iLounge

Company: JAVOedge

Website: www.JAVOedge.com

Model: JAVOScreen

Price: $5.95

Compatible: iPod 3G

JAVOEdge JavoScreen 3G Screen Protector

By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Category: Stickers, Guards and Film - iPod

The Good: A thin-profile, anti-reflective screen protector that serves its purpose.

The Bad: Price is too high relative to competing options, but then, those options either are thicker or require use of scissors to fit the iPod’s screen.

Occasionally we receive an iPod accessory that we aren’t sure whether or not to formally review, and we received two such accessories recently from JAVOedge, maker of attractive PDA accessories. The first was a very simplistic sheathe-like leather case called iPod Leather Case - Design 1, while the other was an even simpler thin plastic screen protector for the iPod called the JAVOScreen. Ironically, we wound up really liking the less elaborate of the two products, and were less impressed by the other one.

At $5.95, JAVOedge’s thin iPod screen protector JAVOScreen competes with hand-cut screen protectors and ####’s well-known $3.50 iShades. Though the price of JAVOScreen is on the high side relative to the iShades, which are multi-colored transparent rubber screen guards we have previously really liked, we did find that JAVOedge’s product offered a nice alternative: it’s hair-thin, non-reflective and barely visible while still affording nice anti-scratch protection for the iPod’s screen.

You peel off a protective backing from the JAVOScreen before application, and stick it to the iPod, where it fits neatly on and slightly around the screen. While the company sells the protectors individually or in almost astonishingly expensive $15.00+ three-packs, a single JAVOScreen can be re-used for a considerable number of re-applications: they stick well to the iPod and yet don’t leave adhesive residue behind. Small air bubbles were hard to avoid in initial application, but relatively easy to work out by gently rubbing the protector.

Owners of the iPod mini should also note that JAVOedge makes JAVOScreens that fit minis - for the same $5.95 price per protector. Like its bigger brother, the mini version of the JAVOScreen seems a bit pricey until you evaluate other options, which frankly are just too few in number at the present time.

As a final point, JAVOedge apparently now offers a free cleaning cloth with every JAVOScreen to offset the cost, but we didn’t receive one for testing or evaluation. We’ll look forward to reading reader comments regarding the quality and utility of this cloth, assuming anyone has received one.