NuShield Screen Protectors Review

Tak Wu | Guest Reviews
March 27, 2006

One of the common problems with owning a Handheld PC is to find a proper screen protector. Most products are made for Pocket PCs, which means they are often half the size of what we need. One option is to get a customized protector which can be costly. Fortunately one company, NuShield, offers high quality yet reasonably priced screen protectors in several popular Handheld PC sizes - HP Jornada series, NEC MobilePro series, and the Intermec 6651. I ordered the Intermec-sized protector for use on my SmartBook G138, so let's find out how it fairs.

Packaging

The product came in the mail in a 6" x 9" envelope that has a warning "Do Not Bend!" on it. Inside is the invoice, and the screen protector and installation instructions sealed in a plastic bag. The screen protector itself has a blue film on the underside, making sure that side is perfectly dust-free when you peel it off.

Installation

This screen protector is the hard plastic type that is non-adhesive. The dimensions are slightly taller than the screen and supposedly has the same width. The top and bottom edges are cut with a very slight angle pointing outward in the middle. It slides under the edges of the screen in order to keep it in place. The protector shown here is designed for the Intermec 6651, which has a slightly wider screen than my SmartBook because of the soft icons in the former. Therefore it was a bit trickier on this setup than it should be for the supported models. Despite that, I found the installation easy and stable.

First clean the screen thoroughly and make sure it is dust-free. Then peel the blue film from the protector and put the exposed side onto the screen. Start sliding in one corner and work your way through the rest. As soon as the protector slides into three of the edges, it mounts itself onto the screen. The combination of air pressure and friction between the screen and protector actually keeps it from moving freely. The final step is to use both thumbs to slowly slide the protector to cover the fourth edge. To remove the protector, it is recommended to use a tape to help peel it off the screen. Yes, it is very firmly mounted. And unlike adhesive protectors, you simply cannot trap bubbles between it and the screen, nor will you see any peeling around the edges of the protector.

Performance

So how does it feel after the protector is on? It feels like it isn't there! The protector is the textured anti-glare type. When writing, drawing or dragging, it provides a little bit of that paper-like resistance. Yet it is effortless to slide the stylus, with no feeling of scratching the surface. When tapping, the stylus tip does not skid on the surface at all, allowing precise pointing when required. The surface also feels very hard, with no signs of caving-in no matter how hard you poke at it.

Visually, the texturing diffuses most primary light sources, and completely absorbs any reflected lights. Sorry, this is no mirror at all. Ironically, this is also perfectly flat. There is no micro ripples or any temporary stylus marks. The screen brightness or colour is mostly unaffected. I can slide the protector to expose a small gap and there is almost no visual difference between the protected and unprotected areas. If you look really carefully though, you may find the black gap lines between pixels to appear thinner. The protector has somehow enlarged the pixels ever so slightly. Slide the protector back into position and it covers the whole screen beyond the edges, so there is absolutely no unprotected gap around the edges. Like I said, this looks and feels more like a real screen surface than any protector I have used.

Conclusion

A screen protector designed for Handheld PC models is hard enough to find. NuShield not only offers a solution, but one that is easy to use and performs so well that it can pass as a real screen surface. Highly recommended.

Buying Resources

More information on NuShield Screen Protectors can be found at
http://www.nushield.com/

Ratings

Cost: Usability: Built-in Help: Customer Service: Overall:	Pros: Maintains usability, prolongs screen life Cons: Not available for all devices

Further Discussion