I love my PSP, but I've never purchased any sort of protection for the unit, I've always just used the soft carrying case it came with. Those armor type cases didn't make much sense to me because I wear cargo pants so I just slip the thing in my massive pocket, and I try to not make it a habit of dropping the device anyway. I've always kept an eye on screen protectors though, mainly because no one wants to scratch up their PSP's pretty surface, but I never got one because I didn't like the idea of seeing a sheeny, shiny screen of plastic laid over my regular screen, obstructing my vision and dimming the PSP's screen brightness. If you've felt the same way, you might want to keep reading, because there's a product on the market that should make you a pretty happy camper.

What is this thing?

The InvisibleSHIELD is a thin, practically invisible sheet made from a film originally created by the military to protect the leading edges of helicopter blades from wear and tear while traveling hundreds of miles per hour. It's available to fit over 400 different gadgets and devices such as the iPod, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and various PDA's and the like, yadda, yadda, yadda, does it work? Yes, unbelievably well.

How does it work?

Black magic, as far as I can tell. The sheet doesn't look particularly tough (it's quite thin actually, and as I mentioned it's downright invisible once applied. No doubt there's some sort of arcane spellduggery at work here.

Installation and testing

For the PSP, the InvisibleShield comes in two flavors, a screen sized cut that protects the PSP screen only (retails for $12.95) and a full face shield that protects the entire front of the PSP ($14.95) with holes cut for the speakers, D-pad and face buttons. Which one you get is entirely up to you and dependent on your budget (should 2 bucks make a difference though) and what you think you need to protect. For this review, I was sent the full front face shield.

Included in the package are a set of illustrated instructions, a small, flat piece of plastic to use as a squeegee for application, and a little cannister of  what's labeled as SHIELDspray (no doubt an instrumental ingredient to the dark magicks).

This next bit ought to be common sense, but it took me reading it in the instructions to think to do it, you'll want to thoroughly wash your hands to get rid of any dirt and oil that might cause fingerprints and leave marks on the PSP's shiny surface, you don't want those trapped beneath the InvisibleSHIELD and the screen.

Next, get a slightly damp piece of cloth and carefully clean the face of the PSP, once done, wipe with a microfibre cloth, stay away from napkins and cheap paper towels as those tend to flake bits of tissue off.

Carefully peel back the InvisibleSHIELD from its paper backing and lightly spray both sides of it with the magic spray. Apply the InvisibleSHIELD to the PSP face, you need to be extra careful here as you'll have to straddle the D-Pad, face buttons, and those itty, bitty speakers with the holes cut in the protective material.

The magic spray should have moistened the surface of the InvisibleSHIELD, allowing you to move it about a bit for proper placement. It's a little tricky, but if can do it with my short pudgy fingers (as seen below) and total lack of hand eye co-ordination (as evidenced by my weak sauce 330,000 high score in Geometry Wars, then anyone can.

Once it's in place, you'll want to break out the squeegee, and slide out from the center to the edges, working out as many air bubbles and creases as you can. Don't be alarmed if you can't get every tiny bubble out, smaller imperfections will work themselves out over time. After that, get a lint-free cloth and clean up any exess moisture, then leave the application to settle for a day or so. Chances are the next time you look at your PSP's face, you won't even realise it's on there, seriously, you need to get up real close to notice the material. The best part is that it doesn't dim the screen brightness at all like I'd feared, it also prevents or at least reduces the number of fingerprints you're going to get on your PSP. Should you decide you don't want protection any longer, the InvisibleSHield is removable simply by peeling back carefully from a corner, much in the same manner you'd remove a sticker.

If you feel the sadistic urge to test the thing, go right ahead, do what I did, get your brothers PSP, a set of car keys and scribble back and forth on the surface, all the while laughing maniacally in his face. Stop doing this before he gets really mad and dropkicks you though. Once the exercise is complete, vigorously rub the PSP screen with a rag or cloth, and any temporary scratches will disappear... black magic!

All in all, the InvisibleSHIELD is a darn good product that does just what it advertises, it protects your PSP without dimming the screen or getting in the way, at the end of the day that's all that matters. You can order them online from the ShieldZone Coporation official homepage.

Download - [ShliedZone InvisibleSHIELD Demo Video] - 22MB - .mov format