The front skin comes with a screen protector that fits in like a puzzle piece. Watch the how to videos on dbrand.com and you'll see what I mean. Installation is also a lot easier than full size screen protectors for the whole front (in my opinion)
dbrand Skins
- Thread starter can6rxw
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The front skin comes with a screen protector that fits in like a puzzle piece. Watch the how to videos on dbrand.com and you'll see what I mean. Installation is also a lot easier than full size screen protectors for the whole front (in my opinion)
Guys can you help me? I read the thread and I understood that true color series offers more grip than other skins but I would know if the true color skin has the same grip of the stock backing or how less grip it has..
When deciding which skin has the best grip, it's really tough to say. They're all made of the exact same material (vinyl), which means that the difference in grip really only comes from the texture itself. None of the materials we currently offer have comparable grip with the stock backing of the Nexus 5, as the plasti-dip coating of the device itself is almost rubber (very grippy). We do, however, have a matte finish releasing very woon which will feature better grip than any of the materials we currently have available. It is comparable with the stock backing. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with!
Thank you for the reply, slickwraps told me the same thing, they are releasing a new matte finish skin, so I will decide between you and them when I'll see some pics or videos of example (I'm looking for a blue version). I have another question anyway, in your website the price of the nexus 5 skin is $17 but when I click on purchase and I choose the three parts of the skin the total price becomes $24; the price seems a little high, comparing it with other competitors...Is there any coupon code available for xda members?
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Hi dbrand, just wanted to say firstly what a great product. Never used a skin before but ordered the red and white carbon backs and just applied the red. Looks great.
Secondly, what a delivery. Ordered on the Wednesday, delivered on Monday. 5 days from date of order and 2 of them was the weekend! Oh, and I'm from the UK.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Secondly, what a delivery. Ordered on the Wednesday, delivered on Monday. 5 days from date of order and 2 of them was the weekend! Oh, and I'm from the UK.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Wonderful!! Glad to hear it arrived so quickly and that you're happy with the product. PM me if you place another order, I'd be happy to offer up a coupon.
Lookin good, sir.So I removed my mahogany.. ( it ripped in the process) but I put on my black titanium!
Now I know how to remove it without ripping
PM us.
Just got my white carbon fiber. Gonna pull off the mahogany (hopefully not rip it) and put on the carbon fiber skin.
Bamboo tester feels awesome.
I'll post up some pictures once I get it applied.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Bamboo tester feels awesome.
I'll post up some pictures once I get it applied.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Awesome! But also, damn those inconsistent postal workers lolJust letting you guys know #82294 is here. Daym impressive , took like only 7 days! wow! My last 2 orders took 16days and 25days.
lol , it looks really sexy. My cousin sent me the pics, and he is saying me to apply them when I get free from work. will let u post. .. posting pics here
@dbrandSkins , check attachments
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man, I have 2 nexus 5 now (including mine). Just want Moto G's skin now. My dad really loves my skin
Please give us some ETA for new website or anything.also, my brother owns a xperia Z any plans for that? I know it's an old model (compared to z1) , but still askin' , any plans for that?
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37N5 skins are on the way. Considering the N4 skins thread had 512,000 views and over 4400 responses, we should all be in for a LOTR journey on this thread.
There are a few elements that go into making a skin, I'll outline them below and give an ETA. Many tasks are done concurrently, we have many Robots.
1. Measure the device, draw the vector, cut the skin, apply the skin, measure the offset, repeat around 1,000x to achieve a flawless fit.
2. Cut a few hundred skins for the pre-orders and contemplate a few thousand more for the upcoming month.
3. Shoot and edit a how to apply tutorial video. Very high production values.
4. Shoot 14 skin styles in 5 angles on 2 devices (plus post-editing: colour correction, dust removal). You do the math.
5. Create renderings for 14 skin styles, 4 pieces (front/back/left_frame/right_frame), 2 devices, with/without nexus cutouts. More math?
