Oh the weather outside is frightful… well, for some of us. With the temperatures dipping into the uncomfortably cold as we enter winter, we must adapt and find ways to keep tapping on our mobile devices even while outside. The near universal adoption now of touchscreen devices has given birth to the invention of touchscreen gloves.
A couple of years ago, we went hands-in on Agloves, which even today we think are still great. Unfortunately, Agloves is no longer in business. While you can still buy remaining Agloves stock on Amazon, we were looking for alternatives for keeping our digits both useful and warm during the winter months.
GliderGloves looked like it had a lot of the same characteristics that we liked in the Agloves, so we gave them a try. The underlying technology that makes these gloves work with touchscreens is the same as in the Agloves. They have conductive thread woven into the acrylic yarns that make the entire fabric surface – not just the fingertips – usable on the touchscreen.
We tried the "urban style" of GliderGloves, which didn't interfere with phone use at all. Sitting in the stands during the day of a chilly football game, our swipes were registered well on the Galaxy Note II as well as the Nexus 5.
Those in colder climates will like to know that the urban GliderGloves are slightly warmer than the basic models since they are composed of three layers: the outer layer is made up of the specific blend of yarns and conductive copper material. The middle layer is a protective "plaited" layer made up of materials like nylon and acrylic. The third and inside layer is a soft brushed acrylic with give the inside a fuzzy, fleecy feel.
We found that the urban gloves kept our digits pretty comfortable down to around freezing temperatures (0C or 34F), but we'd want more insulation in anything colder for an extended period of time. GliderGloves also makes a "winter" version of its glove, which is thicker thanks to more material in the middle and inner layer.
For only $5 more, the winter versions seem like a good value for a lot more insulation. The only downside is that the thicker glove naturally means thicker padding between your fingers and the screen. That made typing a bit more difficult, though using swiping gesture typing helped alleviate that problem. Precision taps were definitely much easier on the urban version.
We're sad that our old favorites, the Agloves, are no longer available, but GliderGloves has picked up where they left off -- with a few improvements.
Update: GliderGloves has informed us of a coupon code to take $3 off your order: 3offGGpromo108889
