Looking around it is very hard to come across cases for the Sony PSP that are not metal or some other type of hard case. Krusell though has made a try at making a leather case for the PSP that today we are going to check out.

Krusell has recently updated their packaging to a new color system that identifies what area it is for (Sport, Trendy, Business). The Gamic PSP case comes in a blue flip out box that is really quiet unique. It does a good job of catching your eye to say the least. Flipping the two side panels open you will find yourself looking at the front of the PSP case in the center.

The case is designed to cover the whole PSP and have cutouts for all the slots and buttons. Then on the back and front around the UMD drive and screen there is a flap that has six snaps. This lets you unsnap it to four positions, Closed (covers screen and UMD areas), Screen Open (flips up out of the way of the screen), UMD and Screen Open (flips out of way of screen and bends back to allow access to the UMD drive), Totally Removed (just this, the flap is totally removed). This is a very neat design that provides a lot of protection for the screen and allows you to change games/movies while the PSP is still in the case, but it does make it so the case never full protects the buttons and controls on the PSP.

Flap half way removed

Flap all the way removed

Putting the PSP in the case is fairly straight forward. First you will want to open the case's main flap, then the snap on the top right corner of the case. Next, take your PSP and slide it in from the top right corner into the case. Fit it in place and then resnap the top right corner snap and put the main flap back on. Once in the case you will want to move the leather around until you have the cutouts all lined up and to your liking.

Top right corner snap

I must admit that the action of putting the PSP in the case and the fit in the case is a bit sloppy. The snap in the top right corner is barely snapped as it just fits, and the leather around the cutouts likes to move around (especially around the cutouts for the buttons under the screen). Thanks to the shape of the PSP, the case also tends to popup around the screen.

Now, I did end up getting it fairly well put into the case and to the point where all the cutouts were easily accessible. A few of the buttons were slightly covered, but for the most part everything was very easy to get to. Then came the major test of playing a game while the PSP was in the case.....this did not fair as well. Since the leather is so think around the buttons, the buttons tops are level with the front of the case and so instead of the buttons being up like when there is no case, they are now all indented so you need to push them what feels like into the case to activate them. This is fine if you need to press one button at a time, but for games where you are pressing the buttons 2 or more at a time, it gets a bit tiring and hard to use. On the side with the thumb stick I was happy to see that the thumb stick still had full mobility and was not blocked by the leather at all. After playing for awhile another problem began to surface, the case started moving around and slowly the cutouts became unaligned again to the point where many of the buttons were very hard to get at. While the look and feel of the case is good at first, I definitely did not like the way it behaved while you were playing games (which is mostly what you do on your PSP!).

I must mention that the quality of the construction and materials of this case are very good. The leather is strong and soft, and the case seems to be well made with all the seams stitched nicely and no loose threads or other problems with the construction of the case.

Now onto the protection side of things. The leather is fairly thick which does make it harder to use some of the buttons, but this does give you better protection. Also since the buttons are now flat with the surface of the leather, even though the buttons are not protected by the flap, they are protected a bit more since they will not be scraping against things as much. Being the most vital part of the PSP, the screen gets the most protection and this case does a very good job at giving it protection. On the case front itself is a non-removable plastic shield that protects the screen from scratches. Then there is the removable flap that is thick and padded leather that covers the whole screen. This adds a lot of protection to the screen as well and I feel in this case you should not need to worry about your PSP's screen at all.

On the flap that is removable, Krusell has also included two pockets for Memory Sticks and one for a UMD Disc. While this seems like a great idea there is one flaw and that is that the flap already fits tightly against the screen without a UMD in it. Once you put the UMD in the flap, it presses the UMD very tightly against the screen and I did not care for that at all. If you do use this case, I would recommend NOT to put a UMD in the flap as it seems to just tightly grind the UMD against the screen.

Press Pictures Showing Flap and Case

Being from Krusell, they have also included their MultiDapt system to this case. The MultiDapt system is a rail with a push down type plug that holds belt clips, bike mounts, and all sorts of other accessories very tightly to your case. The system works quite well and I have been happy with it in the past as I am with it on the PSP case.

Overall the case is very well made and has a very nice look. But in usage the case tends to move around a lot and make it harder to use the PSP. The case has some neat features like the flap that can be in four different positions, and the ability to change UMDs while the PSP is in the case, but because of the problems with the case moving around in usage I have to mark the case down to a 3/5 rating.

Pros:

• Unique Design
• Leather for PSP!
• Able to change UMDs while in case
• Cutouts for all functions

Cons:

• Makes Playing harder
• Not much protection for controls
• Case moves around a lot during use

Thanks to Krusell for the Review Sample!