DBrand Grip is a slightly above average slim case. The DBrand Grip handles well, provides average drop protection and has terrible buttons. The only thing that bumps DBrand Grip above the average case is that you can spend more money and buy a custom 3M cover for the back.
But honestly, weʼd take a set of usable buttons over the customization feature any day. Need more details about our DBrand Grip Review? Keep reading!
Score
3.9 Eh’s out of 5
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PROS:
- Better than the average case
- Microfibre texture on the inside
- Customizable back
CONS:
- The “new” and “revolutionary” features aren’t that “new” or “revolutionary”
- Terrible buttons
| Design | Accessibility | Protection |
Design
We initially thought the DBrand Grip was thin and light. But upon closer inspection, the DBrand Grip is just as big as the Mous Clarity, or any case from Casetify, or the Pelican Ambassador case. But is definitely smaller than the Gear4 Platoon.
The case fits the iPhone quite well and wonʼt slide around easily on a flat surface. The edge of the case extends past the bulk of the case so it keeps the back raised. Other cases with features similar to this is the Mous Clarity. But unlike the Mous Clarity with itʼs scratch resistant coating, the back of the DBrand Grip scratches quite easily.
However, this is only an issue if you decide to leave it bare. The relatively boring back of the case is designed for you to customize the look of the back. But itʼs only for the back. If youʼve got a colorful iPhone XR, then your case edge is going to be black and nothing else.
The inside of the case has a nice felt texture (we think it’s a piece of microfibre). This feature may seem extraneous but the microfibre back will provide a bit of scratch protection in the off chance that dust and debris get caught between your iPhone and case.
Overall, the texture of the case is nice. But we donʼt think itʼs the grippiest case in the world despite what DBrand says. The marketing fluff says it has a revolutionary grip, but we don’t think putting a landing strip of bumps count as revolutionary. The Moshi Talos has it, the Otterbox Traction has them and the Speck Presidio Grips have them as well.
If you need something a bit more aggressive, you could get a full TPU case and if youʼre completely paranoid about dropping your slippery iPhone, get a Loopy case.
The last thing thatʼs worthy of being spoken about is the trademarked Crescent Arc design. DBrand basically lowers the edge of the case along the middle so that gesturing isnʼt as annoying. And letʼs face it, gesturing on the iPhone is pretty great. The Crescent Arc is a nice feature but DBrand isnʼt the only one who does it as that design feature shows up in a bunch of other cases like the ones from Mous.
SEE ALSO: Mous Clarity Review – A great tough case for the iPhone XR/XS?
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Accessibility
Despite being marketed with “a springy polymers that not only retains button tactility but improves it”, the button access on DBrand Grip is poor. Downright terrible in our opinion.
We had no issues with the camera access, port access and if youʼre into Qi-charging, that works with the DBrand Grip as well.
We’ve already mentioned it but the Crescent Arc on the DBrand Grip is noticeable when using gestures on your iPhone.
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Protection
The Dbrand Grip is marketed to have been engineered using advanced shock-absorbing polymers, giving you military-grade impact protection without sacrificing aesthetics.
But DBrand doesnʼt explicitly state how high you can drop an iPhone in the DBrand Grip. From our experience, if a company doesnʼt state how high, itʼs going to be around 4 ft which is usually texting height.
When it comes to drop protection, the DBrand Grip fares as well as every other case that provides the minimum in terms of drop protection for iPhones at 4ft (1.2m). After a dozen or so drops, the edge of our DBrand Grip was so damaged that it didn’t stop the back of our iPhone XR from cracking.
We will admit that we’re much tougher on iPhone accessories than the average person so us breaking an iPhone doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll break your iPhone in the DBrand Grip. We’re just warning you not to be blinded by DBrand’s marketing fluff.
The last thing we’ll talk about regarding drop protection is the Crescent Arc. The lowered edge will provide less protection for your screen. In fact, if you use a glass screen protector with the DBrand Grip, it will extend past the edge along the middle of the case which means there’s a higher chance of the screen protector getting broken.
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