Last year, while I was replacing the battery in my Switch, my hand slipped and the screwdriver flew off and hit the screen, leaving a nice little pit right in the middle. That’s when I remembered that almost a year ago, I still had insurance on the screen — you can read the details here. So I thought, isn’t this the perfect time to get the screen replaced? While I was still hesitating, the next day the machine obligingly developed a new problem: the TrackPoint’s right-click button popped out, and it wouldn’t go back in. Looks like I had no choice but to go to the service center.

Generally speaking, putting a tempered glass protector on a laptop is a dumb idea, unless your laptop is a tablet 2-in-1 or has a touchscreen. After all, the laptop screen doesn’t really come into contact with anything, and closing the lid protects it too, so why would you ever need a protector? Even if it gets dirty, just wipe it off, right? Well, lately I’ve come to feel that was naive of me. After more than a year of using mine, I personally strongly recommend putting a tempered glass protector on your laptop, especially if it’s a ThinkPad X1C series. Don’t laugh, I’m serious.

Honestly, I’ve been using the Google Pixel 3 XL for almost a month now, and I’m really happy with this phone. Except that not long after I bought it, Google started dropping the price all over the place… Anyway, this phone is actually pretty expensive, so of course you still want a screen protector and a case after buying it. Since it’s the flagship this time, the accessory ecosystem is pretty complete, and I found suitable products quickly. Way better than stupid Sony. So let me keep it brief, hopefully it helps anyone thinking of buying one.

I’ve written before that for the OnePlus 5, the official protector is what I recommend. And for the Sony XZP, Banana’s soft film. Problem with soft film is it deforms easily and gets dirty fast — you’re basically replacing it every month. Which is when you start missing glass film. Shame that glass film on this thing always leaves a white edge. Sure, there’s white-edge oil, but it doesn’t last — two weeks tops and it’s gone, time to re-oil. And the stuff in those bottles really does seem to be just plain oil. Completely unreliable. Then I saw someone on XDA post a video of a fully transparent, fully laminated glass protector for the Sony XZP. And that’s when I noticed: the lamination process uses “optical adhesive” as the filler. It’s liquid going on, and sets into a semi-solid — way more trustworthy than oil. So I went looking for someone on eBay selling it, and what do you know, I found a seller offering liquid optical gel for white-edge repair. Tried it right away. Works well. Thicker than your average white-edge oil, but it still seeps into the edge just fine — a little pressure with your finger is enough.

The Nintendo Switch finally arrived before my birthday. Honestly, after buying a 2DS I already felt like the Switch was inevitable, and after thinking it over I went ahead and bought one. I bought it locally in Zhengzhou, picked it up in person to avoid unnecessary hassle. When I checked it over at pickup, it turned out the three serial numbers all matched, so it should be fine. I picked up Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2, and I’m currently playing Breath of the Wild. Most of the time I use it as a handheld. I haven’t run into any of those weird problems people complain about online, so I’m pretty happy with it.

Disclaimer: I haven’t taken money from any of the links below. If a shop wants to pay me, feel free to do it here. Whether you buy or not is your call—these are just my personal recommendations. Don’t come at me if you buy something and it sucks. And most importantly: if you’ve got the cash, I really don’t recommend using a screen protector at all. The Sony Xperia XZ Premium feels best naked—except it chips easily. Honestly, I’ve always thought curved screen designs are useless except for decorative light effects. That’s why I think Samsung’s various curved-screen phones are ugly as hell—like a piece of crystal-clear soap. I don’t know if anyone else likes square, boxy designs like I do. That’s why I’m willing to pay for Sony phones. I was also willing to pay for the Smartisan Pro—too bad Luo Yonghao wouldn’t give his own system stock Android. But sadly, even though the Sony Xperia series stuck with the square design for a long time, it eventually fell too and started doing curved screens. Based on my experience with the Xperia XZ Premium, this curved screen is completely useless. Maybe the corners feel better to hold, but the flat bottom still digs into your hand a bit. Sure, they added a bevel at the bottom to reduce the digging, which just proves you don’t need curved sides either—a bevel is enough. Anyway, you can’t make the whole thing curved like a crystal soap bar; doing it halfway is worse than not doing it at all. But regardless, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium already has a curved screen, which creates a big problem: screen protectors are a pain.

I’ve got a fair number of digital devices on hand, and the biggest headache after buying them is buying accessories for them… screen protectors, cases, and all sorts of add-ons. I’ve wasted quite a bit of money on this front over time, so let me briefly go over what I’ve picked up recently and share a few lessons along the way.