Be extremely careful with stickers on the Nexus 6P

Some folks like their phone to be as naked as the day it came out of the box, while others move their expensive communications device from its box to a sturdy case immediately and never take it out again. There's nothing wrong with either of these options, but I think the people who live somewhere in the middle have the most fun. whether they're called covers, skins, or stickers, these accessories aren't much for protection but often add a whole lot of personal flair to your phone.

Having recently pulled a Toast cover off of a Nexus 6P, I have a warning for anyone who would rapidly switch between skins on their phone. Be extremely careful when removing adhesive from the Nexus 6P, or you will deeply regret it.

I've been a big fan of the Toast cover for the Nexus 6P, but it was time for the skin to come off so I could do some other things with this phone. In a perfect world I'd have kept the cover on, as it hadn't shown any signs of wear or anything, but I only have the one phone and needed to do something else with it. That meant slowly and carefully removing the thin wooden layer that had basically been glued to the Nexus 6P a couple of months ago. If you've never had to remove a Toast cover from something, count yourself among the lucky. As amazing as these skins look on your phone or laptop, removing the wood and cleaning off the adhesive is a nightmare. I knew this going in, but with the Nexus 6P found myself with an all new adventure as I removed the cover from the volume rocker.

Nexus 6P Volume

Huawei's design team didn't feel it necessary to anchor the top and bottom of their volume rocker to the casing, so the only thing keeping that button secured to the phone is the central mechanism holding the button in place. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal, but when trying to pull the cover off of the volume rocker I peeled back with just enough force to see the inside of the phone as the volume rocker lifted off the body. I was fortunate enough to have avoided using enough force to break the central connection to the phone, but it's really not that hard to do when dealing with this removal process.

It's not a big deal, and most skins aren't as difficult to remove as a Toast cover, but it's worth putting the word of caution out there either way. Pay close attention when dealing with adhesive around the volume rocker, use as little force as possible on the outer edges of this button, and everything should be fine. Do the opposite, and there's a good chance you'll be leaning on that Nexus Protect service to get yourself a new phone.

Russell Holly

Russell is a Contributing Editor at Android Central. He's a former server admin who has been using Android since the HTC G1, and quite literally wrote the book on Android tablets. You can usually find him chasing the next tech trend, much to the pain of his wallet. Find him on Facebook and Twitter