Touchscreen Gloves for Travel

I was in Astana, it was winter, it was freezing. At 51 degrees north latitude that place is cold, cold and windy, barren and cold for much of the year. I was making my way through the new city — through the land of misfit skyscrapers where a good portion the estrange rejects of the world’s modern architectural endeavors are piled up — looking for the particular green squiggly building that I had a meeting in (Yes, there are multiple green squiggly buildings there). I needed to use a map app on my phone to guide my way, and I befell an unsolvable strategic conundrum:

If I wanted to use my phone I would need to remove my gloves, if I removed my gloves my fingers would quickly get so cold that it would be difficult to properly use my phone.

Relying on a smartphone to enact required daily functions is a relatively new state of affairs. Though I’ve had smartphones since 2009 I only began continuously using them around three years ago. I intelligently have stayed out of frigid weather during this time, so I had yet to experience that inevitability of the cold weather traveler: needing to use a touchscreen phone outside when it’s freezing.

It was fortunate coincidence that Mujjo, a Dutch company that manufactures premium touchscreen gloves, got in touch around two weeks later. They offered me a pair of their touchscreen gloves.

The gloves shipped from the Neatherlands and arrived today. The bag they came in had a picture of someone wearing the gloves looking at a smartphone that had the weather for Yakutsk opened up on it. Siberia. Suiting.

The product description on the bag boasted that the gloves have a:

• Flawless touchscreen experience
• Magnetic snap closure
• Leather wrist strap and cuff
• Fleece lining for a soft touch
• Anti-slip dots at palms

Also suiting.

I opened them up and looked inside, grabbed them and pulled them out. They were softer and thicker than I expected. The material list has them being made mostly of acrylic, with some spandex and silver yarn, which is yarn that has silver vaporized over it, which is what makes the gloves work with a touchscreen. The gloves were well made, the stitching was solid, the snap was riveted through the fabric — what you would expect for the 24.75 Euro price tag. They were surprisingly warm.

The rubber grip bumps on the palms

I put them on. Picked up my phone. After a few minutes of getting the feel for them I could scroll, flip pages, push buttons . . . use the phone.

Yes, for the traveler who ventures outside the tropics touchscreen gloves are an essential piece of travel gear. Next time I go back to Astana I will be ready.

More Mujjo touchscreen gloves can be found here.

The metallic snap