When it comes to protection of a beloved iDevice, there are many choices of protective skins or cases. We review a lot of both here at iSource – and they run the continuum from innovative to dud. Today’s review is the Aurora skin by Clear-Coat.

Like the aurora borealis, the Aurora skin is a multi-colored, eye-catching attention grabber. One of my sons exclaimed how “cool!” it looked when he first saw it on my iPhone 4S.

Application

As with most wet application skins, the kit comes with a five* piece Aurora skin set for the iPhone’s front, back, and sides; a sprayer filled with an application solution; and an extra-convenient rubber wedge to squeegee the liquid and air bubbles from beneath the skin.

After turning your device off, cleaning it to remove lint, and debris, the steps for applying the screen protector is fairly common.

1. Wet your fingers with the provided liquid application solution (and keep them wet while handling the skin)
2. Lightly spray the solution to the adhesive side of the skin and lay the Clear-Coat skin, ensuring an accurate alignment
3. Use the rubber wedge to squeegee the liquid and air outward from the center

In the past, my experiences with applying skins have varied and I have often struggled, particularly given the flexibility of the thin plastic sheets. Applying Clear-Coat’s Aurora skin was the easiest wet application I’ve ever had! I am guessing the rigidity of the metallic-looking made the stiffer skin much easier to handle.

While kits from other manufacturers usually provide a plastic, credit card sized, squeegee, I think key in the success of completing the application is the included wedge. It made the application easy with nary an air bubble to chase out.

The Effect

What makes the Aurora skin stunning is its lustrous, chameleon-like color variations when seen from different angles. It is sharp and reflective. Indeed it may be too reflective. Conceivably I could use my device to reflect light – handy in an apocalyptic world to signal an impending zombie attack to my military colleagues across the canyon. Seriously though, when I lay the phone down on the nightstand, the 25W bulb in the lamp reflects an orange rectangle on the ceiling. And while the orange-yellow metallic effect on the back and sides of my iPhone 4S is striking in appearance, having the same bright reflective surface overlaying the front screen is a drawback (even in fluorescent interior office lighting).

 

Fortunately, the folks at Clear-Coat seem to have anticipated that the front cover may not be the bling that everyone wants on their phone’s front, and supply a second, free clear front cover! Score!

Overall experience

If you want your iPhone to be noticed, than the Aurora is for you. The futuristic, metallic finish shines. Like a shiny new car, though, the reflective surface seems to beg to be clean: smudges and fingerprints are obvious.

The protective skin is advertised as 0.006 inches thick and it doesn’t interfere with slipping it into a battery case I usually use. That’s a definite plus. And the Aurora also comes with a Lifetime Warranty from Clear-Coat: for as long as you own your device, they’ll replace a damaged protective cover for free. Hey, you can’t go wrong with a single purchase for permanent protection.

Interested in one of your own?

If you think the Aurora protective skin would be great to cover you iPhone (4, 4S, or 5) and you’re willing to put your name in the ring, keep an eye out for an upcoming promotion to give away of several Clear-Coat Aurora skins! Soon you could be the owner of an Aurora lifetime protective cover for you iPhone!

On the other hand, if you can’t wait, Aurora by Clear-Coat is available here for $34.99

Aurora was provided by Clear-Coat for review on iSource. See our About page for policies on reviews.

 

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TAGS: giveaway contest, iphone cover, iphone protection, iphone skin, skin