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Screen Armor
Score: 100%
Developer: Nyko
Device Type: Accessory


Function:

The PSP has a tender under-belly: its beautiful little widescreen. While the PSP comes with a simple, cushioned, fabric slipcover case, this becomes your PSP?s own worst enemy if grit gets inside of it; when you put your PSP away to protect it, you?ll scratch up its screen.

Enter Screen Armor, a new product by Nyko for the PSP. This is a snap-on screen protector that uses the screw holes on the top of the PSP to maintain a firm grip while doing no more or less than what its name implies ? it protects your screen from scratches and bumps.


Performance:

The underside of the Screen Armor is custom-fitted to the front of the PSP and is designed to protect the screen from scratches and bumps during transport and mildly rough handling. This side is coated with a neoprene inner lining that helps to protect your PSP?s screen from scratches, and serves as a protective layer between your delicate screen and the rigid aluminum plate of the unit itself. One added bonus is that this is not a carrying case. Carrying cases have pockets and pockets catch things such as dust, dirt and grit, and these things can find their way to your screen. With the Screen Armor, you can easily inspect the surface that comes in contact with your screen and be sure that there is no grit before you place it on your PSP.

The exterior side of the Screen Armor is a beautiful brushed aluminum with ?Nyko? stamped smartly in the bottom left-hand corner. There is an inner rectangle that is punched upward, making the Screen Armor look nice, providing room for the unit to avoid contact with the main area of the screen being protected within and providing an increased structural strength. Remember the armor plating that Batman had on the Batmobile? This is much the same, except it doesn?t store inside of your PSP. However, when the Screen Armor is removed by lifting the tab on the underside of the PSP, the flaps can be folded inward, giving the unit a footprint not much larger than a credit card. This may not fit in your wallet, but it should easily fit in any utility belt.

All of this is not to suggest using the Screen Armor instead of a carrying case. In fact, the Screen Armor?s slimline, low-profile design was intended to fit most carrying cases. Now you can use that carrying case without worrying about what it might be doing to your screen.

PSP owners who use their PSP's for MP3 Playback are likely to really enjoy the Screen Armor as it allows you to use your PSP?s MP3 player capabilities while protecting your screen.


Features:
  • Slimline, low-profile design
  • PSP buttons and headphone jack still accessible for MP3 playback
  • Easily attached/removed
  • Firm grip (tabs fit into top screw holes and bottom lip of unit)
  • When removed, folds flat for easy storage
  • Aesthetically pleasing brushed aluminum exterior
  • Punched metal for increased strength
  • Protective neoprene inner lining

Drawbacks & Problems::

The Screen Armor does what its name implies, but it does not offer protection for the rest of your PSP. It should be used in conjunction with a carrying case, rather than instead of one.

While Nyko?s Screen Armor is designed to fit most carrying cases, it doesn?t fit well into the sock-like fabric slip case that comes with the PSP. It can be done, mind you, but you?ll need to be very careful when inserting your PSP into or removing it from the slip case, or the corners of the Screen Armor unit will catch and wear the inside of the slip case.

I highly recommend the Screen Armor to all PSP owners.


-Geck0, GameVortex Communications
AKA Robert Perkins

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