the Power Support protectors are no exception - the biggest issue being with the method that the protector uses to stick to the screen. Unlike a lot of other protectors out there which use adhesive, Power Support use some kind of anti-static backing - and therefore attracts dust out of the air in a big way!

However, it is possible to mitigate the grief by using the right install process:

• grab a credit card and have it handy
• use a screen cleaner on both the iPhone AND the screen protector (whilst still on its backing) - make sure all the dust is gone
• take the screen protector in hand, and peel off the backing - but only a small part of it, at the top or bottom (depending where you are starting)
• mount the small piece of exposed screen protector on to the iPhone, ensuring you have it straight, and keeping the backing folded underneath
• as you slowly peel the backing off and mount the protector, push the credit card along, on top of the protector, squeezing out the air
• once mounted, use the credit card to squeeze out any surface bubbles

Now here's the cool part - because there's no adhesive in play, you can easily lift up the protector by attaching some Sellotape to the protector on a corner, and just peeling it back. Use another piece of tape to remove the dust underneath the protector. I appreciate all this this might sound quite complex, but it's the secret to a good install. 

Now you've got the protector installed, you'll see just how great quality it is - there's no obvious screen quality loss, and the surface is nice to touch also. More importantly, you'll have a material on your screen that is very hard to damage sufficiently that the screen below will also be damaged. This isn't to say of course that the protector can't get scratched (because it can), but in that case, your screen is still okay, and you can always replace the protector.

So in summary, the Power Support iPhone 4S protector is a great solution - its a bit of a pain to install (but so are all screen protectors), and it's not the cheapest (around £20), but for that money you will get something that doesn't affect your usage of the iPhone, and will stop scratches and light dings to the screen - highly recommended!

RATED: 9/10 

iPhone 4S screen protector

Disclosure: the screen protector was provided to me for review purposes by Mobilefun.co.uk (many thanks to Laura for this!) - check out their site for pretty much most iPhone accessories you could ever want!