Review: TruePower Inc's ThinSkin for iPhone 4
If you own an iPhone 4, chances are you are either using a case of some sort to protect your precious phone or you're using a bumper. Me? I prefer mine naked...well, maybe not entirely naked but i'd say with an underwear on. Like Superman.
While it is a risk for me to go "commando" with the iPhone 4, i felt with my last 3GS i actually spent so much time making sure it's well taken care of and it'll always be in a hard case so in the event of it being dropped, the phone will still look good as new. After a year of being careful with my phone, i eventually sold it off (for a pretty good price too, mind you!) and upgraded to this. And the cycle continues. After getting myself this, the first thing i did was to jump right into getting all sort of accessories to protect this phone.
But barely after a week of getting this phone, i find using any case with the iPhone 4 kills the hard work Apple has put into designing the phone. It's like working out so hard in the gym to get yourself the six pack you've always wanted only to end up wearing baggy loose shirt every single day. So for the first time ever, i've decided to use the phone as it is. Of course, a few days into taking that leap of faith with my phone, i ended up dropping it on concrete...
Another interesting thing about being an iPhone owner is you'll tend to keep an eye out for accessories regardless of how many thousand of cases you have sitting at home. At least i have that sort of habit. Before i decided to go 'commando' on my phone, i was looking for all sort of accessories and tried avoiding getting the usual bulky cases. Since there wasn't any concept of using bumpers for the 3GS, i was more keen on trying it out with the iPhone 4 but unfortunately, there wasn't many that caught my attention mainly due to how much it bulks out the stainless steel section of the phone and the colors were either too typical or not too attractive.
Then i accidentally stumble upon TruePower Inc's ThinSkin.
Upon the first glance i thought it was some sort of professional paint job for the iPhone 4's stainless steel band but after clicking around a bit, i realized it's actually a 'skin'. To be honest, i was a bit skeptical as the precision as advertised looks too good to be true since i've tried a few 'skins' for my 3GS and my iPod but another part of me was tempted to give it a go because you gotta admit, it sure does looks good. So after contemplating for about a few hours looking at more ugly cases and bumpers, i ended up placing my order from their website and hoped my iPhone is going to look just as good as the advertisements.
When my ThinSkin finally arrived, i wasted no time in putting it on and boy oh boy, it was such a pain. The material used for this was so fragile that if you stretched it just by a little force, you'll lose the precision the skin on your phone. After fiddling for almost half an hour trying to get it on, i gave up and threw it away. At least this one came with a set of two just in case shit happened to your first try like what happened to me, you can still give it another go with the second piece. But i wasn't ready to take the risk. What if i mess up again and wasted USD$20? I felt cheated. I felt like i could have easily went to a stationary shop, buy myself USD$20 worth of Sellotape and wrap my whole phone in a red 'skin'.
So i decided to email the company and vent out my frustration. I complained about the quality and the fragility of their product and wanted a refund. Now, normally i wouldn't be too anal about getting a refund especially if the stuff i buy can be use even if it breaks after a few days of using it. At least there's the satisfaction of using it for a short while but in this case, i only went as far as trying to put it on. After sending the complain letter, i was prepared to get either a normal money sucking corporate respond by saying they sympathize with us but can't do anything about it or worst, a no reply at all.
Within a few hours, i got an email from one of the staffs with this reply.
I'm glad you emailed us. I was just reading your post and trying to find your email address.
I appreciate the feedback on both sides, good and "bad" because feedback helps us improve the product. There are hundreds of films we could use for ThinSkins all with pros and cons. The thinest sexiest films are the hardest to apply but look and feel the best. The thicker films are more resistant to stretching and make application much easier but by the time you get them on the phone they look and FEEL cheap and horrible! So what to do?
We are launching a new film at MacWorld which is thicker and easier to apply, more durable and hopefully not "too" thick. To be clear the result we are trying to achieve is to make it look like the color ThinSkin you chose was literally painted on.
That being said we have the new red coming in a few weeks and I would appreciate the opportunity for you to try ThinSkins again. We are committed to building the best product we possibly can. We pour over the smallest user experience details during our R&D and we use the most premium films we can find to create the best user experience we possibly can.
