The Sony PS Vita is a gorgeous looking device and if you want it to stay that way you need a case for it. I do have the official Sony PS Vita case that works well for the most part, but that’s only protecting the Vita while it’s in the case. I wanted something else to protect my Vita while it wasn’t in the case and honestly I’m cheap so off to Amazon I went and found a silicon case for the Vita for only $2.99. I like finding deals and for the most part many of the things I get inexpensively do a decent job. There are exceptions though of course but this one isn’t bad overall, so read on…

Info:

Product Name: Silicon Skin Case for Sony PlayStation PS Vita

Author: Kristofer Brozio

Price: $2.99 (from Amazon at time of review)

Soft Silicone skin cover for Sony PS Vita

Protect your Sony PlayStation Vita from the elements with this skin-tight silicone cover. Prevents scratches, chips and finger prints from accumulating on your Sony PlayStation Vita. Tailor-fitted for the 3rd generation Sony PlayStation Vita with openings and markings for all buttons, power switch, joystick, charger and data, microphone, and headphone/audio output jacks which allows access to all Sony PlayStation Vita functions. Suitable for Sony PlayStation Vita only. Previous Sony PS Vita models will not work.

The Review::

There’s no special packaging for the silicone case, just the plastic envelope that it arrived in.

The case I got it black to math the Vita. it’s silicone so it’s very soft and flexible.

The front has a large cutout for the screen of course along with cutouts for the controls, camera and speakers. There are no cutouts for the buttons just raised bumps and I’m not sure I like that. For Start and Select it’s not a big deal, but the PlayStation button has a use actually as it lights up for charging etc and I kind of like to see it so I know when charging is complete. I’ve been thinking of taking my hobby knife and carefully cutting the little nub off.

The top has cutouts for the slots and shoulder buttons and again little nubs that are for the Power and Volume buttons.

The bottom has cutouts for the audio, memory card slot and USB connection along with the ‘loops’ at the bottom of the Vita.

On the back is a very large cutout so you can access the touch panel there and a cutout for the camera.

And here’s my Vita with the case:

Then my Vita with the case on. Installation is fairly easy, but you have to be careful as you really need to stretch the case out to fit it onto your PS Vita. I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon for this case and saw a few people ripped the skin while trying to get it on, you just have to be careful. You’ll notice a slight bend in the case at the top of the screen, it is a small strip of silicon there and it a bit loose. The sides where the buttons are have a similar looseness to them as well. I’ve been using the case for a while now and I still find my fingers lifting up the case a bit when moving from screen to buttons. Not that big of a deal, but kind of annoying. The case doesn’t interfere with the use of the screen at all.

The cutouts very much clear the buttons and joysticks and don’t interfere at all.

Then here’s the back with the case on, here again the case doesn’t interfere with the use of the touchpad or the camera. The back of the case does have raised bumps to help you keep a good grip on the PS Vita.

Here’s a  couple views from the top:

Then here’s a couple more views of the bottom:

The case doesn’t interfere at all while using the Vita, which is a good thing.

I did find that the silicon really attracts dust, but it’s like that with any type of silicon case I’ve found. It’s one of those things that just can’t be helped really.

I own the Official Sony PS Vita leather case and it uses a unique locking system that clips into the loops on the bottom of the Vita and this silicon case interferes with that locking mechanism. It doesn’t fully lock into place with the silicon case on, but the case makes it a tight fit and it hasn’t fallen out yet for me.

Conclusion:

If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to protect your PS Vita then this can work well for you. That is if you can deal with the slight quirks it has like attracting dust and lint and the fact that it’s slightly loose.

This won’t affect everyone but, as I mentioned, the Vita doesn’t really fit into the official Sony case with the silicon skin on.

For the price it’s not bad, and at the moment there really aren’t many options out there in terms of accessories. Give it a few months and I know more will be flooding the market. for now this works for me, at least until something better comes along.

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