deep3lue
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- Jan 3, 2007
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Disclaimer: Both the Glas.tR and the Glass Guard were purchased by me. Although HugU promised to sponsor me the Glass Guards for review, they are currently out of stock. Once the coloured Glass Guards (Black and white) are in and provided by HugU for me to review, I will update this review accordingly then. Oh and if you wonder why I always choose big resolution photos for my reviews, it's because I want people who are keen in the product to have a better look before buying it through my photos. Hope you guys don't mind!
Pointers:
Glas.tR:
Pros
- Surface hardness is 8-9H
- Rounded borders
- At $59.90 recommended retail price (RRP), it's cheaper than Glass Guard
- More accessories provided in the box
Cons
- At 0.55mm (according to the box) it's much thicker than Glass Guard but after discussing with FlushX, we both agree that it's around 0.4mm instead.
- Heavier than Glass Guard
Glass Guard:
Pros
- '9 times stronger' than normal glass (9H?)
- At 0.3mm, it's much thinner than Glas.tR
- Much lighter than Glas.tR
Cons
- At $69.90 RRP, it's more expensive than Glas.tR
- Basic accessories provided compared to Glas.tR
When I first compared the Glexible against the Glas.t, I wasn't aware that HugU was going to release their Glass Guard model for iPhone 5. In that review, Glexible seemingly beat the Glas.t in terms of it's thinness and weight, and possibly even in the oleophobic and finger print prevention department but not the price. A week later or so, Spigen released their updated version of the Glas.t called the Glas.tR which featured a much welcomed improvement to their popular glass screen protector. Spigen or SGP for short, rounded off the edges in bid to prevent their glass screen protector from shattering after a drop to the floor. Here's a bit of fact for those who are isn't aware: tempered glass are very strong on the surface but weak at the corners/edges. So by rounding off the edges, SGP is hoping that this version of the Glas.tR will bring better fortunes to it's owners.
Likewise when I heard that HugU was releasing their Glass Guard version for the iPhone 5, I was very excited to get both of the updated glass screen protectors partly because I was very impressed with the Glexible and at the same time I felt that the Glexible against the Glas.t wasn't a fair fight. You see, the feature of Glexible is that although it had glass-like properties, it's more like a flexible screen protector rather than a solid glass. So this time round, I feel that by comparing these two off-the-shelf readily available glass screen protectors will make a better and sound 'fight'.
The package for SGP's Glas.tR is identical to their Glas.t for iPhone 5 just that now it's has orange-coloured highlights instead of blue with the words 'GLAStR'. The HugU's Glass Guard likewise comes in a rectangular box like the Glexible but with golden highlights and the wordings 'Glass Guard'.
In their respective boxes as shown above, it is clearly seen that the SGP's Glas.tR package contains much more valuable accessories than compared to HugU's Glass Guard: There is an alcohol swipe provided, three more epoxy home buttons (one pink, one yellow, two whites and two blacks) compared to HugU's (one white, one black and one red). Both packages come with a squeegee each, microfibre cloths (HugU's one is much bigger than SGP here) but HugU's package came with two tabs of dust removers which the Glas.tR's package doesn't. However one thing I found hilarious was that the manual that came with in the Glass Guard package was meant for the iPhone 4/4S! So if you decide to read the manual and wonders why you are missing a rear piece, fret not. Thus in terms of value, SGP's Glas.tR is better.
The two glass protectors are identical in shape but they are not identical in thickness and weight. You can see that evidently, the Glass Guard is indeed much thinner than Glas.tR in the below photo. I wish I had a microgram weighing scale to show you how heavier the Glas.tR is but unfortunately I don't so somehow you have to trust my words on that.
