Seamless transition on Wasabi skins
During our visit to E3, we saw a variety of exhibitors whose sole business is to help you customize your portable devices.
With so many people buying handheld systems, the urge to customize and stand out from the crowd is trending upward. People want to skin their devices as a mark of pride, personal expression, or to make a statement.
We saw three standout customization exhibitors on the showfloor, and I’ll highlight all three here. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that we have affiliate programs for both GelaSkins and MusicSkins; if you purchase through our affiliate links, you will be helping support Icrontic. We don’t engage in affiliate programs for products we don’t personally recommend, and we believe that these products are pretty damned cool.
1: WASABI
The Wasabi booth was huge
I wrote about Wasabi before we went to the show, because I thought their designs were very unique and beautiful. When I got to see them in person, I was not disappointed. They have a huge variety of skins for portables, and they’re really trying to make a push into the North American market. Their designs are traditional Japanese style; including a lot of floral patterns and very “eastern” designs. The material they use is very high quality, and removable without too much fuss. I was able to apply a very cool skin to my PSP slim, and peel it (carefully) to make sure I had everything lined up perfectly. As an added bonus, they give you wallpaper for your devices for free (from their website) that lines up perfectly with the decals. It’s a very cool effect. I showed a few people at the Expo Icrontic 2009 and they were all impressed with how seamless the effect is.
The downside of Wasabi? Their products are very pricey. The top quality of their products reflects this, but one has to ask if people are really willing to spend that kind of money to customize their mobile devices.
I mean, who here doesn't want Lil Wayne on their iPod? guys?
2: MUSICSKINS
MusicSkins had a really cool display set up and it drew us in with the variety of awesome rock-themed skins hanging up. They have licensed skins for all popular portable devices from a wide range of musicians, from Madonna to Bob Marley. In addition, they have popular mixed media artists such as ExplodingDog and Chuck Anderson. The skins are high quality like Wasabi, and easily removable. They have skins for Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars as well. I got an autographed Coheed & Cambria guitar skin for my Guitar Hero guitar. The skin was designed for a Wii guitar, but with an X-acto knife and some clever cuts, I made it work on my Xbox version.
The MusicSkins overlays are very resilient; I tried several removals and re-applications and they hold their tack and don’t stretch. If you want something music-themed, ths is definitely the place to go.
3: GELASKINS
May his noodly appendage bless thee
In a style that fills the gap between the other two skinning providers I’ve covered, GelaSkins offers some spectacular artwork for your mobile devices. Priding themselves on their unique hand-painted artwork from artists such as Jack Long, Lawrence Yang, and Alex Noriega, they also use a very high-quality material for their skins. Their tagline is “Protection with Style, not Bulk”.
They have a large selection of skins for notebooks and netbooks as well, and if you really like something they offer, you can buy a print done on bamboo stock (to hang on your wall, for example).
Overall, all three companies provide high quality skins to put on almost any portable device that exists. Each provides a very different style, so almost any taste can be accomodated. If you want something unique and intensely Asian in flavor, you cannot go wrong with Wasabi. If you want more of an urban look or anything having to do with pop culture, MusicSkins is where to go. If you want true art on your portable, check out GelaSkins.
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