I Finally Have A Camo Phone

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’ve long been obsessed with having a camouflaged cell phone. I don’t really know why, perhaps cause I’m a Texan, but in any case, I’ve never gotten one, until now. When I got the HTC Eris from Verizon, I decided to get a case of some sort, but didn’t really like any of those gel skins, and I just can’t see myself with a pouch clipped onto my belt like Batman or something. Thus, I started shopping for a skin.

I’ve personally purchased skins from 3acp.com, DecalGirl.com, and now SkinIt.com, and honestly, they’re all quite impressive. I chose SkinIt.com for this one because they actually offered a custom skin for the Eris, specially cut for the device with all the appropriate openings for buttons and such.

The skin cost $14.95 plus $3 for standard shipping and arrived within 2 weeks of ordering – not bad, considering I chose the cheapest shipping. One thing I originally found disappointing was the inability to see exactly what parts of the phone my skin would cover – the pre-set design pages on SkinIt.com do not show this, though you can go to the ‘Create Your Own’ section. Here, you’ll choose your phone and then see a cut-out showing which parts will be covered. I’d like to see the ability to see *my* skin on the phone, as it probably would have prompted me to go ahead and purchase a 2nd skin for a different device.

The skin came in a plain white cardboard envelope, plenty sturdy to ensure it didn’t get creased in shipping, and had an illustrated installation guide, as well.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how good it looks. My only complaint, which might be Eris-specific, is that the skin also covers the 4 touch-sensitive buttons located beneath the display. While they still work just fine, you can no longer see them when using the phone, so it’s definitely good that I’d memorized which was which. Of course, the buttons are printed on the skin, but with black ink, which obviously blends in with my camo pretty well.

I’d also like to have seen SkinIt.com offer a matching wallpaper, like DecalGirl, though I was easily able to snag this from their website anyways.

For a cheap but quality way to customise your phone, laptop, or netbook (I’ve got one on each), skins are a great option. The best part is that they’re easily removable when you sell your toy.