Two years ago, dbrand launched a campaign on Indigogo for a bumper case called Grip. It intended to offer extreme grip and shock protection, but unfortunately, after long-term use, customers reported it falling apart. This year, dbrand came out with the second generation of Grip. This time, they’ve opted for a material that offers less grip but doesn’t fall apart in the long term. Also, it’s not a bumper case but a full body case that you can customize with dbrand’s own skins.
Note: dbrand sponsors a lot of YouTube videos and articles, but this review (clearly) is not sponsored by dbrand.
I bought the Grip for my OnePlus 6 and paired it with a white marble case skin. I’ve been using the Grip for a month now, and there’s a lot I have to say. Let’s dive right in.
Aesthetics and design
Right off the bat, you can tell that the Grip is a pretty good looking case. The power button, volume up, and volume down buttons are grooved, while the case is cut for the alert slider.
The backplate of the case covers the entire surface of the phone and reveals only the camera, flash, and fingerprint scanner. The cutouts for the headphone jack, speaker, and mics have been cut almost exactly to their size, but the USB-C cutout is rather large, even when accounting for the charging cable.
One rather disappointing observation I made was a separating line between all four edges of the case. While it’s purely aesthetic, it’s something that I don’t expect from a company like dbrand since these are commonly found in cheap plastic toys.
The inner part of the case is lined with microfiber and has a rather nice dbrand decal embedded into it. The edges of the case are raised at the top and bottom, slowly making it flush with the screen in the middle. They call this their “Crescent Arc” design that should help protect the screen in face-down impacts.
The unique thing about this case is that you can customize its backplate with dbrand’s own skins. You can leave it empty if you want, and you’ll get a standard looking case with “grip” embedded in the dark gray backplate. I, however, went ahead and applied a white marble case skin on it.
Feel in the hand
Here come the disappointments. The first thing you’ll notice is that the case is not grippy. I found this rather surprising since dbrand advertises this as the “world’s grippiest phone case.” The rubbery coating around the case is barely grippy, if at all. The slightly glossy “grip points” on the side do offer some added grip in the hand, but it’s still not as much as I’d expected. The hard plastic backplate doesn’t help either. It still does offer more grip than the clear plastic case included with the OnePlus 6, but it falls far behind a silicone case.
As for the grip on surfaces, I placed it on many surfaces including glass, laminate, and a leather seat, but it showed the same result: almost no grip. I did notice one thing, however, the grip is slightly better when it’s placed face-down.
Another thing is that this case is thick all around—the edges and the back. In fact, it’s much thicker than the camera bump. The thickness is largely noticeable and it makes my OnePlus 6 feel way bulkier than it actually is. It also adds noticeable weight to the phone. The cutout for the fingerprint scanner in the backplate is quite raised, but you’ll get used to that in a few days and it didn’t serve much of a problem.
The backplate of the case is slightly recessed to match the thickness of a skin, but despite installing a skin, there is a noticeable ridge. The way I hold my phone prevents my palm from resting on the ridge formed, but it could cause pain after long intervals if you hold it on the ridge.
Using the case daily
Like I mentioned earlier, the case is thick and because of this, I had trouble plugging in some headphones. For instance, my Audio Technica M40X and an AUX cable from RadioShack didn’t fit, but my urBeats did fit because of its plug’s smaller width. This, however, is quite a dealbreaker for many since it renders your headphone jack practically useless unless you’re on the wireless train. I think dbrand should’ve at least included an adapter, and they did with the first gen Grip.
Another gripe I have with the case’s thickness is that it affects the microphone. It causes the voice during phone calls to be ever so slightly tinny and “Hey Google” detections don’t work as well as they did before. Also, the thickness makes the alert slider slightly harder to use.
While in theory dbrand’s “Crescent Arc” design sounds good, in practice, it’s not. If you put your phone in the pocket of your jeans and then remove it, you’ll see that the top edge of the phone has collected a lot of dust from your pocket. Moreover, this is near the earpiece which could affect it in the long term.
One thing I have to give dbrand credit to is the tactility of the buttons. At first, the buttons were stiff but continued use removed the stiffness. The problem is that you’re generally using only the power button on the phone and because of this, the volume buttons remain stiff. Both the buttons still remain tactile, however. If you’re a man of stealth like me, pressing the buttons on the lower edge keeps them quiet.
“The dbrand Grip is engineered using advanced shock-absorbing polymers, giving you military-grade impact protection” is also one of the things dbrand claims. Unfortunately, I don’t have an extra phone lying around to test this. What I can say, though, is that I’ve been lightly flinging the phone onto tables and it’s managed no cracks in the glass.
Final verdict
You can tell that I’m not happy with the case. Coming in at $39.90 (with the skin) makes it worse. I really like the design and the fact that I can customize it with dbrand’s skins. But whenever I have to play a match of PUBG Mobile or just listen to music, I need to remove the case so I can plug my headphones in. Whenever I take the phone out of my pocket, I need to wipe the dust away. Moreover, when I take the case off (which I shouldn’t be doing in the first place), I get reminded of how bulky the case makes my phone.
And keep an eye out for dbrand’s advertising. They’re pretty much selling a product that isn’t as advertised. Statements like “the world’s grippiest phone case,” “you’ll barely even know the Grip is there,” and “traditional phone case designs make accessing the edge of your screen nearly impossible” are all untrue.
Would I recommend it? It depends. First things first, do not buy the case if you’re looking for a grippy case. If your phone doesn’t have a headphone jack or you’re on the wireless train, the headphones situation won’t affect you. The bulkiness of the case and the other problems caused by it, however, are unavoidable. If you’re prepared for these, it could be a good buy, especially with its good design. However, even the bulkiness alone makes it a case I don’t like using every day and thus, I’d highly recommend looking for something else.