The new films we will be using are made in Germany and were specifically designed for Mercedes. I think you are going to like them.
To what address can I send your ThinSkins to? Would you like to try a second color for free? If so, please name it.
Thanks again for the feedback. It really makes a difference.
TR
I was confused. Just like a young boy getting his first wet dream confused. Corporate people aren't supposed to be nice and friendly. They're supposed to be money sucking and nasty. Seeing that he was offering a free replacement and on top of it with a friendly reply, i decided to give it a go. Despite that, i still felt rather disappointed with the overall product and gave them an honest 2 stars review on Amazon. Few weeks later, i got an email from the company again.
We want to thank you your purchase of ThinSkins in Cardinal Red!!!
That being said, we would also like to apologize to you. You see, the first rev of Cardinal Red ThinSkins were horrible. Fragile, too thin, hard to put on, etc. All bad.
That being said we would like to offer you a FREE replacement for your rev 1.0 Cardinal Red ThinSkin with rev 2.0 ThinSkin. Interested? Just email us back to let us know you even care and we will send you a really great rev that we are really proud of.
Thanks!
Without hesitation, i decided to give ThinSkin another try since this one it's a replacement and the best part is it's free. I replied and told them i was interested and again, the same person, TR who replied my original email wrote back again and said he'll dispatch the new one immediately.
And now my iPhone 4 looks cooler than yours. The new rev 2.0 upgrade of the ThinSkin is definitely way much more better than how the first one was. Application of the skin took me about ten minutes and this time, it's not as fragile as the rev 1.0 version.
I honestly cannot get over how gorgeous my phone looks now just by having that simple dash of red right around the phone. Did i mention that the precision of the skin around the iPhone 4 stainless steel band is almost 100%? (I don't wanna say it's exactly precise cause you and i both know that's just bullshit...might as well use a paint to paint it over!)
Well since they've literally won me back with their new upgrade that promised to be better, i decided the only decent thing i can do is to give them another revised honest review of their new product. On another note, I wouldn't put too much hope on the protection part of this product because i'm sure if i drop this phone with the skin on, it is definitely going to leave a mark. But let's be reasonable here since it is after all, still a piece of sticker like material. But in terms of cool factor, this is definitely something you wouldn't want to miss if you want to pimp your phone to make it look unique without covering the elegant design of the iPhone 4.
 |
| Yes, i like to exaggerate. :) |
 |
| Although this time, i find most accessories for the iPhone 4 not too appealing as compared to accessories for the iPhone 3GS. |
But barely after a week of getting this phone, i find using any case with the iPhone 4 kills the hard work Apple has put into designing the phone. It's like working out so hard in the gym to get yourself the six pack you've always wanted only to end up wearing baggy loose shirt every single day. So for the first time ever, i've decided to use the phone as it is. Of course, a few days into taking that leap of faith with my phone, i ended up dropping it on concrete...
Another interesting thing about being an iPhone owner is you'll tend to keep an eye out for accessories regardless of how many thousand of cases you have sitting at home. At least i have that sort of habit. Before i decided to go 'commando' on my phone, i was looking for all sort of accessories and tried avoiding getting the usual bulky cases. Since there wasn't any concept of using bumpers for the 3GS, i was more keen on trying it out with the iPhone 4 but unfortunately, there wasn't many that caught my attention mainly due to how much it bulks out the stainless steel section of the phone and the colors were either too typical or not too attractive.
Then i accidentally stumble upon TruePower Inc's ThinSkin.
Upon the first glance i thought it was some sort of professional paint job for the iPhone 4's stainless steel band but after clicking around a bit, i realized it's actually a 'skin'. To be honest, i was a bit skeptical as the precision as advertised looks too good to be true since i've tried a few 'skins' for my 3GS and my iPod but another part of me was tempted to give it a go because you gotta admit, it sure does looks good. So after contemplating for about a few hours looking at more ugly cases and bumpers, i ended up placing my order from their website and hoped my iPhone is going to look just as good as the advertisements.
