The good guys at dbrand were willing to send us a few skins to try out on the LG G4. It’s likely you’ve heard of dbrand before, but if you haven’t, they specialize in making skins for your phone. These can be easily applied and removed with perfect precision. Different themes and color combinations can be used for different areas of the phone, and you can even order a custom sticker if you’re really in the mood for customization. Go have a peek at their website if you’re still confused.
In the boxÂ
All dbrand skins come in a desirable plastic sleeve, stuck onto the specialized 3M paper (more on that later). Simple, compact and effective, I could marvel at the packaging the whole day. Yes, it’s that… appealing. You’ll understand if you’re that type of guy that keeps his packaging.
Application
Ignoring the big bold text that recommended to firstly watch the video on how to apply the skin, I went straight ahead and applied  it without prior knowledge of what I’m doing. Thankfully, my first application worked out just fine, my only problems were that the skin was slightly misaligned with the speaker grid and that the edges were sticking out a bit.
After then watching the video, I learnt that you have to use a hair dryer to push down the edges and bits that stick up a bit. This stretches it a little bit and activates the stickiness a bit more, meaning the entire skin is flush with the device and that you won’t have pokey corners, instead it’ll curve round the edges more consistently.
dbrand have confidently said that their skins are the most precise on the market. While I have not had experience with other brands, I can certainly back them up here and, barring the speaker cutout, say that every millimeter is on point.
On that point, on the three skins that I had, only one aligned perfectly with the speaker grill, making me think that the problem is not within the skin itself, but rather how it is applied by the user. Perhaps I just need to jack up on my skills.
With the front stickers, you have the option to either have two separate skins for the top and bottom bezel, or have one skin which joins the top and bottom parts with the side bezels. These were the easiest to apply, and aligned perfectly with all the components at the top.
If you want to remove them, you simply pull up a corner somewhere and pull gently. Thanks to the high quality 3M paper that dbrand uses, you won’t find any glue or residual marks left behind. You also may be wondering if it’s possible to reuse skins, and the answer is yes, at least with the G4. You will, however, have to pull it off gently in a way that does not excessively stretch or create tears. Unfortunately, I could not reuse my carbon fibre skin:
Now is also a good time to mention that you cannot apply a skin to a leather back, only the plastic version.
The skins are approximately 0,23mm thick, but provide reasonable protection against scratches and the elements. Their high quality is the epitome of dbrand’s good workmanship.
In case you’re wondering what color to get, I’ll highly recommend the mahogany wood back. It looks better without the accents, though.
Overall, dbrand certainly has some quality products up their sleeves. The excellent customer service, range of skins and product quality is testament to their success in the field.
You can head over here if you want to take a look at G4 skins, or here if you want to go to their main page.