6. About 80 computing hours of .jpeg/.png and compression on all the assets created.
7. Code all that sh*t on the site.
8. Hit hard on the marketing campaigns we planned out weeks ago.
ETA is (realistically) Monday morning for the pre-order. We'll ship everything but the screen protectors on Wednesday. Screen protectors will arrive shortly after.
Pricing is still TBD, but we are confirming the following coverage: Back piece with our signature "nexus" cutouts. Front piece (full picture-frame style). Frame pieces with intimidatingly-precise cutouts. Anti-glare screen protectors, fitted so that they insert into the front skin screen cutout like a puzzle piece.
I'll pop by with exclusive pre-release content once the creatorBots have worked a bit of their alchemy. So far all I can tell you is that installation is going to be a breeze. The soft-touch coating is prime for skins, and the extreme protrusion of the camera gives a reference point that is foolproof.
My name is femBot and I'll be here a lot once the release is finalized. Let me know if you have any questions. Looking forwards to this thread! Also, shout out to @can6rxw for spelling "dbrand" properly... we would have been really depressed having to look at a 500k thread a year from now that spelled it "Dbrand" or "DBrand". We appreciate this a lot more than you can comprehend.20Before I get to this multiquote, responding to each person with the love that they deserve, I want to clear the air about a few things. I don't blame you guys for the frustration that many of our customers have been feeling recently. Just a few months ago, our customer service was leaps and bounds beyond any other company out there. There were never more than 1-2 unread messages and our customers stayed happy.
Recently, we've gone through some big changes. dbrand is making the transition that every powerhouse megacorp has had to go through at one point. Investors have come on board, everything from quarterly to 10-year strategies are penciled in, and a lot of upgrades have been made to streamline manufacturing efficiency. In short, we've planted the seeds and are now awaiting crazy genetically modified fruits that nobody has ever seen before. Bigger than any of this, we have been silently working on a 100% brand new website. One which will destroy your preconceived notions of what eCommerce is.
While making this transition from a "startup" to an "enterprise-ready" corporation, we have failed to keep on par with the standard you have come to expect of our most important two duties: customer service and order fulfillment. After taking three days to do an in-depth strategic analysis with our entire team, our inbox never recovered. The 3,600 pending emails have been whittled down to under a thousand, but the 2,700 we responded to took far too long. Many of the customers who emailed 3-4x were simply fed up. Order fulfillment was done at the absolute base measure of completion.
Admittedly, this was not even close to our standard levels of service, however it was a necessary trade-off to get things running properly in the big picture. In an ideal world, we would simply close up shop for a month while we sort everything out. Unfortunately, that isn't an option, as December is the one month of the year when we strictly cannot skip a beat.
All we ask is that you bear with us a little while longer. Many years from now when dbrand is a household name, you can be proud that you stayed with us through this scale-up period. XDA has grown with dbrand from the beginning and we genuinely owe each one of the participants in dbrand threads a 'thank you'.
There seems to be a few recurring issues that have come up, so I'll get those out of the way before responding to each user individually:
1Q. Users with White Nexus 5 devices have had to decide between a properly fitting flash cutout versus a properly fitting "nexus" cutout. Even if they were to choose the "nexus" cutout, the cuts simply don't fit as intended.
1A. You are not crazy. The fit is not flawless on the white device. When we designed the skin, we designed it using a Black N5. The white device, while a close match, is by no means a 100% perfect fit. We released the skins with the mindset that, if applied properly, the fit would be about 90%. While we wouldn't call this "good enough", it was the best we could do with so much else going on. Any extra time coding logic into the website for two variants of the N5, or doubling the manufacturing process to accommodate two separate fits, was not feasible. Time was extremely limited, order volume was ever-increasing, and internal paradigm shifts were eating up most of our processing power. Add to this the fact that a brand new website is imminent, any change to the existing v2.999999 site would not be the most effective use of resources. To rectify this, we WILL be offering a separate fit for the white and black variants of the N5. The fit WILL be flawless. Unfortunately, this "official change" won't go live until the new version of our site. In the meantime, we'll be offering any users who were affected by the "White N5 Plague" 80% off a replacement. Once we fix the fit (likely this weekend), all you have to do is place an order for a back piece and write "MAKE SURE ITS THE N5WHT VARIANT" in the Special Instructions. I'll be active on here to make sure everyone knows when the white variant is live.
