Anybody can drive out to Walmart and pick up the average black Xbox One or PlayStation 4. The same goes for buying controllers, cell phones, computers, and practically any device.
Imagine that you stand in line to meet Harrison Ford after watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There are hundreds of people in line that have a Sharpie in one hand, a photograph in the other. Why bother standing in line for hours to meet someone for approximately two minutes? It’s the opportunity to have a personalized photo that nobody else could have.
No matter what, that photo will always be personalized to you; one of a kind! The same should go for your electronic devices. You have a normal iPhone or Android device that isn’t any better than the guy from down the street, so why not make it your own?
Just a few years ago, many eBay and online sellers offered customization services that would take in your device, customize it to your liking and send it back. While this was easy for Xbox and PlayStation controllers, trusting somebody with an expensive cell phone, laptop, or gaming console wasn’t so popular.
Jump forward to today and a quick Google search shows that there are a few new options for customizing devices; some sellers even offer skins for NFL teams, movies, and cartoons.
One of these sellers is a Canadian based brand that is gaining some interest in the market. While they don’t have NFL branded skins they do offer some exotic styles and colors for a range of products. With available skins ranging from cell phones to gaming consoles and styles like Carbon Fiber or a wood finish, the chances of somebody else having your identical style is slim to none.
Welcome to my review of the Dbrand skin kit for the Xbox One. Throughout this review, I will be discussing the following topics: the unboxing, usage, and my final thoughts. A special thank you to Dbrand for providing these skins.
Unboxing
When choosing which of my devices to customize, I wanted something that offered a lot of surface area and a device that I would see every day. My Xbox One sits in my home office and is the center piece of the large TV credenza, and I thought it was time to customize it.
With the credenza being a dark wooden finish, I wanted something that would allow the Xbox to blend into its cubby hole, but at the same time stand out to the user.
Before you even get to the unboxing, the first order of business is the customization tool on Dbrand’s website. You select your desired device and a virtualization page appears which allows you to click on different sides of the device to customize it and see it in real time.
In my case, everything from the front, to the top, bottom, sides, controllers, and Kinect was customizable. Every single side and component can be customized using a different skin, meaning you can either keep it uniformed as I did or go all out with different colors and a carbon fiber mix.
After a while of online customizing, I settled on the Xbox being a black carbon fiber, Kinect in mahogany wood, and two controllers in carbon fiber black and matte white.
The skins arrived in a Dbrand sleeve and are applied to a 3M wax paper that allows the skins to be easily peeled off without damage.
All of the ordered skins are packaged into the same sleeve, which typically wouldn’t be too much of a problem, however, while some skins in the sleeve are quickly identified like the Kinect and controllers, others were harder to distinguish.
When it comes time for installation, a hair dryer may be required as well as alcohol rub pads for a clean application of your skins. On their website, Dbrand has some excellent YouTube videos that guide you through the entire process. These videos are clear, easy to follow and use both imagery and voice to guide you through the process.
Usage
With the Xbox and accessories on the kitchen table, I decided to apply the Dbrand skins without any assistance of the video. For quite a while it went incredibly smooth.
The front, sides, and top of the Xbox were very straight forward, with only the bottom being somewhat troublesome for me and requiring assistance with the video.
As the videos state, applying the skins from one corner then working your way down the sides is the best application method. By just using your hands to push out any air bubbles and wrinkles, I was very pleased with the outcome of the Xbox.
Applying skins to the controllers requires a hair dryer and following the video. The hair dryer heats up the skin which allows it to stretch around the sides without any tears to the skin. Take your time on this process, as I found that even after being careful I was still left with slight marks that has lifted after being applied to the controller. A quick reheat and reapply fixed this issue.
Lastly, for the Kinect, this was applied in its current position which was still very easy to do. Dbrand skins peel off the wax paper flawlessly and are applied very smoothly. In the end, the wood finish matched perfectly with the wooden credenza.
One reoccurring problem I had, however, was when applying the overlay for the “Xbox One” logo, you need to place a small skin over the logo, apply, then quickly peel off. This is much harder than it sounds and while I did get it to apply to the Xbox, the Kinect was too troublesome to bother with. Dbrand does include two of these overlays in case you do mess up.
After about a month and a half of being in use, the skins have yet to peel off or cause any overheating to the device. When holding the Xbox controller with its skin, I didn’t notice any difference and it even adds protection against any wear.
Every single skin is perfectly cut with ultimate precision. I couldn’t believe at how well the skins lined up to the Xbox and controllers, it’s as if they tested the fit before sending out each skin.
Furthermore, the skins are a 3M material which shows that Dbrand cares for what materials they are using and want them to last as long as the device.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, I am very pleased with how well the customization process went. There are options for carbon fiber, matte, metal, leather, true colors, and wood that allow for many possibilities. The online customization, videos, and application process made this a smooth transaction that I would easily do again, especially for a cell phone. With most skins only costing $3.71 and the entire Xbox costing $40, it’s something that I highly recommend taking advantage of and enjoying your own, one-of-a-kind, device.
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