iPhone rubber fingers not a hoax, inventor insists
Latex slip-ons to protect your display
Exclusive Register Hardware can confirm that it's possible to prevent smudging your iPhone’s display by rolling what looks like a black latex condom onto your finger - aka the weirdest iPhone accessory ever seen: the Phone Finger.
The product’s maker claims the Phone Finger will “prevent smudges and fingerprints” on your iPhone or iPod Touch. However, we were unsure if the latex surface would interfere with the iPhone’s touch screen technology.
A promotional video where a girl has her iPhone stolen whilst using her Phone Finger also made us question the product's legitimacy.
No video? You'll need to download Flash Player from www.adobe.com
However, rather than sit and snipe, we contacted the brains behind the Phone Finger, Philipp Zumtobel. He wasn’t keen to give us any specific sales figures, but claimed that, despite the business having only been up and running for a few weeks, it’s already “receiving many orders”.
And that video? According to Zumtobel, it was shot for fun because he didn’t want to do “just a normal boring presentation video” and so decided to make it “a little different”.
We got some sent in for testing, and in due course a multi-pack arrived. Each Phone Finger is essentially a miniature tight rubber sleeve that rolls up over your finger and, despite the presence of some questionable ribbed sections, fits snugly onto any digit.
It didn’t interfere with our iPhone’s operation and kept smudge marks off the device's screen. However, because zooming in requires the use of two fingers, you’ll need to put a second Phone Finger onto your thumb to ensure 100 per cent fingerprint prevention. Its tightness could make you finger a little numb with prolonged use, we found.
Phone Fingers are available now in a range of sizes and in bags of 25 pieces for €7 (£4/$9).
COMMENTS
I sense........
A great resentment towards the spirit of free enterprise here.
Regardless of where similar devices are used and regardless of how few shekels per million they cost elsewhere, here we have a guy just trying to make a buck by finding a niche market and exploiting it.
After all, do we really need fluffy covers for our toilet seats, phones that double as entertainment centers or global positioning systems on an island the size of a large amusement park?
As it happens, I have just invented a device that prevents those oily smears on the iPhone screen when you make or receive calls. It's called 'iSoap' and you apply it to your face, with water, twice a day. It comes in 'iBars' which cost seven Euros each.
Thimble???
Seems obvious to me - save yourself some cash, go out n buy some rubber sewing thimbles (if you think wearing anything on your fingers is worthwhile in the first place).
They'll look a lot less kinky to be going on with, and you wont look like a total freak spending five minutes trying to get the buggers on and off in the first place.
.
These people are just mental.
iWipe
TeeCee is on the right track with the "iWipe." I keep my iPhone in my pocket next to a folded microfiber cloth, the kind you use to clean eyeglasses. Most of the time, the screen is rubbing against the cloth and cleaning itself. I carry the cloth to clean my glasses anyway, works great on the iPhone screen too.
Ear condoms?
Okay, so that will stop fingerprints and the like, but do they sell them for your ear if you need to make a phone call? Don't want ear marks on your iTool now..
Agreed Nick
Not only will iPhone owners look like kn0bs for being suckered by the money grabbing b@stards called Apple, they will also look twice as stupid trying to keep their out of date featureless phone unmarked!