2Q. Users did not receive a response to emails for over 10 days.
2A. We've cleared every "admin" email: those are the ones which are direct responses to Order Confirmations. If you sent a "Contact Us" email in the past few days, it's been responded to or is being worked on right now. We're still sifting through the ones that are weeks old to find the questions that still have relevance. Turnaround time is shrinking by the hour, we'll soon be back to our standard of insta-customer service. This is definitely the #1 item on our priority list of balls not to drop.
3Q. User didn't receive a screen protector. Orders taking forever to receive.
3A. There is a very simple reasoning behind this, and the answer will kill two questions simultaneously. We ran out of screen protectors almost instantly due to a monster retail order for N5 skins. Many (most) of our eCommerce customers didn't receive screen protectors with their order, so we decided to include an explanatory note and a pack of lens skins (packaged in a dime bag) to counterbalance the inevitable frustration that comes along with not receiving the full order. It turns out that because of the thickness that a pack of lens skins adds to the envelope, along with its suspicious shape and feel (it's a dime bag), random orders (mostly those within the USA) have been getting inspections, slowing down the entire process. To rectify this, we've upgraded to a slightly larger 1/8th bag, allowing for the lens skins to more evenly distribute within the baggie and reduce thickness. Unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that your order is taking forever to arrive. If you haven't gotten an email from us within the past 48 hours and are still awaiting an order, please email us. We'll do our best to resolve the situation to your satisfaction.
4Q. User finds that the back skin stretches during removal, the letters rip, and it isn't as "re-usable" as was expected.
4A. The N5 back skins are 100% removable and re-usable, you must just employ the proper technique when taking it off. If the proper technique is used, the skin will have absolutely no warping, curling, stretching, ripped letters, or loss in adhesive. We'll likely make a video very soon to show how it's done, but here's a quick tutorial: 1. Apply a piece of regular scotch tape (the one that has the matte 50% opacity finish) over the "nexus" cutouts. Gently peel the four corners. Now select one corner and peel it off until there's enough space for you to firmly grip the device with your other hand. Rip the skin off with as much force as you possibly can. Make it a single, smooth motion; as if you were ripping off a band-aid. The reason that this works 10/10 times without stretching the skin is due to the nature of the adhesive bond. Breaking the adhesive bond requires a certain threshold of force. When you remove it slowly, you are delaying the inevitable break in the adhesive bond, while also allowing the adhesive to try it's hardest in resisting. This resistance is what causes stretching. While it may feel "wrong", tearing the skin off as quickly as possible results in force strong enough to consistently break the adhesive bond throughout the entire surface of the skin. A video will relay this information in a much more consumable fashion, but (as XDA members), you are all intelligent enough to understand what was explained above.
5Q. Frame pieces or edge of the back piece feels sharp when holding the device.
5A. As a few users have pointed out, just file the edge down with your fingernail. The skin you receive is freshly cut by an exceedingly sharp blade. When the incision is made and dragged through the material, it is cut at a strict 90 degree angle. This results in a corner which is sharp. Over time, the sharpness wears down. To expedite the process, just use your fingernail to wear down the edge a little bit. This won't harm the skin or your device.
On to the personal answers!! Pro-tip: Ctrl+F and type in your /u/ to find yours.
---------- Post added at 12:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 AM ----------
This was in reference to the Black Friday promotion. We weren't able to email our entire customer database at once due to regulations on send rates. We're slowly building up to a newsletter system where we can blast our entire database, but until then we have to send them in 5-10k batches. If there's any awesome deals that are going out via newsletter, I'll post it here as well.
Nexus 5 skins are just as re-usable as any other skin, see 4Q&A for an explanation. The 7-14 business day estimate is tough to break down for you unless I had your country. Guessing that it may be Hong Kong, you can expect delivery to be on the low end of that scale, often even below 7 business days.
