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Hardware Review
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»Brando Silicone Case
"Neat, but not as practical as I had hoped."
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Silicone
cases have been around for a while for various electronic devices.
They’re great for providing protection while also giving you more grip
on the device. Brando’s Silicone case for the PSP is pretty much the
same idea.
It really can’t be easy making a silicone case for the PSP. There are
cutouts everywhere and you can’t have it block the UMD slot. To counter
this, the top of the case is really just not existent and the back part
of the case is looser so that it allows you to open the UMD drive.
Everything on the sides and bottom of the PSP has little cutouts as
well. The case comes with a typical screen protector that works pretty
darn well if you get it right on the first try. It’s crystal clear and
after some heavy use and being in my pocket all day, I peeled it off
and found no scratches on the screen.
The silicone goes over all of the face buttons on the PSP, which will
probably have you worry a little and you should. The silicone is
definitely thinner over the buttons to allow for better control, but
there still is some awkwardness while trying to play a game. The d-pad
is pretty hard to get used to and will probably piss you off a few
times. The analog nub has its own cut-out and the case comes with a
little cover for it, but I’ve found that the silicone sliding around on
silicone combo just didn’t seem to work – so I just left it off.
The silicone case doesn’t really seem to be for heavy duty PSP users.
Carrying around my PSP in the case still makes me worried about it
falling or getting bashed into something. But, while carrying it around
in my pocket, I usually think it’s pretty safe as long as I don’t get
hit in the leg with a baseball bat. The silicone might protect the PSP
from a slight fall, but anything beyond slight would definitely scare
me. I think the case functions more as scratch and bump protection more
than falling damage.`
The case is definitely pretty cool looking. It’s not as cool looking as
the PSP unit is itself, but it looks better than most cases I’ve tried
out. You can’t really read the buttons through the silicone, so
memorize what’s what and you’ll be fine. The silicone case I got is a
clear bluish grey and looks pretty cool against the sleek black of the
PSP.
Brando’s silicone case isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely not bad for a
general case. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who really need all the
protection they can get, but to carry around in your pocket or leave
around the house, it would probably work out pretty well.
To buy the case, click here.
Article by: Knives
Posted on: Aug. 8th, 2005 |
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