Trü Protection has spent several years as a somewhat ambiguous brand. Founded as a separate company by the U.S.-based family of leading Japanese screen film producer Power Support, which historically made the best anti-glare iPhone film available, Trü became more active as Power Support’s American arm went quiet over the last year. Now, Trü has become the latest film maker to incorporate an easy alignment kit into its packaging with the release of the Trü-Fit Anti-Glare Film Set ($20). Currently available only for the iPhone 5, the kit includes a pair of the company’s anti-glare films — notably a bit different from the ones we saw last year — as well as a cleaning cloth and two dust-removing stickers.
Trü-Fit arrives in a 4-inch wide, 7.75-inch tall cardboard box; it’s about a quarter of an inch thick, compared to the flat envelopes we’re used to seeing. You tear a perforated tab across the top to open the box, which unfolds into a cross shape.
On the left of the main panel are the installation instructions, below there’s a list of the contents, and to the right, there’s a pocket holding the film and accessories. Right in the center is an iPhone-sized plastic frame that serves as the film’s applicator.
The installation process is pretty straightforward. After you’ve thoroughly cleaned the screen of your iPhone, you’re supposed to remove the backing from one of the two adhesive strips—they’re labeled 1 and 2, and you’re supposed to use them in order—and then align the film along the edge of the tray. If the edge were just a bit taller, it’d be easier to get the film in place right away, but with just a little effort you can align it properly, and the tape will hold it in place. Don’t rely on the dotted-lines that are supposed to mirror the holes in the film, though, as they don’t quite line up. Next, you peel away the plastic protecting the film’s adhesive, press the phone face down against it, and remove the iPhone.
In our multiple tests, we saw only a few air bubbles, and they were very easily removed. We achieved near-perfect alignment between the film and iPhone 5’s face.
Retina displays on iPods, iPhones, and iPads have forced good companies to reformulate their anti-glare films. It’s important that the film doesn’t diffuse light in the wrong way, as that can create a prismatic effect. That rainbow-like, pixel-level distortion is most noticeable on white and other light-colored images on the screen, and can be quite annoying. Trü-Fit is among the best of the films we’ve tested in terms of minimizing this effect. Although the package lists China as the country of origin, it looks and feels like higher-quality Korean or Japanese film.