Your English is wonderful! The front skin can be easily removed, but we wouldn't recommend removing the screen protector. It adheres using static cling and will collect dust if you remove it and attempt re-application. The front skin can be reapplied easily at a later date, simply fit it around the screen protector.
Due to the fact that you likely removed the skin like a logical human being (slowly and carefully), this resulted in a back piece that ended up warped. Use the technique outlined in 4Q&A for help in removal.
Not at all, our tests found that you need to almost fall asleep with the hairdryer on high before any damage can come to your phone. It's just a quick 3-5s on each corner and the skin will adhere wonderfully around the curved corner.
So... My spigen ultra hybrid and my mahogany came in the mail today
Though, the cut outs on my old n4 were more precise than this one.
Though I nearly ripped the e in the process of putting the skin on
This was a "White N5 Plague" issue. Once we release a precision fit for the White device variant, it won't be an issue.
Sorry man... It sounds like this was partially an issue with the fit, partially an issue with the installation. Perhaps shoot us an email (best way is to respond to your order confirmation), and we can set you up with a replacement.I have a similar issue myself. I bought the Black titanium. Looks brilliant but had issues matching the e in the nexus. To match the lettering up, I had to be a little off with the camera, although whilst doing that, I realised I was slightly too off with the camera, so I have a small area of the vinyl that actually rides up the side of the camera.
It's hard to explain. Basically if I look at the back of the Nexus, holding it upright in front of my face... as I look from the top edge of the phone and then look down towards the camera, the edge of the camera as it sticks out from the back of the phone... hasthe skin riding up it a bit. It looks ok a bit of a mess and I can only hold my self to blame for that part. i could have handled it better
Still looks good though, as long as I squint when looking at the camera
You're right, we really should have added this. The upcoming site will have a "Forums" section, one where these pro-tips will be revealed and discussed heavily. Stay tuned for that.
Cool idea with the "x" cutouts, lens skins will be included free with every order of a full front/back/frame skin. Stay tuned for that addition when the new site goes live.
Although the sale called for "Over $25", we included an exception to make it for $24 to include all the Nexus 5 users Even when we're not here, even when we seem to be off in another land not caring about the customer or responding to their emails, we're always thinking of you.
Sorry about that, bud. Shoot us an email response to your Order Confirmation if you haven't already and we'll get it sorted out as quickly as we can.
Ditto to you, Jim. If you haven't already been resolved through an email contact, send a response to your Order Confirmation and someone will help you out.
Damn you, Canada Post. We're not dealing drugs! They're just lens skins!!!!! Seriously though, respond to your Order Confirmation if you haven't already been helped.I placed my order on Nov/16 ... got the email "released from warehouse" on Nov/20 ...
Today is the 29th ( that makes it 7 business days ) and the order is nowhere to be seen...
wait for it...wait for it !!! ... I'm in Cambridge/Waterloo area... which is less then an hour drive from Toronto !!!
If we could, we'd Amazon Prime Air that **** straight to your doorstep. Thanks for sticking with us, Mr. Waffles.
USPS.
You're 100% on the ball. Support has been lacking. We're looking to turn that around as quickly as we can and get things back on track. Thanks for your patience with us while we play catch-up.
You should start to worry. Email us if it hasn't arrived yet and we'll have someone get to the bottom of it!
Half-assed is quite the correct term for this. We outlined the reasoning behind the White N5 mess-up in 1Q&A, but I'll re-iterate for you here: We're sorry that the fit wasn't as you had expected it would be. We'll be re-releasing the N5 skins, with a fit specific to the white device, with the launch of our new site. In the meantime, we'll let everyone here know once the fit has been updated and you can order a replacement back piece at 80% off.
Very true. Very, very, painfully true.
Those "Contact Us" forms really piled up quickly during our strategic analysis & planning break. Since you didn't receive an Order Confirmation email, send me a PM with your email address and I'll make sure someone from Order Processing gets back to you with an update right away. Sorry about that.
5Q&A: File the edge down with your nail a bit. This will smooth out the sharp edges.