When my ThinSkin finally arrived, i wasted no time in putting it on and boy oh boy, it was such a pain. The material used for this was so fragile that if you stretched it just by a little force, you'll lose the precision the skin on your phone. After fiddling for almost half an hour trying to get it on, i gave up and threw it away. At least this one came with a set of two just in case shit happened to your first try like what happened to me, you can still give it another go with the second piece. But i wasn't ready to take the risk. What if i mess up again and wasted USD$20? I felt cheated. I felt like i could have easily went to a stationary shop, buy myself USD$20 worth of Sellotape and wrap my whole phone in a red 'skin'.
So i decided to email the company and vent out my frustration. I complained about the quality and the fragility of their product and wanted a refund. Now, normally i wouldn't be too anal about getting a refund especially if the stuff i buy can be use even if it breaks after a few days of using it. At least there's the satisfaction of using it for a short while but in this case, i only went as far as trying to put it on. After sending the complain letter, i was prepared to get either a normal money sucking corporate respond by saying they sympathize with us but can't do anything about it or worst, a no reply at all.
Within a few hours, i got an email from one of the staffs with this reply.
I'm glad you emailed us. I was just reading your post and trying to find your email address.
I appreciate the feedback on both sides, good and "bad" because feedback helps us improve the product. There are hundreds of films we could use for ThinSkins all with pros and cons. The thinest sexiest films are the hardest to apply but look and feel the best. The thicker films are more resistant to stretching and make application much easier but by the time you get them on the phone they look and FEEL cheap and horrible! So what to do?
We are launching a new film at MacWorld which is thicker and easier to apply, more durable and hopefully not "too" thick. To be clear the result we are trying to achieve is to make it look like the color ThinSkin you chose was literally painted on.
That being said we have the new red coming in a few weeks and I would appreciate the opportunity for you to try ThinSkins again. We are committed to building the best product we possibly can. We pour over the smallest user experience details during our R&D and we use the most premium films we can find to create the best user experience we possibly can.
The new films we will be using are made in Germany and were specifically designed for Mercedes. I think you are going to like them.
To what address can I send your ThinSkins to? Would you like to try a second color for free? If so, please name it.
Thanks again for the feedback. It really makes a difference.
TR
I was confused. Just like a young boy getting his first wet dream confused. Corporate people aren't supposed to be nice and friendly. They're supposed to be money sucking and nasty. Seeing that he was offering a free replacement and on top of it with a friendly reply, i decided to give it a go. Despite that, i still felt rather disappointed with the overall product and gave them an honest 2 stars review on Amazon. Few weeks later, i got an email from the company again.
We want to thank you your purchase of ThinSkins in Cardinal Red!!!
That being said, we would also like to apologize to you. You see, the first rev of Cardinal Red ThinSkins were horrible. Fragile, too thin, hard to put on, etc. All bad.
That being said we would like to offer you a FREE replacement for your rev 1.0 Cardinal Red ThinSkin with rev 2.0 ThinSkin. Interested? Just email us back to let us know you even care and we will send you a really great rev that we are really proud of.
Thanks!
Without hesitation, i decided to give ThinSkin another try since this one it's a replacement and the best part is it's free. I replied and told them i was interested and again, the same person, TR who replied my original email wrote back again and said he'll dispatch the new one immediately.
 |
| The new rev 2.0 ThinSkin by TruePower Inc. |
And now my iPhone 4 looks cooler than yours. The new rev 2.0 upgrade of the ThinSkin is definitely way much more better than how the first one was. Application of the skin took me about ten minutes and this time, it's not as fragile as the rev 1.0 version.
I honestly cannot get over how gorgeous my phone looks now just by having that simple dash of red right around the phone. Did i mention that the precision of the skin around the iPhone 4 stainless steel band is almost 100%? (I don't wanna say it's exactly precise cause you and i both know that's just bullshit...might as well use a paint to paint it over!)
Well since they've literally won me back with their new upgrade that promised to be better, i decided the only decent thing i can do is to give them another revised honest review of their new product. On another note, I wouldn't put too much hope on the protection part of this product because i'm sure if i drop this phone with the skin on, it is definitely going to leave a mark. But let's be reasonable here since it is after all, still a piece of sticker like material. But in terms of cool factor, this is definitely something you wouldn't want to miss if you want to pimp your phone to make it look unique without covering the elegant design of the iPhone 4.
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