It use to be that there was a clear demarcation between man and device. The screen was purely to display information. Input was accomplished through discreet mechanical systems designed specifically for that purpose. Keyboards, mice, and all manner of styli proliferated, and choice was bountiful.

Even handheld devices enjoyed a certain segregation, though, admittedly, these devices were far more personal. They resided in pockets, purses, briefcases, or riding the hip of fashion challenged nerds, and were always ready. Though they were personal they, nonetheless, maintained a strict adherence to the unwritten Law of Human/Machine Fraternization, which loosely states that Man and machine shall not touch in personal ways, at least, not in public.

Then Apple introduced the iPhone and all of that went out the window. Now everyone, from 8 year olds to octogenarians, seem unwilling to carry on any semblance of a daily routine without Apple’s iconic phone, or some facsimile.

We handle our iDevices in ways that, just a few years ago, would have caused a stir in public. We touch. We swipe. We poke. We prod.

In return our devices give us almost instant gratification (AT&T notwithstanding). We get websites, movies, photos. We are entertained. We are challenged. Most importantly, we are connected to others through our devices. If that’s not intimate I don’t know what is.

Our devices seem to beg for more touching. Watch a person huddled over his smartphone and you’ll see a person oblivious to his or her surroundings, a person mesmerized by the device and what it delivers. He strokes it. She fondles it. He laughs at what the device shows. She cries at what the device says.

In public.

It’s almost obscene.

Of course, all of this iDevice touchy-feely has consequences, the most common of which has nothing to do with your naughty bits. The problem I speak of is screen gunk.

Human beings are not the cleanest creatures, largely because we are comprised of cells and systems of cells that react to our environment. That reaction, more often then we’d care to admit, manifests itself as gunk we leave behind. I’m talking hair, dead cells, live cells, sweat, oils, and a variety of chemical compounds too numerous to name. All of which winds up our iDevice screens.

Case and point: I have my photo portfolio on my iPad and I recently wanted to show it to a potential customer. I whipped out my trusty tablet and fired it up and was immediately embarrassed by the amount of schmutz that was on my screen. It looked like I had tried finger painting on my iPad with Crisco. Yuk!

Luckily for us there are microfiber cloths that magically erase the gunk from our magical devices. How? Think of each fiber as an itty-bitty scrubber, and there’s thousands of them. Just like you squeegee an window dry, each fiber squeegees a bit of gunk off your screen. It’s a pretty cool concept.

Which brings us to Toddy Gear and its Smart Cloth Collection.

Stylish Toddy Smart Cloths

What’s so smart about Toddy Gear’s Smart Cloth?

Well…, it’s a microfiber cloth, and it does a good job of removing screen goo. It’s also great for cleaning camera lenses, or any glass that has a relatively small surface area. I suppose that’s smart in a fastidious sort of way.

The cloth is plush on one side and smooth on the other, and it comes in a nice variety of designs on the smooth side. You can even put your company’s logo on it if you want. Perhaps that’s smart from a fashion conscious point of view.

The cloth sports an antibacterial coating that keeps the cloth from passing on any nasty micro-bits. The coating will continue working even after trips to the washing machine. I guess that’s smart from a medicinal standpoint.

That’s about it.

Blue on one side, cool on the other. Smallish though.

A 5 by 7 inch Smart Cloth, which looks good and does a good job of cleaning your screens will, however, set you back fifteen bucks. That’s not so smart.

If you stop in Target, Walmart, any automotive parts store, any supermarket, or even Pop’s General Store, you are likely to find packages of far more sizable swatches of microfiber cloths available for a fraction of the cost of one Smart Cloth. And you can get them in a variety of colors too.

Granted, the microfiber cloth bought from Pop’s won’t sport an antibacterial coating, but you can squirt a bit of isopropyl alcohol on Pop’s cloth if you feel a need to kill germs.

Bottom Line: Toddy Smart Cloth is smart looking, with its cornucopia of pattern choices, and it works great for cleaning what our greasy fingers leave behind on our device screens. It even works great on sunglasses, computer screens, and shiny baubles. The antibacterial feature is a good idea. It means that you can lend your Toddy to that guy who could be a candidate for the next pandemic’s patient zero award and feel like you have a little protection from the kooties he just wiped on the back of his hand.

The five by seven inch cleaner is an ok size for iPhones and iPod touches, but you’ll wish for something bigger when you use it on an iPad.

Even so, if a 5x7 inch Toddy Smart Cloth came at a reasonable price tag I’d be all over it . Who wouldn’t want a stylish antibacterial microfiber cleaning cloth to wipe up what we leave on the screen of very personal devices? At fifteen bucks a pop, however, I’d say only the very rich and the very foolish can afford it. The rest of us can be best served by grabbing a pack of microfiber towels from your local auto parts store.

If you’ve got money to burn then I can RECOMMEND* Toddy Smart Cloth. Otherwise stop at Pop’s.

* Note: My rating system goes like this;

• Get it Now! - Highest rating and an absolute must-have
• Highly recommend - Minor flaws, but a great product
• Recommend - Flawed, but still a solid product
• So-so - Problem product that may find a niche market
• Avoid - Why did they bother making it? A money waster.