[Q] Halo Effect. What is it?

Sep 23, 2013
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Still looking for a decent glass screen protector for my note 4, and now people mention the halo effect being an issue... not to sure what that is. Can anyone tell me?

Also do any of the screen protectors glass or otherwise actually cover the entire front of the phone?
 

ozaghloul

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2011
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Amsterdam
Still looking for a decent glass screen protector for my note 4, and now people mention the halo effect being an issue... not to sure what that is. Can anyone tell me?

Also do any of the screen protectors glass or otherwise actually cover the entire front of the phone?
The screen is curved at the edges. So if you use a glass protector it will be sticking out (about 4mm) all around the edges. Right away it looks bad, because you can see that the screen protector is not sticking all the way to the edge. In a few days it becomes very very bad once it picks up dust and lint from the pockets. It doesn't really look like a halo (a ring of light), but rather a ring of garbage.
 

marleyb

Senior Member
Oct 17, 2007
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Amsterdam
instagram.com
Hahaha first have to say I like your username. The halo effect with glass screenprotector is caused because the edges of the screen seems to be rounded off. As a glass screenprotector is not flexible it does not make full contact on the edges of the screen. This is causing de the so called halo effects AFAIK
Kind regards
 
Sep 23, 2013
21
2
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The screen is curved at the edges. So if you use a glass protector it will be sticking out (about 4mm) all around the edges. Right away it looks bad, because you can see that the screen protector is not sticking all the way to the edge. In a few days it becomes very very bad once it picks up dust and lint from the pockets. It doesn't really look like a halo (a ring of light), but rather a ring of garbage.
Ahh... I see I have had that in the past will nearly all screen protectors I have bought (never had a glass one and still havent yet) now I understand the effect. I do find it can be mitigated by the cases used but more often than not the protector starts looking grubby and comes up at the edges so much so I need to replace it. Thanks for informing me!
 

jianrong

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2014
53
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I had one on currently. It did not cover the edge of screen (black glass) fully. Not sticking fully at side. Can see gap. There alittle bubble at side but not visible.

What annoy me is the rainbow light effect at the side when i use my note 4. Not visible on dark background.

Lol. The rainbow effect is halo?
 

lovekeiiy

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2011
1,044
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SF Bay Area
... is the rainbow light effect at the side when i use my note 4. Not visible on dark background. ... rainbow effect is halo?
nope, that's just the rainbow effect.

I thought the Halo effect also included when the screen protectors were cut too short, and had an excess gap from phone edge to protector edge. Haven't a gap is necessarily a bad thing if one is using a case that wraps around the edge, but does not include a screen protector like many of the cheaper TPU or hybrid cases.
 

ambress

Member
Jan 6, 2009
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Another type of halo?

I hadn't thought of the halo as being where a glass screen protector isn't sticking to the curved edges of the screen, but that does make more sense than a separate sort of "halo" that I've observed and disliked. Namely, even for a screen protector cut narrow so that it only covers the flat screen surface, I've still seen a perimeter "ring" that was distracting, not seeming to be 100% optically transparent. After removing the Bear Motion (not to fault them, but rather I suspect this is common to many brands of glass screen protectors) screen protector, I examined it under a 10x magnifier and confirmed my suspicion, that the PET film the glass is layered with, is cut smaller than the glass itself. The result is that a perimeter margin exists where, presumably, there is only glass, and maybe the reason it doesn't seem 100% optically transparent is due to the polishing to achieve the rounded edge. No expert here, this is just pure speculation on my part, but nonehtheless, I don't like the visual appearance this results in when the screen protector is applied to my SGN4 screen.

I'd be interested in seeing a tempered glass screen protector where the manufacturer does have 100% exact matching cuts of each layer of material used in making the protectors. Moreover, should the oleophobic coating introduce any "tinting" for lack of a better word, then I'd also like to know the coating is also 100% edge-to-ege on the protector so that no matter where one looks, there are no margins but just 100% edge-to-ege optical transparency through all layers.

