[Nexus 5 Accessories] whyhellothere1:
So I purchased dbrand's and Cruzerlite's skins. I took a few photos, tried all of them on, and wrote a short comparison/review. I intended to buy a full black leather set from dbrand. I purchased a stealth white skin and a kyrobe wood skin from Cruzerlite. Unfortunately, since I have a new user, I can't direct link to imgur just yet, so I've attached the photos in this post and manually placed the links under each category.

Back Skins

imgur.com/wK4slhB

dbrand's is on the top (black leather), while one of Cruzerlite's is on the bottom (kyrobe wood). What I noticed first was that Cruzerlite's skins had thinner letters than dbrand's. dbrand's letter cutouts are more precise in the fact that they're closer to the size it is on the actual Nexus 5, but Cruzerlite's narrower lettering made it slightly easier to put on as then you'd have some leeway when applying the skin. I also noticed that Cruzerlite's had a dip where the audio port would've been (bottom right of the photo), while dbrand's doesn't. In my opinion, this doesn't matter, because dbrand's skin is smaller than Cruzerlite's.

In regards to the size, I much prefer dbrand's smaller skin over Cruzerlite's bigger one. Aesthetically, Cruzerlite's looks better because it covers the entire back of the phone. Practically, however, it's a total hassle. Even after using a hairdryer, the edges and corners of Cruzerlite's skin would still stick up just a little bit, so that I could feel it scratch on my hand whenever I held my phone. It became annoying quickly when I could hear the skin scrape as I put it in and out of my phone and could see it begin to collect a little bit of dust.

i.imgur.com/T9zXH8w.jpg

I don't know if my White Stealth skin from Cruzerlite was defective or whether it was just more noticeable on a white skin, but the quality of the cut just was terrible on a close inspection. From a distance, you can't tell, but if you leave your phone on your table while you work, you'll be able to catch it. I couldn't see this degree of imperfection on dbrand's skin or Cruzerlite's black kyrobe skin. I can't tell if it's because they're not defective or if it's by virtue of them being dark colored skins instead of a light colored one.

Side Skins

Cruzerlite: i.imgur.com/gco0Hzt.jpg

Unfortunately, due to an ordering snafu, dbrand sent out a black titanium front skin instead of black leather side skins (i.imgur.com/cMbl4Ek.jpg). dbrand apparently has 2 side skins, one for white N5's and one for black N5's. Hopefully the dbrand poster here can help me out with this, as I haven't sent them an email yet about it.

Cruzerlite, on the other hand, does not, but gives you plenty of spares and has its side skins broken up into more pieces than dbrand's, which can make it easier for a person who has shaky hands.

I wasn't particularly happy with Cruzerlite's side skins, though. They left a lot of gap room on the sides of the phone and just looked tacky after I applied all of them. It definitely didn't make the phone look seamless.

Front Skins

Cruzerlite: i.imgur.com/gco0Hzt.jpg

dbrand: i.imgur.com/q3b5JLe.jpg

As seen, Cruzerlite gives you one skin with the side edges and 2 pairs of front skins for just the top and bottom of the N5's front. dbrand gives you just the front skin with side edges. Variety is always nice. However, dbrand also gives you some nice matte screen protectors that fit inside the front skin, which is a great bonus (forgot to take photos of these).

There was, unfortunately, some imperfection with dbrand's front skin (i.imgur.com/5jGmQpl.jpg). I don't know whether it'll affect its adhesive qualities in the long run, but it was definitely bothered me when I saw it.

Conclusions

Cruzerlite's skin (includes back, sides, and front) cost $9.00, not including shipping. dbrand's skin are sold separately: $10 for back, $7 for front, and $7 for sides. It's $3 for shipping, and can take up to 2 weeks depending on where you live.

Personally, I'd pay the premium for dbrand. I use my phone day in and day out, and hopefully will for the next 4 years. Cruzerlite, while serviceable, looks as if it will need replacing relatively soon, given how the back skin is big enough for the edges of the skin to scrape against everything and collect dust and how the "Nexus" cutout seems to be inconsistently and shoddily-made. I couldn't compare the side skins, but Cruzerlite's were pretty terrible. As for front skins, Cruzerlite's offered 2 different options, while dbrand provided 2 free screen protectors.