INTRODUCTION
Personalization of mobile devices is a big business.
Consumers spend hundreds of millions of dollars a
year on things like cases, ringtones, ringback
tones, screensavers and device skins. It seems that
everyone wants to play in the personalization game.
Skinit.com provides thousands of unique skins for
hundreds of mobile devices. Recently, I received a
Skinit.com skin for my Treo 700w. Considering that I
usually keep my Treo in my pocket "naked," I was
very interested to see whether or not this skin
provided a little protection and personalization to
my Treo. How did it fare? Read on to find out!
WHAT’S
HOT
Skinit.com boasts some pretty impressive features for their
skins:
- Perfect fit
skins developed to fit the unique contours of
each device - 3M Scotchprint Graphics
materials to provide durability, exceptional
image quality and easy removal - High-quality
print using digital printing technology - Fights
everyday scratches, scuffs and scrapes - Thousands of
popular licensed properties including sports
teams, colleges, television and film - Upload your
own photo and turn it into a skin
SETUP
First up, you need to order your skin
from the Skinit.com website.
(all images link
to high-resolution versions)
The
Skinit.com home page is clean, fresh-looking and
easy to use. I began my order by clicking the
"Devices" link at the top of the page.
From here you can
choose the category of device you would like to
order a skin for. Skinit.com offers skins for
everything from mobile phones to entire laptops…
even some Bluetooth headsets can be skinned.
After navigating to
Phones > PalmOne the list of Treos which can
currently be skinned is shown. So far, the Treo 700
is the latest model to be supported.
Next, it is time to
choose the skin’s design. Here you can see some of
the many categories available.
I decided to go
with the "Entertainment" category. There a lot of
licenses characters including Disney, Looney Tunes
and The Simpsons to name just a few.
As a huge "Family
Guy" fan, when I saw that there were "Family Guy"
skins available, there was no doubt what kind of
skin I would order. Notice that the website
remembers which device you chose earlier.
I decided that
Stewie would make a good skin for my Treo. When you
select the skin, the site shows you the price and a
graphic of what the skin will look like before you
install it on the device.
The shopping cart
is pretty self-explanatory. NOTE: in the "APPLY
DISCOUNT CODE" field, type in "pocketnow" for a
special 20% discount we arranged for our readers!
After you decide on a
form of payment, you get to wait a few days until
the skin is mailed to you. Shipping is included in
the price of the skin, which is very nice. I always
hate finding something online and then getting to
the checkout page only to find that the shipping
costs are unreasonable.
I was able to speak
with Skinit.com representatives while at the CTIA
show in March. Interestingly, the first time a
specific design is ordered for a specific device,
Skinit.com has a graphic artist who performs a
layout unique to that combination. They then have
that combination stored and available for future
orders that others may place.
PRODUCT FEATURES
My skin arrived via USPS in about 7
business days. The skin comes packaged in a
cardboard envelope to protect it from damage and
bending.
The
skin arrives on a
backing. Each seam and section of the device is
pre-cut including the buttons and doors.
Now it is time to apply the
skin. To be honest, I really hate applying screen
protectors to my devices… I find most of them to
be a pain to apply. I was expecting a similar
experience with the skin. To my surprise, the skin
was pretty darn easy to apply. It peels off of the
backing easily, it is thick enough not to tear and
it can be peeled off and re-applied with little
effort. The only minor annoyance was poking out the
holes for each button on the keyboard, but that is
certainly not the fault of Skinit.com. Application
took me a total of 3-5 minutes.
Here is the skin (1
piece) applied to the front of the Treo. The
cut-outs are well-aligned for all the buttons and
the screen.
Here
is the skin (6 pieces) applied to the back of the
Treo. The same design is on the front and back, but
the placement of the graphic is different.
Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of
the skin for the price. It feels well made and the
quality of the graphics is truly excellent. Over a
couple of weeks of use, the skin proved pretty
resilient to everyday wear and tear. A small area on
the back near the stylus port began to peel off a
bit, but it is not something you would really notice
unless you were looking for it.
I would have
preferred that the skin also come with pieces for
the sides, top and bottom of the device. Only the
front and the back are covered. A lot of the
scratches on my device are around the bottom and top
corners and these areas are not covered with the
skin. I can see that some people would not want the
sides covered because it may make the device
slippery, but I would still prefer as much to be
covered as possible.
That being
said, for those like me who keep the device "naked"
in their pocket, these skins provide the thinnest
protection I have seen to date. Even a silicone skin
adds quite a bit of bulk to the device and those
types of skins also collect lint like a magnet. The
Skinit.com skins are very thin, yet durable. They
also do not attract lint. These skins do not reduce
the need for a good screen protector, though.
Taking the skin off
is even easier than attaching it. Simply peel it off
from any corner and it comes right off. No muss, no
fuss. Skinit.com estimates the life of a skin to be
6 months or so depending on use. To me, that is a
fair deal… besides, after a few months you will
probably want to try a different skin!
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HELP SUPPORT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
PROS CONS
OVERALL
I really cannot imagine any
need for help or support for either the Skinit.com
website or the skin itself. Even so, you an always
contact Skinit.com for help if you need it. They
also offer a comprehensive help section on their
website.
The only requirement
is that you have a mobile device that Skinit.com currently supports.
This is easy to find on their site by clicking the "Devices" link at the
top of the page. Some newer devices are not supported yet, but their
list of devices is always being updated.
BUGS AND WISHES
The only wish that I have is that there were skins
for the sides, top and bottom of the device.
to see some kind of option to protect the screen of
the devices. Perhaps this could be an add-on.
PURCHASING
Skins for most small mobile devices (phones, iPods,
etc.) are $14.99 including shipping. Skins for
larger devices such as laptops vary depending on the
model.
discount code, "pocketnow" at checkout to receive a
special 20% discount.
mobile devices
licensed properties and designs
top or bottom protection
Value
Ease
of Use 
Features
Overall
IMPRESSION
Not everyone is going to be interested in
this type of product but Skinit.com has so many
different designs that just about anyone could find
one that they would like. Furthermore, you can
always upload your own photo if you can't find a
design on their site that you like. Personalization
aside, the skins offer a decent amount of protection
from everyday wear and tear. No, they aren't going
to protect the device from a drop, but if you
normally carry your device "naked" you probably are
not too worried about that anyway. Overall, I really
liked these skins and would encourage people to give
them a try.
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