Dollar Store Accessories: Screen cleaning wipes

Next up on our tour of dollar store iOS tech accessories are screen-cleaning wipes. Wipes play an important role with touch-based screens, even in the age of oleophobic (oil-repelling) displays.

At US$0.05 per wipe, this box of 20 screen wipes compares favorably in price to those large boxes you might have seen at stores like Costco or Sam's Club.

Unlike those vendors, however, the dollar store version does not include individual packaging. The ones I tested used a "baby wipe" model, where you reseal the package after extracting each wipe. Sadly, this means the last few wipes ended up rather dried out.

In terms of screen cleaning, the moist wipes did a fine job. I tested them across phones and tablets, and they managed to cut the grime, remove sneezles and otherwise bring the unit back to a cleaner state.

The wipes were branded as "anti static" (i.e., not attracting dust), but I honestly had no idea how to test that feature. Although the wipes smelled a bit during use, that odor didn't linger on the iOS devices.

For a dollar, it was nice to have a packet of wipes on hand as I traveled. The last few wipes were a bit of a write-off, but I got enough use out of my packet to make it feel like I hadn't wasted my money.

All in all, TUAW gives the dollar store version of screen-cleaning wipes a mild "good value" score.