[DO NOT BUY REVIEW] Tempered Glass for Galaxy S9/S9+, Note 8, S8/S8+!

For those of you thinking about buying a tempered glass protector for your Samsung Galaxy curved-screen phone like the Galaxy S9, S9 Plus, Note 8, S8, or S8 Plus, you may want to know a few things before getting one.  Now, many of tempered glass being sold on Amazon (or retail stores) currently are pretty much the same, just branded differently.   Since my last DO NOT BUY REVIEW on tempered glass for Galaxy S7 Edge, tempered glass have evolved and they are very, very easy to install these days.  Most of these new tempered glass come with an installation kit that allows you to easily install them within minutes.

Once installed, the screen looks beautiful, no bubbles and it does not affect the display until you have any glare.  The problem with these new tempered glass is that the glare is about 2 times worse.  If you use your phone outdoors often, you will see anything that reflects off the screen magnified twice as you can see in the below photo.

(Left is without tempered glass and right is with tempered glass.  You can see the light reflection has almost doubled!)

Now, touchscreen and touch sensitivity works quite well compared to many of previous generation tempered glass.   But when it comes to typing, that is where you will find it much harder.  Typing on Gorilla Glass 5 is very natural and fluid while typing on tempered glass feels like typing on plastic.  If you have ever used a budget Android device with a cheap non-glass surface, that’s what it feels like.   As a daily typing warrior, using tempered glass and tweeting back to my friends online became nearly impossible as I would miss at least one letter in a sentence.   And yes, I have enabled extra sensitivity setting on my Galaxy S9+.  Even then, tempered glass is simply not there.

But, if you absolutely need to use your phone naked and you tend to drop your phone and crack the screen often, tempered glass may be your best bet so long as you don’t mind the glare and the fact that you may have to apply extra pressure when typing.   I do still recommend it if that’s the case.  Also, there are other more expensive Dome Glass tempered glass protectors that uses LOCA glue to truly get your touchscreen working well.  Now, those also have problems with installation as you will actually have to install with LOCA glue, which isn’t exactly beginner-friendly.  That could be the best alternative at this point, I am going to try it out and see if it is a viable solution.  For right now, I think sticking with a good, thick case and a screen protector could be much simpler/cost-effective solution.