In the weeks leading up to SDCC I received hundreds of press releases, most of which I ignored. One that caught my eye was from GelaSkins; announcing that they have custom skins for electronic devices, including many Marvel designs. Since the iPad is an essential piece of AwesomeToyBlog.com gear, I sent off a note to the fine folks at GelaSkins and they provided me with 3 designs to try out. Now with the convention coverage wrapped up, I’ve skinned my iPad and wanted to share my opinions. Check them out after the jump.
The good: There’s quite a few “goods” to talk about with the GelaSkins skin I tried out but I’ve narrowed it down to 3 key items.
1. There’s a huge number of designs. The website says there’s over 1000 designs for over 100 devices. As I was going through the designs I saw dozens that I liked, I didn’t have any problems and I didn’t have to settle for something that was ok. In then end I put “Finders Keepers” on my iPad with “NYC Spidey” queued up for when I want something fresh. I shared the design “Mod” with sometimes AwesomeToyBlog.com photographer ShutterMike. And if there’s not a design that you like, you have the option to use your own photographs and design your own. I didn’t try that, so I can’t comment on how it works or what the requirements are.
2. Application of the skin was easy. The skin definitely is sticky, but it is easy enough to move and reapply if you put it on a little crooked the first time. Which is what I did (as I said in my AT-AT review, I’m horrible with stickers), but it proved to be no issue as I could peel it back and reapply.
3. The skin gives the device a nice non-slippery feeling and allows me to have a better grip on the device. It makes me feel a little less worried that I’m going to fumble and drop my iPad to the ground.
The not so good: There’s only one thing that I was a little disappointed in; the skin doesn’t cover the screen of the device. It would have been nice if it could have served as a screen protector. Fortunately I already had a screen protector on my iPad, so I applied the skin directly on my existing protector. I’m not sure if this will cause me some issue when I remove the skin (namely my screen protector coming off with it); but with screen protectors being 3 for $2 on ebay, that’s not a huge concern…but it would have been nice if the GelaSkin could have covered the display / touch screen as well.
Summary: All in all, I’m really happy with my iPad skin from GelaSkins and I think its a great product. It would have been great had it incorporated a screen protector for the touchscreen; but not having that isn’t a big deal. The skins do run around $30 for a device the size of the iPad. You can check out their website at GelaSkins.com.
