Our technology blogger Geoff Adams-Spink reviews Easiskins for Apple products.

Technology providers – and Apple is no exception – seem to want to enrol us in a continuous cycle of upgrading.  Last year’s phone, laptop, iPod or whatever just isn’t quite the thing anymore.  And you can justify it to yourself because your phone has been knocked from pillar to post, scratched by sharing your pocket with the house keys and dropped a couple of times onto an unforgiving surface.

But suppose there was a way of protecting that oh-so-expensive piece of technical wizardry so that it looked as good as it did on the day when you first opened the box: the good news – for owners of Apple products anyway – is that there is.  What’s more, it’s designed and manufactured here in the UK which is something of a rarity these days.

Easiskinsmakes protective plastic coatings for the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro in your life.  The company’s owner, Richard Rogers, also runs an Apple support company and says he would be forever redesigning new ‘skins’ if he included other manufacturers’ products.

He sells his wares at gadget shows, from his website and also on the high street from Apple retailers like Storm Front and Square as well as House of Fraser. Or you could buy them from other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Macworld, MobileFun, and BMC Digital.

The Easiskins website contains links to a series of ‘how to’ videos on the company’s YouTube channel which make the fitting of a new skin look deceptively easy.

Being something of an Apple addict myself – apart from the MacBook Pro laptop, I own all of the other devices protected by Easiskins – I decided to invest in order to prolong the life of my techno-valuables.  I decided to start with my brand new and long-awaited iPad 2.  Things didn’t exactly go to plan: despite my trusty assistant’s best efforts, the poor thing was covered in blotches and bubbles.  The front skin made my tablet look as though I’d left it out in the rain overnight, so I removed it immediately.

But realising that so many satisfied customers couldn’t all be wrong, I asked Richard to demonstrate how it should be done.

Three weeks on, my iPad looks pristine – and as Apple’s new Smart Cover neatly fits over the front, I didn’t really want to buy a separate leather sleeve.  Now, it seems I don’t have to.

My Apple laptop looks similarly unblemished and my iPhone has a smart, ‘carbon’ matt black rear cover.  The glossy skin that Richard fitted to the front did – in all fairness – start to lift slightly at the edges because of the green silicon case that I use to protect it, so I chose to take it off.

For me, the beauty of Easiskins is that they can be as obtrusive or as discreet as you like: the clear versions are practically invisible to the naked eye; there are some coloured rear covers for the iPad 2 that complement the Smart Cover range.  You could go even further and have an Easiskin branded with a company logo or college crest.

Easiskins boast “100% customer satisfaction” and come with a lifetime warranty.  If you’re still sceptical about their ability to protect your tech, I suggest having a look at this rather alarming demonstration.

If you don’t have Richard Rogers readily to hand, his advice is to take your time, use a clean, dry surface and keep trying until you get it right.