Let me know if this hasn't been resolved/received and I'll have someone get in touch.So if I don't receive mine today, I think I will have to shoot them an email. I'm in Wisconsin and I'm seeing people across the ocean getting theirs faster than me. I'm betting that mine must be lost in the mail.
Sorry about the ridiculousness, Jim. Hopefully we've resolved your issue by now, but please let me know if that's not the case.
You can definitely put the front piece over the screen protector, but that won't be required because our front skins come packaged with screen protectors. If yours arrived without a screen protector, rest assured we'll still send it out. It will come alongside a fresh front piece.
Can't blame you for being mad. If there's anything I can do to make it up, please don't hesitate to askNo response from "contact us" on their website or their rep on here by the name of "dbrandSkins" either !!!
My order shipped out on the 20th still not here ( less then an hour from Toronto )
This is what I meant previously by poor support.... mail can get lost sometimes, I understand that... but to follow up with your customers toward a resolution is the MOST important for business.
On that alone... I would NOT buy from them again. !!!
There are alternatives out there right now ( with more precision measurements by reports ) -->> slickwraps, XGear, Stickerboy ...etc
BTW... the back piece from slickwraps is MORE fully covered then the dbrand one !!
This is fully our fault. We built up a clean reputation for instant customer support. Over the last few weeks, our customer support has taken a major hit. We're working hard to get it back on track. You should expect a lot more from us, as we are fully capable of delivering on it. Thanks for sticking through with us.
Their website "contact us" said "expect a response within 24hrs" ... yeah right !!
sry
To be fair, FB is a totally different part of the team. They just sort of post up to keep activity levels consistent and brand awareness flowing. They're not built for customer support. Hopefully your multiple emails have been responded to by now, let me know if anything is still pending.
Indeed it is bad practice. It's not a black hole we ever intended to get this deep into, it just sort of snowballed over the past few weeks while working on scaling up the dbrand operation. Hopefully you'll give us another chance.I fully understand about lost mail...etc
My beef is about their customer services !!! no response follow up at all !! That's bad practice !!!
Germany is consistently the fastest country on the planet to deliver letter mail. Don't expect it to take more than 3-5 days max.
Check your email, I believe this was resolved last night.hi guys and gals. Yesterday I get my nexus 5 skin ...
But there is something wrong
I ordered an red_carbon Frame Skin but its black_carbon
The Screen Protector is completely missing no protector or potbag with camera pieces
I wrote an email yesterday and have written to their facebook page to inform dbrand
I'm waiting now since yesterday I get a feedback ... but nothing
My order number is 87484
Let me know if this hasn't already been resolved and I'll have someone look into it.
Thank you so much for the support, Dicy. Soon enough this Q4 2013 fiasco will be a distant memory.
F*ck I remember that phone call. One of the bots told me to get on XDA immediately and when I saw that it was up to 80+ pages (likely full of perfectly legitimate complaints), I wanted to jump in a lake of battery acid. Hopefully everyone here will be understanding of our situation and give us a shot to make things right.
Woooo! Things are finally looking upWell my shipping date estimate has come and long gone and still haven't received my order! I ended up emailing them yesterday and got a reply early this morning! They will be re-shipping my order. So lets hope this time I get my order, great cs.
It will be sent out automatically, along with an email letting you know it's been shipped.19We're getting EXTREMELY close!! Below is a screenshot of the upcoming Shop page for the Nexus 5 on mobile.
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Okay, before I pic spam the thread with juicy red and black titanium goodness, thanks @dbrandSkins for a speedy delivery! It’s probably because it’s within Canada and from Toronto to Winnipeg, but 2 days is still pretty damn good. I got them Thursday, but only had time to snap some pics today. Also, cheers for the bonus back!! That was unexpected, but entirely awesome. If I ever get tired of the black titanium (which may be never, it’s amazing! I might force myself to switch it up though) I’ll definitely rock the WCF. Maybe I’ll do the red and white for Canada Day!
