Can a screen protector be cut down to the correct size?

[Word-Nerd]

First, I hope everybody had a great Christmas, Hannukah, Kwaanza and New Year’s Day (for those who celebrate it on January the first) or whatever else you celebrate! Please do not be offended if I missed somebody’s religious holy day which occurred in December as I hope everybody had a great December, even those whose holy day I may have left out and those who do not celebrate any holy days.

There is a dilemma I need help to resolve, if possible.

Once it was decided that a new phone had to be purchased for my child to use (when we are apart and when child is at school, for examples), I decided that it had to be the most inexpensive fairly recent model phone available and at the time I was looking for such a phone, one which met the necessary criteria went on sale. It is not one of the major brand name phones which everybody knows of (Samsung, Nokia, Google or Apple) but it seemed like it would meet our needs.

What I didn’t consider was whether there would be a case or screen protector available for this phone. Fortunately, I was able to find a case for it and have kept the plastic screen protector on it. Since it is a budget priced phone, I do not intend to spend a lot of money on a screen protector for it because screen protectors don’t seem to last long anyway. The screen protector needs to be functional, easily replaceable when necessary and inexpensive.

The phone is unlocked and bought new in a factory sealed box and included a Koodo SIM card and works great. Once I decided that Public Mobile offered a plan which would best suit our needs, a Public Mobile SIM card was bought, installed and activated.

Identifying the company which makes the phone or the model is not necessary since I have researched it and all the other phones (available in Canada) which have similar screen sizes and have compared the specifications, side by side. The dimensions provided for the screen sizes are measured in millimetres, so I know how similar (and dissimilar) each one is.

After buying a current (2022) model, new phone (for my child to use), it was determined that the dimensions of it’s screen are unique. There is no other phone, whether it be a discontinued model or currently available, which has the exact same screen dimensions, although there are some which have a similar screen size.

The other phones which have the most similar sized screen as this new phone are the Samsung S5 and the Apple iPhone 6, 7 and 8.

There are some questions I have about available screen protectors. Firstly, are screen savers really made of tempered glass?  Each one I have seen which is supposedly made of “tempered glass” seems just as thin and flimsy as the adhesive plastic sheets which phone companies include with each phone in the factory sealed box.

Secondly, will a screen protector made of “tempered glass” just crack or shatter if bent or flexed to any degree?  The ones I have inspected (at a store) were not inflexible (as one would expect of tempered glass) and did not crack or shatter when flexed a little bit.

Thirdly, whether or not such a screen protector is made of “tempered glass”; can it be safely trimmed down to the correct dimensions from a screen protector which is intended for another phone, without cracking, shattering or otherwise breaking the screen protector?  If this is possible, what is the best method of trimming down a screen protector in such a way as to prevent it from being damaged in any way?

If there is anybody here who has some degree of knowledge or expertise about this topic and could provide some insight and clear answers to these questions, it would really be appreciated.

Thank you in advance to anybody who can provide clear and honest answers to these questions.  Your help is appreciated.

[Community_QA]

@Word-Nerd  what brand what model? Amazon has everything!! or check Aliexpress

[softech]

@Word-Nerd , these days the screen has different "holes" on top (camera or so), it is much harder to just trim the screen protector to fit.  But again, if you want to try, you have no choice but to get a plastic one

[dandu3]

Just get whatever's closest but not too big. Cheap screen protectors aren't that close fit usually. Glass is best, although I doubt most of them are actually tempered. I've broken a couple models of claimed tempered glass but they've been breaking in big chunks as if it's normal glass. Anyways, the sticky plastic side would keep most of the glass on there if broken. 

Glass is glass, so good luck with cutting that. Certainly not impossible, but highly impractical. 

Plastic ones are fine also. Not as resistant but whatever. You're not gonna gouge the screen all the way thru a protector, and if you are then it's probably going to break the screen anyway. 

Not impossible to trim to size, but it's probably not going to look or feel good. Cutting a straight line is hard. Especially if you're trying to not bend a permanent crease in your delicate piece of plastic. 

To be honest I wouldn't worry about it. Scratching a phone isn't really anything special or something that will ever affect the usability or functionality. That's just life man. Phones will get scratched, and nobody will ever notice or care.

And if anyone is noticing anything at some point, well it's probably a good excuse to get a new phone anyways because it'll probably be pretty outdated and a shiny new toy is always fun. 

If anything, go to your local Dollarama and stick on their 2$ iPhone 7 one. They also have a iPhone X model which is probably better because of the home button hole. 

If anything, you can reposition a screen protector. At least the few times I've done it, it came out looking like it's brand new, even when it was full of crap. 

I use Windex(-brand window cleaner) as an adhesive release, just apply a lot of it in the edges and corners until you're able to lift a corner and add more Windex to get it off after a while. If it's tempered glass, DON'T force. Wait for the Windex to do it's thing, while applying slight pressure to slowly lift it without breaking it. Especially when you're at the end of the process, you have to resist the urge to lift it faster, else you'll break it. 

When it's off I use a bit of dish soap to clean up the sticky side under the running faucet. Once you've got it clean, shake off excess water and then clean the phone with a microfiber cloth or paper towel and a bit of Windex. Then I usually spray the screen protector with an even cost of our friend the Windex and then just apply it wet, center first ideally but since it's wet you can shift it around before using your microfiber cloth or paper towel to get the excess water out of underneath and then it'll just be sticky as if nothing ever happened. Pretty weird experience but I've saved a few pretty bad screen protector jobs and it's pretty fun to see the look on someone's face when their dusty screen protector is now looking good 

[BKNS27]

@Word-Nerd 

I have ordered glass screen protectors from AliExpress. You might be lucky if there screens for your phone.

[Word-Nerd]

   Thank you BKNS27 and softech for your replies.  Sorry for my late response, just been busy.  The brand and model of the phone isn't something I will post publicly and it's not important because I have researched the phone and compared it's dimensions, including case and screen sizes, measured in millimetres, to other phones of similar sizes and it is the only phone with this set of case and screen dimensions. 

   The phone's dimensions have even been compared to a few smaller Apple phones from years ago, but no other phones have the same dimensions. 

   Even though it is a new phone introduced in January 2022, a screen saver for it can't be found (at a local store)

since it is not one of the top four (Samsung, Motorola, Google and Apple) phone companies,

   Since I want to keep the screen from getting scratched (and keep the phone looking new), the only other way to protect the screen then is to find a screen protector (made of plastic and which can be safely cut) made for a slightly larger screen and carefully trim it down to the necessary size.

[softech]

@Word-Nerd 

1. there are tempered glass protector and plastics

2. tempered glass can be broken, it's not taht flexible

3. if you want to trim down, you should buy the plastic one

Which phone are we talking about ?

there are usually screen protectors for different phones.  Get it from Amazon or bring it to local mobile store, they will put it on and trim it down for you if required

[BKNS27]

@Word-Nerd 

Yes there are tempered glass screen protector available in the market but they tend to be on the pricey side for a brand name.

Keep in mind that all screen protectors will crack when it is bent.

I would recommend getting a good case with a ridge above the screen for extra protection from dropping on the screen. Also recommend a normal glass screen protector that crystals clear and case friendly and will not lift out when removing the case. It would be difficult to trim a screen protector that will look like a factory fit, still look nice and without cracking it in the process.

There are a number of excellent cases like Otterbox or Spigen.

I have seen advertisement for Mous cases which seem to be a excellent case but I have never purchase one.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yrFPTNfOA3k?feature=share 

What phone do you have?