From the above photo, can you tell which white iPhone has the Glas.tR installed? If you can't, it's the one on the left. I initially wanted to use two black iPhones instead of the whites ones to demonstrate that the Glas.tR has a much prominent visual footprint than the Glass Guard but unfortunately I wasn't able to get to my sister's black iPhone in time. However I think even without using the black, I think if you were to look closely, you can tell which one is having the Glas.tR by looking at the home button area. Due to it's weight and rounded edges, you will definitely be able to identify in person. Here's another closed up photo comparing the their thickness shown below:
I thought through very hard to think what are some ways to compare against the two other than their physical qualities because in terms of oleophobic and anti-fingerprint qualities, they both do not differ much. If you really want a glass screen protector that doesn't reflect smudges that much, you ought to choose Glexible but other than that, both of them have similar smoothness feel as well. So, I decided to take both glass screen protectors, and compare their clarity level in pitch darkness. I set my phone's brightness to 100% because frankly, I can't tell at which point of the bar is exactly 50%, and I turned off the Auto-Brightness settings to endure fair comparison. As my phone has the Glass Guard installed, I took photos of it first. In the below two photos you can tell which is which by the difference in timing (I know it's hard to tell which screen is truly which in pitch black darkness so you really have to trust me on this). I took 5 mins to remove my Glass Guard and install the Glas.tR altogether:
So what do you think? In my honest opinion based on the two photo comparison, I felt that the Glas.tR is a little over glaring to my liking.
In terms of quality, both the Glas.tR and the Glass Guard glass screen protectors does it's job very well. Both have similar oleophobic and anti-finger print qualities, and both have the same level of smoothness. The only major question you have to ask yourself is whether you think the Glass Guard at $69.90 RRP is worth your money even though it has lesser accessories in the package. Like I mentioned a few paragraphs before, the weakness of the glass protector is the edges so personally if you want the best that your money can buy, go get the Glass Guard. As the world's thinnest glass screen protector, the slim profile of the Glass Guard edges will have a higher chance of preventing the it from shattering if you accidentally dropped your phone as compared to the Glas.tR. Now I am saying that based on knowledge, and not through evidence because obviously I do not have the luxury of having two spare iPhone 5s with the two glass protectors installed for me to do drop tests. I sincerely think that the higher price is due to it's thinness, as the manufacturing process may not be easy.
However if you feel that it is crazy to fork out $69.90 for a glass screen protector, you will be glad that Glas.tR will be a worthy alternative. Although it's heavier and thicker, the Glas.tR's rounded edges will be much more comfortable especially at the home button area when compared to the previous Glas.t model but in terms of recess level, obviously the Glass Guard will feel slightly much more 'natural' when you go without the epoxy home buttons installed.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will try to answer you to the best of my knowledge.
Pointers:
Glas.tR:
Pros
- Surface hardness is 8-9H
- Rounded borders
- At $59.90 recommended retail price (RRP), it's cheaper than Glass Guard
- More accessories provided in the box
Cons
- At 0.55mm (according to the box) it's much thicker than Glass Guard but after discussing with FlushX, we both agree that it's around 0.4mm instead.
- Heavier than Glass Guard
Glass Guard:
Pros
- '9 times stronger' than normal glass (9H?)
- At 0.3mm, it's much thinner than Glas.tR
- Much lighter than Glas.tR
Cons
- At $69.90 RRP, it's more expensive than Glas.tR
- Basic accessories provided compared to Glas.tR
Introduction
When I first compared the Glexible against the Glas.t, I wasn't aware that HugU was going to release their Glass Guard model for iPhone 5. In that review, Glexible seemingly beat the Glas.t in terms of it's thinness and weight, and possibly even in the oleophobic and finger print prevention department but not the price. A week later or so, Spigen released their updated version of the Glas.t called the Glas.tR which featured a much welcomed improvement to their popular glass screen protector. Spigen or SGP for short, rounded off the edges in bid to prevent their glass screen protector from shattering after a drop to the floor. Here's a bit of fact for those who are isn't aware: tempered glass are very strong on the surface but weak at the corners/edges. So by rounding off the edges, SGP is hoping that this version of the Glas.tR will bring better fortunes to it's owners.
Likewise when I heard that HugU was releasing their Glass Guard version for the iPhone 5, I was very excited to get both of the updated glass screen protectors partly because I was very impressed with the Glexible and at the same time I felt that the Glexible against the Glas.t wasn't a fair fight. You see, the feature of Glexible is that although it had glass-like properties, it's more like a flexible screen protector rather than a solid glass. So this time round, I feel that by comparing these two off-the-shelf readily available glass screen protectors will make a better and sound 'fight'.