For now, I'm of the opinion that the best screen protector for the SGN4 may well be the premium PET film protectors rather than tempered glass ones. For use with my Platinum series (Best Buy's "Seidio Surface" case) case, the glass screen protectors seem almost too thick to use, as the case is a very snug fit across the face of the phone. Holding the phone in the case, there is a feeling of some give to the case which may be just enough extra room to use a PET film screen protector that extends over the screen curves and allows the case to slip on without snagging an edge. That said, I'm very tempted to just use my phone with the screen in "naked gorilla mode". :D That is...just the bare Gorilla Glass screen.

Cheers,

Ambress
 

an_xda

Senior Member
Apr 23, 2012
360
16
0
Zagg Glass from Best Buy...

Jesus christ. I just paid $30 at some Chinese place and the fit looks alright (99% pixels covered). It I see this in a week, I will be beyond pissed. The store will get an earful if they play the we didn't sell this to you since I paid cash.

Edit - welp, go figure. Small halo (1-2mm for now) about 2 hours after install. Too bad I am gone, next time I will be in the area is a week from now... Not sure if I should go back tomorrow... What a ****ing piss off. Should have went with my intuition.
 
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lovekeiiy

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2011
1,044
207
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SF Bay Area
that's awful. I would have a ton of dirt under it after a week.

I went with amFIlm Premium Screen Protector. It's not good, nor bad. You get a pack of three for $4. It's not glass, but it's not a mutlilayer plastic either. It doens't feel like glass. It's dry application. It does cover viewable screen. Does have some flex so you can get it not do the halo thing. I personally applied and the put the GN4 between a bunch of books for a few hours to make sure it adhere well. Since it's cheap, it's not a big deal if it scratches; better than the actual glass.

This give some time for the everyone else to try out the more expensive screen protectors and thus, we can read and see their results. Personally, I'm waiting for the Just Like Glass people to decide if they're going to release something. I wrote them and was told they might carry it and that the owner was considering getting a Note 4, who would be the genie pig for the fitting.
 

jianrong

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2014
53
1
0
Just remove glass sp & have it check for scratches and dirt. Wipe it clean too. Pasted a new snti glare guard since sweaty palm. It look good without bubble and goid touch too.
 

aboulay

New member
Oct 29, 2014
4
0
0
Toronto
My experience so far

So far as i can tell there are no 100% perfect screen tempered glass screen protectors out there. i Myself have a spigen slim tr installed on a black Note 4 with a titanium Verus iron shield and you can barely see any halo. Honestly the little halo i do see is less thick then business card and barely thicker then a sheet of standard paper. I do not have my hopes up at all that we will see a tempered glass protector that is 100% perfect because it would also require users to install it 100% flawless. Its glass guys, there's no real give, unless they use an adhesive that will fill in the gaps, but that may inhibit the spen functionality which then negates the purchase of the Note all together. I would recommend to anyone doing their own install, to use the bathroom steam prep method, along with the hinge method. These two together prove to be the most effective in avoiding any issues. That being said, i am unable to really tell if what i am seeing is truly a halo effect, or the curvature on the glass refracting the light. its been on for over 2 weeks and has dealt with my day to day wear and tear which includes going to the office, gym, bars, outdoors for a hike, all without any shifting or scratches. Either way i am thrilled with the application of my screen protector and wish you all the best in yours.
 

Wout6213

New member
Feb 22, 2020
1
1
3
Halo efect solution

I have a note 4, bought a cheap screenprotector, so, i did now the problem of halo with my old screenprotector, i had some glue from my whitestone screenprotector from my note 9, so i used that glue for my note 4 with the sceap screenprotector, results are very good, no halo at all, did come out very nice, applied it the same way as normal with a whistone protector, so, maybe i can help someone with this system, i don't know where you can buy this glue seperate, mine was from whitestone, maybe someone knowes were you can buy this glue, in the future i will only do it this way, i can recoment this, by the way, excuse me for my poor english, i don't do this every day, i'm from the netherlands
 
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