I’m not doing any company vs. company skin comparisons folks, I don’t give a damn about that. I wanted to throw some support to dbrand as well. I don’t mind supporting multiple/competing companies. My experiences with the product/customer service will dictate where the dollars flow. I don’t particularly enjoy public bickering. I’ve simply heard a lot of good things about dbrand and I wanted to give it a shot as well. Also, Black Titanium! Red and black is probably my favorite colour combo, but red and metallic black, damn!
Material Quality:
Hmmm, vinyl, good vinyl! It mimics the look and feel of metal pretty well. Nice striations, nice variations in groove thickness and shading. The skin didn’t stretch at all; the lettering was even and pretty much perfect. The camera and flash cutout were also perfect. There is nothing really to complain about in terms of the quality of material, cutouts, and design/feel. The material feels durable, and seems like it can take a beating with no problems.
The colouring of the Black Titanium didn't exactly follow the colouring from the dbrand website, but since they are revamping the site, I'm going to guess the pictures will be a more accurate portrayal then. The colour isn't super dark like the site, it is more of a dark metallic gray. That makes sense as it is trying to mimic metal, but just an FYI for those of you thinking it's very dark. Depending on the lighting and angle though, as you'll see from the pics, it can look gray, to metallic shimmering, to almost black. So overall, I'm happy with the colour and the effects.
**NOTE: People have said that the skins don’t go very close to the edge leaving a bigger gapped border. I’m not going to dispute that, the skin does leave more of a gap. In this particular case though, I preferred that, for two reasons. First, it made installation ridiculously easy. Put it on, press it down, hit it with a hair dryer for a couple of seconds around the edges/corners and down it all went. Second, this is circumstantial due to the colour of the skin and phone. The effect on the back of the phone with the skin, mirrors the effect on the front between the screen and the red borders of the phone. When you look at the front of the phone, you see the red outline around the screen. When you look at the back of the phone, you also see the red outline around the skin! It just happened to work out that way with the red phone, and it just happens to be an awesome effect!
If I was to really nitpick, I could say the edges were a bit rough against the hand. But I guess there’s nothing you can really do about that, it’s just how the edges are when they are cut. Maybe they can be cut at an angle in the future, to create more of a beveled edge. I do use a bumper (though I want to go naked) so I won’t feel the edges anyway though.
Installation:
I only chose the back skin. I like having a simple glass slab on the front. It keeps things clean, smooth, and minimalistic. There is also a Nillkin H+ tempered glass screen protector on the phone, and I wouldn’t want to put a skin over that anyway. I also chose not to have side skins as I wanted to keep the red border. I’m using bumper cases anyway, so it was pretty much pointless.
Anyway, installation was a breeze. The fit around the camera cutout was impeccable! Not a hint of red anywhere. I appreciate how the NEXUS cutout is a little more “forgiving” by being a tiny bit thicker. The lettering is still even, exact, and precise; but having wider openings lets a little more of the red through, which I really like. It allows NEXUS to pop a little bit more in contrast.
The corners and sides went down very easily and remained even throughout. There is no wavy unevenness anywhere along the edge. Using the hair dryer made things very simple, and it only took a couple of seconds to make the skin more pliable. You could see the corners fold down on their own when heat was applied. Then it was just a quick smooth over with the fingers.
As I mentioned earlier, lining up the NEXUS was very easy because the cutouts are a little bit wider than the letters on the phone. You can see a slight outline beyond the indented letters on the back of the phone, but these were also even within the cutouts and just made a nice border.
Overall Look:
@#$%ing SEXY! That’s pretty much all that needs to be said. I bought a red phone as a replacement specifically because I wanted to skin it and have red letters through the skin. The red colour itself is nice; I like how it’s such a ridiculous neon red. There were a couple of times where I was planning to just go skinless, but I’m glad I didn’t. It won’t suit every look, or every type of skin, but when you put specific types of skins on, such as the Black Titanium or Black/White Carbon Fibre, it is gorgeous. The black and white phones can’t compare when the right skin is on this phone. Black Titanium is one of those skins. The look is just hot!
Pic SPAM:
Hey mmmmBACON... Shut up and show me more pics!
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