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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

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Screen Protector Shootout: Clarivue Clear

- Rob Bushway

Truc Bui continues his fantastic Screen Protector Shootout Series, this time focusing on Clarivue Clear screen protectors. Video below, followed by the text review:




Clarivue Clear

- Truc Bui

I must apologize to the GBM community for the delay in pushing this review out. Things have been quite crazy for me at work and crazier at home with self destructing computers and a chipped tooth. Things are almost back to normal now and I should push out the final two reviews soon. Thank you for your patience and I hope I can have just a little more of it. The end of the shootout is near and a winner will be declared shortly thereafter.

Summary:

Pros:
• Great fitment on custom cut piece. Easy to install and is reusable.
• Very good smudge resistance. Best of the clear protectors so far.
• Very smooth writing feel for those who like little to no resistance for inking. Good at resisting scratches.

Cons:
• Smudge resistance is a trade-off for absolute scratch protection. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty resilient but gets slightly edged out by Photodon.
• Price is $30 shipped worldwide. Good for those international buyers, almost pricey for us locals.
• Writing feel is too smooth for my tastes. Even with the felt tip, the screen protector was a little too “slippery” for me.


For Round 6 of the epic battle of screen protectors, I take a close look at the Clarivue Clear screen protector. The bar has been set very high by the Photodon protectors and I am anxious to see if the remaining protectors can come close.

Initial Impressions:

Clarivue custom cut me a 12” widescreen protector that fits the T2010 to a tee. The screen protector feels very thick and durable. I think it might be one of the thickest protectors tested to date. Hopefully with its thickness comes scratch resistance, especially considering Clarivue’s reputation for durability in the PDA and PPC market. Priced at $30 shipped worldwide, the Clarivue is relatively affordable.

Installation:

Since this screen protector has a silicone resin adhesive layer, installation was a snap with a broad width applicator. Once one edge was lined up, the rest of the process was simple. This could definitely be due to having installed quite a few protectors to date. If you mess it up the first time, don’t worry too much. The silicone resin is washable or lint-roller-able to remove whatever debris got stuck on the screen to try the installation process again.

Preservation of Luminosity:

My personal preference, and hence my search for the ultimate screen protector, is to preserve the brightness and crispness of the Fujitsu native screen. It’s something you have to see to believe. I think in the T2010 vs. 2710p inkshow shows how much brighter the LED screen from Fujitsu is compared to the industry standard. The Clarivue screen protector is crystal clear, which preserves the brightness and crispness of the Fujitsu screen. Under certain lighting conditions with the screen off, rainbow moiré patterns can be seen but disappears with the screen on. The moiré does not affect viewability at all under any lighting. It’s just there when the screen is completely off.

Writing Feel:

Writing feel on the Clarivue is a matter of personal preference. Since recently making the transition from pen on paper to pen on screen, I really appreciate a little bit of feedback or resistance during my inking. If you like the smooth as glass writing feel, this screen protector is for you. The smoothness is consistent and even across the protector. You’ll definitely feel a difference in smoothness if the screen protector gets smudged by your palm or fingertips. Once the smudging evens out, the difference is not discernable. Even with the slight decrease in smoothness due to three days’ worth of inking, it was still far more slippery than the Photodon.

Outdoor Viewability:

Viewability outdoors was great. Due to less smudging, the outdoor viewing experience was better than the Photodon. Once both screen protectors were wiped down, they were on par. In direct sunlight with a freshly wiped screen, the Clarivue matched the Photodon in every respect for outdoor viewability.

Screen Protector Removal:

Nothing special here, just pry a corner up and remove. The silicone resin does not leave any sticky residue and does not affect the native screen at all. All screen protectors, regardless of being AG or AR should have this technology. The best thing about the silicone resin adhesive is that it is washable so you can reapply or even reuse the screen protector.

Conclusion:

Getting tested after the Photodon lineup allowed me to do a head-to-head direct comparison between the two clear screen protector contenders. It turns out that the Clarivue offered a very different set of strengths to the Photodon. Clarivue’s protector was great at fingerprint and palm print rejection, especially compared to the smudge magnet that was the Photodon. However, the Photodon proved to be better at scratch resistance than the Clarivue. Clarivue offers a very smooth writing experience. The Photodon gave me some resistance, which is something I prefer. It’s completely personal preference on this one. For $30 shipped worldwide, the Clarivue offers strong competition to the Photodon line. Where Photodon stumbles a tad, Clarivue excels, and vice versa. It all comes down to personal preference and that extra $12 burning a hole in your pocket. You can’t go wrong with either one.

Come back for Round 7 where I look at Strong Engineering’s screen protector.


Accessories | Screen Protectors | User InkReviews


7/1/2008 8:16 AM MST  

Screen Protector Shootout: Clarivue Clear     Comments [3]  |  Digg This |  del.icio.us |  Citations 
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 1:21:14 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
I agree completely with your review on the Boxwave Crystal, hope you do one on the Invisible Shield which I also just removed from my UMPC. I like the thought of protecting my devices but not at the expense of usability. Maybe at the end of the reviews I may try another myself.

Thanks for your work
Mike
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 1:28:01 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
Funny you should ask. I'm about to finish up on the InvisibleShield. I have it on my T-Mo Wing and love it for its durability. I'm not going to spoil the review prematurely, but I'm going to have to agree wholeheartedly about the usability aspect of it. I'm in the midst of editing the Strong Engineering right now and will get that InvisibleShield one out as soon as possible.
tonka
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 8:47:34 PM (Mountain Daylight Time, UTC-06:00)
i have the invisibleshield on my x61t, and i absolutely hate it.
using the eraser basically made the protector unusable, as it left really bad skid marks (friction must be the cause) all over the screen.
not cool, and this is my 3rd screen too
dave s.
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