Ten facts about dbrand stickers

A small overview of popular vinyl stickers on the example of Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

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The SGN 4, which turned out to be at my disposal by chance, has experienced a lot for almost a year and a half of use, from falls, neighborhood with keys and coins in pockets of clothes and ending with serious drowning. All adversities were courageously overcome, but the appearance of the smartphone has undergone albeit minor, but visible changes. Scuffs appeared on the rear panel, small chips and scratches appeared on the front panel, the edges were slightly worn out. And I often began to notice that the device now and then strives to slip out of the hand, despite the texture of the back cover. In search of solutions to eliminate external acquired defects, I came across dbrand Canadians, whose products can often be seen in reviews of Western video bloggers MKBHD, Unbox Therapy, LinusTechTips, Austin Evans and others.

After some simple manipulations to choose the color of the sticker on the website and three weeks of waiting (the May holidays intervened), the letter reached and the smartphone received a new 'wrapper'. So, ten facts about dbrand.

1. Philosophy

There is a feeling that initially the brand was created as a tool for a kind of depersonalization of devices, so that it would be impossible to understand what kind of model is in front of you. Probably, this was facilitated by the consonance of the name: dbrand-debrand (literally, get rid of the brand). Today, the company's message is to rid the world of low-quality shells for devices.

2. Scope of delivery: minimum required

Stickers are delivered in a fairly hard branded envelope, depending on the selected elements, it may contain two or three sheets of 3M paper with elements pasted on it.

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Nothing superfluous, everything is strict and tidy, thanks to DHL and the Russian Post for careful delivery. I read that there were cases when stickers were delivered crumpled, with bent corners, the responsibility is entirely on the delivery service. To dbrand's credit, it should be said that the company very closely monitors such incidents and works only with respectable services. At the same time, the Americans Slickwraps add film to the screen to their stickers, a trifle, but nice. So there is something to strive for.

3. Bonding process: no need to rush.

It cannot be said that there was something complicated in the process of transforming the device, but either fatigue affected, or the mood was wrong, but I made a couple of mistakes, so the sticker 'lay down' in places a little unevenly. But in general, the result was completely satisfied.

 Slight offset from the left edge.  The original color of the back cover is visible.

Slight offset from the left edge. The original color of the back cover is visible.

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Adhesive error is noticeable around the center key

Separately, it is worth mentioning the video instruction from dbrand, with humor they have absolutely everything in order, both in the video and in the communication on Twitter. Fk you, Verizon

The line of communication with users is quite original. The latter are referred to as 'human' (human), while dbrand in the network position itself as 'robots' (robots). An interesting step, the brand catches on with the originality of its presentation and disposes of itself.

4. Impressions on the level.

The final result caused predominantly positive emotions, the smartphone began to look more strict, the inexpressive gold color changed to matte black, which is closer to me personally. The phone stopped sliding in the hand, the grip became more reliable, it became possible in some scenarios to use the smartphone with one hand without fear of slipping out.

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In terms of accuracy, the skin is excellent, all connectors, bends, indentations and elevations on the body of the device are verified with the utmost meticulousness. The mistakes I made a little spoil the impressions (you can recall the saying about the first pancake), but in general they are not so significant. Still, there were other negative aspects.

5. Thickness: slightly more than necessary

After the skin was glued, I immediately noted the fact that it is not as thin as I would like. Thickness plays a role mainly on the front of the phone, I often touch the edges when working with the display, they protrude above it and violate the feeling of the device's integrity.

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In theory, this annoying little thing could be corrected with a protective glass, but from my own experience I realized that it is quite difficult to find a glass that is adequate in appearance for a 2.5D screen. So I had to get used to and stop noticing the edges protruding above the surface.

6. Working with a fingerprint scanner – minus

The biggest criticism on my part was caused by the fact that the sticker applied to the center key completely blocks the fingerprint recognition process. Thus, you will either have to abandon this unlocking method, or remove the sticker from the button, which somewhat violates the visual completeness of the skin. I chose the second option for myself. Here's what the 'robots' answered to my question about this feature of the stickers:

@voi_sko No. Technically you can re-register your fingerprint with a skin applied, but the results are terrible.

– dbrand (@dbrandSkins) May 17, 2016

Well, while there is no way to technically implement such a scenario, we will know

7. Not a bad combination of price / quality

The skin cost me 15 dollars, something about a thousand rubles at the current exchange rate. Is it worth it? Yes, the goal of making the device less slippery and more visually pleasing has been achieved, despite the flaws mentioned. Shipping costs $ 9, not so much money in my opinion. There are special conditions for international delivery, which becomes free for orders of $ 35 and more. Not a bad offer for a group of friends who have decided to customize their devices. It may seem a little expensive to some, but it is significantly cheaper than, for example, sending a repainter to Colorware, which can cost thousands of dollars.

8. Maximum customization

Depending on the device, up to 22 two color and texture variations of the future skin are available on the site. The most popular, apparently, are the solutions with a carbon texture, they look really great.

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As a rule, skins are divided into front, back and side parts. For some devices, such as, for example, the Nexus and HTC 10, customization of the logo on the back is available, which is also a very cool option, with due diligence and accuracy, you can get cool gadgets with an unusual exterior. For laptops, for example, different colors of the trackpad are available.

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9. Variety of solutions

Not everything is so cloudless here. Devices 'support' is limited to the most popular top-end or near-end devices. In other words, you won't be able to find anything for Meizu or Xiaomi. Although the same OnePlus are present, there is a paradox.

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Still, dbrand's portfolio is not small. Here and Macbook in different variations, smart watches, full-size headphones from Audi oTechnica, game consoles, laptops and hybrid devices from several manufacturers, and, of course, smartphones and tablets.

10.dbrand vs slippery phones

Not so long ago, a new trend has emerged on the market for the release of stylish devices in the design of which smooth metal or glass is used. Still, not everyone is close to this paradigm, so dbrand has expanded the line of supported devices, adding flagships from Samsung and Sony to it. Controversial, but I would not hesitate and ordered something similar for the new super-slippery smartphone, which helps to maintain the integrity and appearance

Instead of output

I want to note that the article was not intended as an advertising one, dbrand does not pay me for anything and does not send samples, no matter how much I would like it. Vinyl stickers seemed to me to be an adequate alternative for those who do not like cases, but strive for the safety of the phone and customization of the appearance for their own pleasure and the formation of a certain image. With all the pros and cons, the product is interesting, well made and beautifully presented.

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