I've used screen protection on my phone but I really think it is overkill, unless your phone spends lots of time in your pocket with your keys and spare change. As well, they are difficult to install and can sometimes interfere with the usage experience, especially if you're using a stylus (as with the Note 2).
Some people think that screen protectors, which are small pieces of plastic, keeps your screen from being shattered from face-down drops. Generally, that's not the case, although there are several screen protectors that are marketing just that (such as the Amzer ShatterProof screen protector).
Here's a good link of a group of people discussing general protectors vs. shatter-proof protectors. I homed in on this, specifically:
a good screen protector will hold your glass in place after its shattered, but wont stop it from shattering.Now, I've used a protector twice in the past but I've never kept them on for more than a few days. As well, I've NEVER had any of my phones' or PDAs' screens being scratched, but then again:
most screen protectors do not cover the whole screen, they leave the edges exposed. when you drop your phone, its 90% likely to land on a corner first, so you'd need to reinforce the corners to minimise vibrations and the resultant damage in the case of a drop.
- I never put my phones in my pockets with keys or change (I never put phones in my pockets if pockets are empty, either).
- I always use a belt holster.
- I do not put my phones face down on any surfaces.
I've shattered screens before (with and without protectors). I don't believe in YouTube videos testing this aspect of phones, because I don't think most people on YouTube are qualified enough to proficiently test/measure this aspect of phones. I've seen quite a bit of people thinking that general screen protectors will prevent shattering in face-down drops. No. Just like with any other glass, a plastic covering will only prevent the glass from flinging everywhere. Just because you see it on the internet doesn't mean it's true.
I'm now going to show some back-and-forth arguments on this topic, from a reference (it may be better to go to the actual link, because the blogger.com keeps altering my formatting):
Originally Posted by ice456789
You are exactly right. I work in the auto industry, the film is an anti-shatter device. Just keeps the glass from spraying the driver and passenger in the event the glass breaks. The glass the auto industry uses is something else though. It is extremely hard to break. We've had to bust driver side windows out with ball-peen hammers its extremely hard to do, dont even try windshields. The object has got to be sharp for a quick puncture. Auto glass is extremely resilient. The downside is it scratches very very easy.When it comes down to it, its all just physics. Just like working with steel. Higher Rockwell Hardness means its moredurable and scratch resistant, but becomes more brittle. I dont believe there is a wonder glass the does the best of all. Just gotta pick whats right for you.
So take this for what it's worth, but I called my father who's a mechanical engineer for Ford. I asked him what material they use in windshields to prevent them from crumbling during a shatter/crack, he said "it's similar to the films you would use on your phone or tablet."
I didn't even tell him why I was asking about it, he just threw that at me.
As I said, I think you'd be surprised if there were tests done to show how much a "thin piece of plastic" helps absorbing an impact.
There's also a bit of a difference between absorbing a bullet and absorbing a fall to a hard surface from 3-5'' feet, your analogy is flawed.
The fact remains you have no proof proving that it doesn't help, while it's common knowledge that plastics are often used to absorb impact, whether they are thin or thick.
Last interesting post in that thread:
I think I just had a brain aneurysm reading the responses about screen protectors providing shatter protection to the screen. Unless you are using a screen protector that's a couple millimeters thick, you won't be getting any appreciable amount of energy dissipation within the screen protector on impact. These things are maybe 100 micrometers at best in thickness. I don't care what it's made of, its not saving your screen.
Now here's a good screen protector. It seems similar to the Amzer ShatterProof. People have to realize that these are not general screen protectors. These protectors are designed with high ballistics in mind (high in the sense of objects or phones being thrown/dropped or purposely damaged). Just because several screen savers are exceedingly capable in protecting screens doesn't mean they all have the same capability. They aren't created equally.
Last reference post on this topic:
In order for a screen protector to prevent a crack, it would have to be designed so that it would distribute the pressure across the screen. With screen protectors like IS and PhantomSkinz, etc, this is not possible. These protectors aren't designed to distribute pressure, but instead to prevent scratches to the screen. Now if he was using a hard plastic cover on his screen then that would be a different story, as the thickness of such item would aid the resonant forces outward instead of inward. If you are using a thin screen protector, it wouldn't have the capacity to handle the forces, therefore the resonant forces concentrate at the sight of impact, creating a fracture for the force to escape.
References:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=964454 - iPhone-specific
