Got a capacitive touch screen (or really, any touch screen) on your phone?  Then put a screen protector on it—even if you think that for one reason or another, getting your screen scratched just isn’t possible.

I didn’t put one on my HTC Desire because:

  1. I treat my phone carefully.
  2. I store my phone carefully.
  3. The screen is pretty damn durable, and seemed entirely scratch-proof.

Perhaps needless to say, I now have a scratch on the screen deep enough to be felt under my finger.

Infuriatingly, I have absolutely no idea how it happened.  Even more infuriatingly, it can’t be removed without replacing the whole screen because of the way capacitive touch screens work.  But most infuriatingly, with minimal prior thought and investment I could have avoided this happening altogether.

The shop on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston Streets in the city sells screen protectors cheaply ($10 for the HTC Desire) and installs them for free.  I can’t vouch for their quality as I don’t have a point of comparison, but frankly I don’t care—even if I have to replace the protector every month, at least I’m still preventing further permanent damage to the phone itself.

So put a screen protector on your phone.  Ignore how durable your screen is.  You don’t necessarily know what can scratch it and once it’s scratched, it’s probably staying that way.