Earlier in the week I posted a review for a woodgrain DecalGirl skin for the Kindle Touch, and this time around I’ve got a review for a Tropical Moon skin from DecalGirl for the iPad 3.
The iPad 3 skin is a lot bigger than the Kindle skin. It was a little intimidating so I put off installing it for a couple days, but it actually went on easier than I’d expected. The back piece wasn’t a problem at all; the front piece took a little adjusting but it ended up turning out quite well.
I like the how the iPad’s Tropical Moon design turned out, and the skin fits very well. Plus there’s the added benefit of the skin protecting the iPad’s back from scratches.
The matching wallpaper is a nice touch too. They aren’t quite the same color, however. The picture above (click it for big) doesn’t really show it but the skin has more of a green hue than blue. And then there’s the fact I mostly use the iPad in landscape mode so the design doesn’t match up most of the time anyway :).
The skin cutout for the iPad also comes with small pieces for two sides of the iPad’s wall charger.
Some advice: when applying the iPad’s front skin, start with the inner corner and align one edge at a time. Lightly apply the skin at first to line it up. That way you can pull it up to re-adjust. Once you press the skin down tight it can easily stretch when trying to pull it back off to re-adjust.
Matte vs Glossy
The Kindle Touch skin has a matte finish and the iPad skin has a glossy finish. There is a big difference between the two. Personally, I like the matte finish skins a lot more.
The glossy skins show fingerprints and grime whereas the matte don’t show fingerprints at all. The matte skins have more of a natural feel, the glossy skins have more of a grippy, slight rubbery feel.
The matte skins of course reflect less light too. Bright designs are going to be more subdued on a matte skin, however, so the glossy skins have the edge in that regard.
DecalGirl Skins
The iPad 3 DecalGirl skins sell for $19.99 from DecalGirl.com and Amazon. They also sell skins for dozens of other ereaders, tablets, phones, and gadgets.