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When I got my iPhone I went looking for a case that ideally would not make the iPhone much more thicker than necessary, protected the screen from fingerprints and scratches and generally didn’t suck. It took a while but after reading reviews I settled on using the Invisible Shield by Zagg.

Good

The Invisible Shield protects my iPhone quite well against scratches against keys and well near anything that doesn’t actually slice the material itself. While often the scratch will be visible, running your thumb over the scratch or just giving the material time will have the scratch disappear like it never existed. It’s remarkably resilient to scuffs as well as often wiping away the offending scuff will cause it to disappear, or if dirty a little bit of water will work as well.

It’s also exceptionally thin and clear leaving the screen of the iPhone easy to see underneath it’s protective layer. Additionally dirt, dust, and other cosmetic annoyances can be easily washes or wiped off the screen just like the glass screen on the iPhone.

I prefer the slightly more tactile feel of the material (and if applied to the back as well if applied) as it gives a better sense of tactile feedback on the touch screen. It feels like you’re moving your finger across the screen a certain amount - much akin to using a scroll wheel on a mouse with grooves versus one that was completely smooth. The additional traction also makes the iPhone easier to hold - especially with your finger tips.

Bad

The suckers are hard to apply - compared to just slipping your iPhone into a case the initial time investment is pretty steep. However if you spend the 5 minutes reading the instructions and/or watching the video instructions on their website and then take your time applying it on the iPhone you’ll avoid the major issues of dust, air bubbles and streaks.

Between all the Invisible Shield’s I’ve installed I’ve seen all 3 major issues and all were my fault and thankfully if you’re paying attention can be avoided by taking the screen off and restarting the procedure over before it has time to start to set (according to the instructions). Having air bubbles or dust under the screen is really distracting but I find the streaks the most annoying if only because they aren’t obvious until you’re looking intently at the screen by watching a movie, reading text or something similar. I’ve found they happen when you pull the shield too taunt and are different then the streaks you get after installation.

After installation you will notice there are streaks on the screen that take a couple days to go away. These are normal and I’ve found will go in the direction that you used the squeegee to push out the excess liquid. So for the first couple days they can be a bit annoying as the streaks will distort the colour of some pixels making it seem as if there are razor thin lines of green or red at certain points. Thankfully after a while for the iPhone and the shield to get used to each other it disappears. I’ve also noticed that until this happens as well the quality of the iPhone screen will appear slightly fuzzy - not bad but as if the anti-alias filter was set a notch or two off optimum.

I’ve found that over time the screen likes to grab and hold onto oil and dust requiring wiping. The slight fuzzy appearance of elements on the iPhone comes back as well because of the oil but after cleaning it’s back to where it should be.

The biggest downside I’ve found is that they are not realistically reusable. For example each time I’ve had my iPhone replaced I’ve had to take the old one off and it would stick to itself creating a nice ball of Invisible Shield destined for the garbage requiring me to shell out another $25-$30 CAD for a new one. Be prepared to buy a new one if you have to replace your device.

Conclusion

So of all the faults with the Invisible Shield (which I find are more caveats than faults) I heartily recommend it because it’s unobtrusive and works exceptionally well. After having purchased 4 of them and applying them on 4 different iPhones I’ve still come back to the Invisible Shield every time.

I really like the Rose and Crown pub in Calgary. I had a Christmas party this weekend at the Rose and Crown in Banff which I had read only shares the name - not owners and was not as good. What I didn’t realize was just how bad of euphemism “not as good” was. All in all the most positive thing I can say about my experience there was “at least it didn’t suck” or “it was edible food and I didn’t get food poisoning”. I put up with much of it as I was under the assumption that I was not going to be paying and such didn’t pay attention much to price as much of what I was ordering was something similar to what I and my fiancee would order in Calgary. So my expected price with everything all told would be ~$45 tops. It should be noted that I’m quite easy going on food quality as most things taste quite good to me.

Drinks

I ordered a Crown Float ($8), a Sleeman Honey Brown ($7), a double Jack and Coke ($11.51), and a glass of Robinson Wine Shiraz that was given to me. Of the four, my water ($0.00) which wasn’t even listed was the best tasting drink and I think had the most alcohol. The double Jack and Coke which cost $11.50 tasted like it had double coke to half a shot of Jack. The Crown Float tasted like warm Guiness and slightly cool Strongbow Dry Cider - making neither taste any good. The Sleeman Honey Brown tasted decidedly flat and was hard to stomach at best. Whereas the Robison Wine Shiraz (RSA) tasted like a wannabe fruit bomb - not terrible but decidedly not good. So the

Food

My fianceé ordered Mussels ($10) as an appetizer and the Rueben ($11) with French Onion Soup ($3 extra) as her main course. I ordered the Maple Salmon ($15). The prices weren’t absurd and relatively close to what I would have expected in Calgary - the quality however was decidedly “it doesn’t suck - it tastes like barely decent British Pub Food”.

The Mussels were thankfully plentiful (with a lot of empty shells) and were decent - not good, not bad. Just satisfactory. I’ve had better many times and worse a couple times as well. The Reuben was not Montreal Smoked Meat - it was just a swack of Pastrami with some partially melted Mozzarella on some bread with a decidedly soft pickle. Really disappointing but it was food and it didn’t suck (but that means it was far from good). The French Onion Soup ($3 extra) was bland, boring and utterly and totally forgetful - so much so I don’t remember my two spoonfuls whatsoever.

My Maple Salmon is best described as decent. With Basmati Rice and vegetables the best portion was the steamed pea pods accompanied by well steamed carrots. The rice was unseasoned, plain and completely forgettable. The Maple Salmon was seared (pro), but lacked much in terms of texture and taste beyond a very subtle maple taste as if the scorch marks on the salmon contained the maple sauce retrieved from the grill. Forgetful at best, unsatisfactory at worst.

Price

The worst portion of this whole debacle was the resulting price - after a 15% tip, tax the total came to just barely shy of $80 ($79.95 for those keeping count). Was the evening worth even close to $80? Or heck worth $40? (Barely the latter IMNSHO). The value was appalling especially when considering the drink total ($31.80 with tax and tip) was a complete and absolute regrettable wash. The food ($48.15 with tax and tip) also did not measure up in value. At half the price it might be acceptable in terms of value.

Atmosphere

Shockingly, the atmosphere can also be described as “it didn’t suck” - nowhere near good and not terrible. Just barely adequate. It was very loud, dimly lit and not conducive to talking to anyone more than half a metre away from you. It’s very similar to other pubs I’ve been to but somehow a step or two worse without being outstandingly crappy.

Service

To close up this review I end with the most positive aspect of the evening at the Rose and Crown: the service was prompt and just what would be normally expected. Nothing exceptionally or above what should normally be expected from a waitress at a pub. The exception was it took a couple minutes to track her down in order to pay the grossly overpriced bill.

It’s not only just barely adequate in terms of quality of food, a complete waste in terms of alcohol, and acceptable in terms of service - it’s absolutely terrible in terms of value for money.So in summary, for the love of God and all that is holy avoid the Rose and Crown in BANFF.

The Rose and Crown in Calgary is awesome and not affiliated with the Rose and Crown in Banff. Thank God.