PSP World

Kroo Deluxe Leather Case

As the fifth PDA-style leather case we’ve reviewed, the Kroo Sony PSP Deluxe Leather Case obviously has a lot of company — and some tough competition. Although placed on the lower end of the price range, the case gained immediate recognition for the various colors it is available in — white, black, yellow, green, pink, purple, orange, and red.

We liked the initial design we saw in the pictures of the Kroo, so we had high hopes for it. When we first took the Kroo out of its packaging, we immediately had to worry about losing the screws that secure the case to the PSP. We eventually did lose one of the two screws — and the pictures reflect that — but not until after we had finished this review. Not the best way to make a good first impression, especially considering there may be younger ones using the case.

The quality and feel of the leather isn’t bad for a case in this price range, but unfortunately the material that makes up the top and bottom of the case is really cheap-feeling — like a thin cardboard box-type material. The interior of the case is nice and sueded, and the company apparently listened to previous reviews of these PDA-style cases, because the UMD/Memory Stick storage in on the top-outside of the case. Speaking of the storage area, we weren’t really pleased with it either. It’s design has the UMD sitting on top of the two Memory Stick slots, which could leave the UMD vulnerable to scratches, and in our opinion it was simply too difficult to try and get Memory Sticks in and out of the slots, since they are covered by the leather that holds the UMD in place.

Protection was another issue altogether. Being that the only area covered by the case is the top where it screws into the PSP, side protection is basically non-existent. We somewhat expected this — what we didn’t expect was that the PSP stuck out of the case on both sides. This is clearly a problem of fit, and didn’t leave things looking all that nice either. Combine that with the cheap-feeling top and bottom materials, and you get very little protection at all.

Overall, the Kroo Sony PSP Deluxe Leather Case is anything but “Deluxe.” With its losable pieces, inferior materials, and minimal protection, the case really feels like a “get what you pay for” accessory. It had good intentions and some well-meaning ideas, but in the end the case falls short of what we have come to expect out of PSP accessory manufacturers.