 There has been A LOT of talk about the Ipod Nano screens lately. Several people are complaining that their Nano is getting scratched badly just by having it in their pocket. Several articles on the horrors of the iPod Nano screen,
on theregister, cnet, and even Apple.com, have people rushing to buy aftermarket protectors. People were becoming afraid to even carry their Nanos in their pockets, considering the nanos seem to scratch if you look at them funny. In the following article we will discuss how to fix your scratched ipod nano, and how to protect it in the future.
The following How-To on removing scratches from your nano was written by and republished with permission of Todd Dailey of http://todd.dailey.info
So, you have a black nano and now realize that you should
have purchased a case or a cover for it. But, it’s too late now, it’s
already covered with barely visible scratches and marks that you can
only see under a 500-watt lamp. Oh no! What will you do? Never fear, I
put my nano at risk for your sake. I had read on Slashdot and a few
other places that Brasso can restore an iPod to like-new condition, but
I didn’t believe it myself, and I was a bit worried that it would have
some sort of bad reaction with my iPod, such as melting it.  After all, a $4 can of Brasso can’t compete with $20+ third party creams and polishes, can it? Read on… Preparation
I happened to be in the grocery in the cleaning aisle and saw a
can of Brasso on the shelf. I knew then what my evening project would
be. With the wife and kid in bed, I set up for my experiment. I had
iKlear for cleaning the iPods before and after, my old 3G 20GB iPod, my
two black iPod nanos, a can of Brasso, some cotton rounds for initial
cleaning, and a small and large microfiber cloth for applying Brasso
and cleaning it off afterwards.
My 3G iPod’s back was quite scratched over time. I think it
still looked fine, but I thought it would be a good test for Brasso to
see if it did any permanent damage before I started on the nanos.
 
I cleaned the back with iKlear, then soaked a cotton round with
Brasso and got to work. Look at all the grime it started taking off! At
this point I thought maybe I was onto something with the Brasso, but I
was also afraid that I was about to melt my iPod.
Here’s the finished back of the 3G iPod. It looked much
better than when I started, but since the back was already quite
scratched, it was hard to tell if the Brasso actually removed many
scratches or just removed the dirt and polished off the surface. It
didn’t appear to do any damage, though, so I decided to move on to the
nano.
 
My nano had picked up a few scratches here and there while
carrying it around. I should emphasize that these scratches weren’t
visible under normal conditions, only under bright light. The flash
photos here really show every little blemish, though, and you can see
that the nano did pick up a lot of grime and small scratches with a bit
of use. To me, this isn’t any different than my 3G iPod and I could
have lived with the marks, but the urge to experiment was too strong.
Notice the small horizontal scratches on the right side of the middle
and bottom of the nano, and the tiny circular scratches in the close-up
photo of the screen.
For the nano, I switched from using cotton rounds to using my
small iKlear microfiber cloth. My theory was that the microfiber was a
lot softer, I didn’t want the cotton to make more scratches. I put some
Brasso on the cloth and started working it in. I used light pressure,
barely pressing at all and letting the weight of my hand do the work. I
also held the nano in my hand so that I wouldn’t scratch the back by
cleaning the front on a hard surface. Also, I think it’s a good idea to
try not to get any Brasso worked into the gap around the clickwheel,
although I didn’t have any issues with gunk getting stuck there. I
worked the Brasso in for a few minutes, and it appeared to be working!
The small scratches were gone, and the ones that were slightly deeper
were faded. I discovered, though, that brasso takes a long time
to work. I slowly worked over the front of my nano for about 20
minutes. Then I let the Brasso dry, cleaned it with iKlear, and
polished the front with my large, clean iKlear microfiber cloth. Let’s
see how it turned out…
  
Holy. Crap. I feel the need to assure you that these are actual
unretouched photos of the final clean nano. The same one that I showed
in the “dirty” pictures above. As you can see, the Brasso got rid of
every single scratch. My nano looks completely, totally brand new.
Again, believe it or not these are actual “after” pictures! I’m very,
very impressed. If you don’t get these results, get back to work on the
nano with the Brasso. I’m confident that with enough time you can
remove any shallow scratch.
Last thoughts
I should emphasize again that I was quite happy with my nano and its
condition, even with the slight scratches. I don’t think the nano has a
problem with being excessively prone to scratching. That said, it was
completely amazing that I could remove every scratch with just a little
work with Brasso. If you wish you had put your nano in a case before
you used it, you now have an inexpensive way to get a 2nd chance.
Edit: Additional photos (by request)
 
By request I added two photos of the finished nano taken with a
flash. This is actually hard for me with my digicam and poor
photography skills, since the nano is now so shiny that it focuses on
the reflected image, not the nano, and I have no idea how to manually
focus my digicam.
Rest assured that I’m not trying to pull one over on anyone. My nano
now looks completely brand new, just like the day I got it. Really!
Now that we have it back to good condition, it is important that we keep it that way. I have requested products from a few different vendors to check them out. (and then we discuss a home-brew product)
I will be looking at 2 commercial products:
1) Proporta Screen protector
2) invisibleSHIELD for ipod nano
Proporta Screen protector
The Proporta Screen protector can be had for around $15 shipped any where in the world. When I received the Proporta I was a little confused about what I had received. I was so wrapped up in scratches all over my nano that I had forgotton what really mattered.. The screen. The Proporta came with everything you need to protect your Nano screen:
- Protective Plastic screen cover
- application kit and card
- cleaning lens wipe
Installing the Proporta couldnt be any easier. Simply clean your nano screen with the included lens cloth, and then line up the plastic protector and apply to screen. Use the supplied application card to smooth out any bubbles.
Let me tell you, I have used a lot of screen protectors in the past (for PDA's and such) and I have never seen such a thick protector. It is probably twice as thick as others out there -- so it should be very resistant to scratches. However I do have some worries that it will get caught and "rub off" when taking it in and out of my pocket. I will test it and report back.
invisibleSHIELD nano protector
Notice I didnt say screen protector. The invisibleSHIELD is a entire nano protector. It ships with both a front and a back side protector, which wraps the entire nano with a protective plastic wrap. I requested a few sample strips so I could give their product a try (as they demonstrate on their website) and I was shocked to find out how tough this stuff is. I tried going through it with a mechanical pencil, a ball point pen, and then a phillips head screw driver. I could not puncture this stuff.
  
Now that I have seen that this stuff is tough, lets go ahead and install it. It is not quite as easy as the Proporta to install, but that is no surprise. This shield covers the entire nano. I started off by reading their instructions, and found that it was a lot easier to start with the back protector first, and then apply the front. I have worked with applying decals before, and I find that if you use a little bit more soap & water than you would think, it comes out really well.
I started off by getting the sheild wet, and then I used a little bit of soap and water to get the back of the nano wet. Then I quickly aligned the protector and put it on. Since there is soap and water on both sides, you have a short amount of time that you can slide it around to get it perfect. (if you mess up it is no big deal, you can just peel it back off and start over) Once you have it exactly where you want it, use a credit card to smooth out any air bubbles.
I did the same for the front and let it sit overnight.
The invisibleSHIELD for the ipod nano comes in two different form factors, once that covers both the entire front and back, and one that has the click wheel cut out, and they can both be had for around $20 -- which in my opinion is a much better deal than the Proporta. It covers your entire nano, not just the screen. I also feel a lot more secure about it, I don't think this thing is going to be coming off any time soon. (without my help of course)
Now, do you HAVE to buy a protector to ensure your screen doesnt get scrached? No WAY. Gavin Holt of gholt.com came up with this homemade solution
that works pretty well. |
Consumer Electronics 
