I just received mine. It has a small bend in the sidewall right at the power button. It was extremely well packed, and the box had no signs of abuse, so I don't know if these are seconds or I just got a bad one. I have contacted the seller for resolution.
This appears to be the real deal, but it's odd that the visor and bottom panel are affixed. With that said, it will be easier to remove them having access from the inside.
Have to say the metal is very thin, and while I have no issues with my phone, there is cause for concern. The top and bottom of the back have some reinforcing plastic assemblies that are glued or chemically welded to the metal, but the sides do not. The top tenth of an inch or so (where the sides meet the screen) is very thin, and there is very little material above the buttons. I got out my micrometer and measured it at just over .036 inches.
The thinnest areas of the back are even thinner (.030 or so), with thicker extrusions around the FP sensor and near bottom that look to be about 1.5x that. The thickest areas are on the bottom where it meets the sides (easily 2x thicker).
Without having the rest of the phone, it is difficult to determine how much support it provides to the metal above the buttons, but without any, it could be easily indented.
So just a word to the wise... be careful with it. I am with all of my phones so this isn't so much of an issue for me. It seems this is the price we pay for buying thinner and thinner phones, which in this case I am not a big fan of. This design seems to pretty well indicate that they wanted the phone to be as thin as possible (a thicker frame wouldn't have increased costs). And I am not sure just how wise it is to be making these things out of super thin aluminum. My older iThingies actually had stainless steel backs, which were similar in thickness but a hell of a lot tougher.
I'll post back when I hear from the seller.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram