As winter sets in, I am reminded of an all-too-familiar frustration with owning a touchscreen phone: no matter how hard I mash away at the screen, I can’t quickly skip over that song I don’t want to hear if I’m wearing gloves. Or check my email. Or do anything. Touchscreen devices are not responsive to gloved finger taps. When you have a long walk from the subway to your office and it’s a bitter 15 degrees outside, the glove game gets old fast.

Fortunately, a few third party distributors have thought of a solution. Gloves with special rubbery tips enable finger taps, so your hands don’t have to brave the cold every time you want to fiddle with your phone. Convinced I had to look into these mobile mitts for Christmas presents (and maybe for myself), I decided to do some research. Gizmodo blogger Mark Wilson offers a review of three brands of iPhone gloves. His conclusion? They’re not great. One pair simply covers fingertips with moveable fabric hinges, allowing you to quickly expose your bare fingers to type — but also to the cold. The other two brands’ versions completely cover your hands but only facilitate intermittent responsiveness. (And why is the person in that photo holding an iPhone upside-down?) Aesthetically, the gloves are fairly ridiculous, covered in crop-circle-looking grips that would clash with most wardrobes.

Although they don’t sound great, they’re better than nothing. iPhone gloves may still be worth a shot if you find yourself in my situation frequently: frustrated with freezing my hands to rewind my podcast 30 seconds. Besides, they’d be a great addition to your TRON guy costume if you’re planning on dressing up for the movie release this weekend.

Read more about iPhone gloves on Gizmodo.com.