Package
The package for SGP's Glas.tR is identical to their Glas.t for iPhone 5 just that now it's has orange-coloured highlights instead of blue with the words 'GLAStR'. The HugU's Glass Guard likewise comes in a rectangular box like the Glexible but with golden highlights and the wordings 'Glass Guard'.
In their respective boxes as shown above, it is clearly seen that the SGP's Glas.tR package contains much more valuable accessories than compared to HugU's Glass Guard: There is an alcohol swipe provided, three more epoxy home buttons (one pink, one yellow, two whites and two blacks) compared to HugU's (one white, one black and one red). Both packages come with a squeegee each, microfibre cloths (HugU's one is much bigger than SGP here) but HugU's package came with two tabs of dust removers which the Glas.tR's package doesn't. However one thing I found hilarious was that the manual that came with in the Glass Guard package was meant for the iPhone 4/4S! So if you decide to read the manual and wonders why you are missing a rear piece, fret not. Thus in terms of value, SGP's Glas.tR is better.
The two glass protectors are identical in shape but they are not identical in thickness and weight. You can see that evidently, the Glass Guard is indeed much thinner than Glas.tR in the below photo. I wish I had a microgram weighing scale to show you how heavier the Glas.tR is but unfortunately I don't so somehow you have to trust my words on that.
Looks
From the above photo, can you tell which white iPhone has the Glas.tR installed? If you can't, it's the one on the left. I initially wanted to use two black iPhones instead of the whites ones to demonstrate that the Glas.tR has a much prominent visual footprint than the Glass Guard but unfortunately I wasn't able to get to my sister's black iPhone in time. However I think even without using the black, I think if you were to look closely, you can tell which one is having the Glas.tR by looking at the home button area. Due to it's weight and rounded edges, you will definitely be able to identify in person. Here's another closed up photo comparing the their thickness shown below:
I thought through very hard to think what are some ways to compare against the two other than their physical qualities because in terms of oleophobic and anti-fingerprint qualities, they both do not differ much. If you really want a glass screen protector that doesn't reflect smudges that much, you ought to choose Glexible but other than that, both of them have similar smoothness feel as well. So, I decided to take both glass screen protectors, and compare their clarity level in pitch darkness. I set my phone's brightness to 100% because frankly, I can't tell at which point of the bar is exactly 50%, and I turned off the Auto-Brightness settings to endure fair comparison. As my phone has the Glass Guard installed, I took photos of it first. In the below two photos you can tell which is which by the difference in timing (I know it's hard to tell which screen is truly which in pitch black darkness so you really have to trust me on this). I took 5 mins to remove my Glass Guard and install the Glas.tR altogether:
So what do you think? In my honest opinion based on the two photo comparison, I felt that the Glas.tR is a little over glaring to my liking.
Thoughts
In terms of quality, both the Glas.tR and the Glass Guard glass screen protectors does it's job very well. Both have similar oleophobic and anti-finger print qualities, and both have the same level of smoothness. The only major question you have to ask yourself is whether you think the Glass Guard at $69.90 RRP is worth your money even though it has lesser accessories in the package. Like I mentioned a few paragraphs before, the weakness of the glass protector is the edges so personally if you want the best that your money can buy, go get the Glass Guard. As the world's thinnest glass screen protector, the slim profile of the Glass Guard edges will have a higher chance of preventing the it from shattering if you accidentally dropped your phone as compared to the Glas.tR. Now I am saying that based on knowledge, and not through evidence because obviously I do not have the luxury of having two spare iPhone 5s with the two glass protectors installed for me to do drop tests. I sincerely think that the higher price is due to it's thinness, as the manufacturing process may not be easy.
However if you feel that it is crazy to fork out $69.90 for a glass screen protector, you will be glad that Glas.tR will be a worthy alternative. Although it's heavier and thicker, the Glas.tR's rounded edges will be much more comfortable especially at the home button area when compared to the previous Glas.t model but in terms of recess level, obviously the Glass Guard will feel slightly much more 'natural' when you go without the epoxy home buttons installed.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will try to answer you to the best of my knowledge.
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