Clumsy gadgets owners, rejoice! If you’re accident prone or have slippery fingers, you might be happy to learn that a Japanese company has unveiled a new protective film for your gadgets to make them ultra anti-scratch. In fact, even if you drop your gadgets, this film will repair itself in 10 seconds or less and make your devices look brand spankin’ new despite injuries.
Toray Advanced Film, based in Fukushima, Japan, previously produced decorative and protective film for computer notebooks and mobile devices. To take protection to the next level, it is releasing the “Self-cure Coat Film” that is extra flexible to withstand constant physical impact. Applied as a thin layer to your gadgets, the film hugs your device to give it a pillow cushion that heals itself after possible damages.
“Because the self-repairing layer has a high viscosity and elasticity as well as cushioning characteristics, it self-repairs minute scratches,” Toray Advanced Film said.
To test the film, Toray demonstrated the product by scratching coated gadgets with a metal brush before seeing the marks disappear before human eyes. At room temperature, the scratches can heal in approximately 10 seconds or less. The lower the temperature, the faster the product works. However, Toray did note that drastic damages, such as a deep cut with a knife, are a lost cause.
Depending on the user’s preference, the thickness of the coating can be adjusted to their comfort levels. Users can also drop their gadgets as often as their hearts desire without the fear that the protective layer will lose its quality.
“We confirmed that there is no problem by testing it about 20,000 times in succession,” Toray said.
Thanks to the coat film being transparent, this also means no more funky gadget cases. Unless of course, you like that stuff, or prefer them looking tough like the iPhone brass knuckle case we saw a few weeks ago. Naturally, one should also remember that the coat won’t be applied on touchscreen surfaces because it will render the screens useless. So if you’re afraid of cracking your gadget screens, you should still look into a separate film protector.
Lastly, keep in mind that this technology is for physical protection only. Just because dropping your film-coated devices make them look like they’re still new, that doesn’t mean any of the mechanics inside haven’t shifted or broke.
Unfortunately, there is no recorded video of the product demonstration, but we give the design concept an approval based on what we know about elastic, rubber coat films. The company has begun mass producing the film at a rate of “several hundred thousand square meters” annually so hopefully we can all enjoy this technology in the states very soon.
