On our desk this week - 2

Logitech PlayGear Amp

If you have a PSP, you might be enjoying frolicking on the train with it, or taking it on the bus. But haven't you always wanted to put your PSP on a desk and listen music to it through some decent speakers?

No? Well, you won't see much sense in the PlayGear Amp then. The Amp is designed to be a set of speakers that you can use for some high-quality PSP listening. It consists of a recantgular block of plastic, which has speakers on either end that you can rotate out into an upright position.

You then take a second bit of plastic, which is a stand for the PSP, and attach it to the Amp and then sit the PSP on the stand. Then, you take a cable and run it from the PSP headphone socket to the Line-In of the Amp. Frankly, this is a bit messy - we would like to see something a bit more like the iPod dock, where you could just plonk the PSP on stand and have it connect. We would also like to see a passthrough cable for mains, so that you could charge from the Amp's mains connection rather than having to plug in a separate adaptor.

Listening to the speakers, they kind of sound like you would expect. They're better than the built-in PSP speaker, clearly, but they're not exactly going to rock your world. If you need to use the Amp for listening to your PSP, you'll probably find it does the job.

That said, I'm really not convinced about the PSP as a movie watching or music listening device - at least, not unless you're on the go. Better MP3 playback can be had from dedicated devices for far less money, and mini-DVD players likewise.

Name: Logitech Playgear Amp
Buy it at: Dabs
Cost: £30
Verdict: It's relatively expensive for a set of speakers, but if you like to keep your PlayStationPortable in situ, you might think it's a worthwhile investment.

Logitech PlayGear Street

The PSP is obviously pretty prone to scratching, so you're not going to want to carry it around naked the whole day. Sony provide a little foam pouch for the device, but it's hardly going to help much in a 'rolling-around-in-your-backpack' situation.

Logitech think they have the answer with the Street. It's a carry case, made of rock hard plastic, that you can wear over your front like the strap of a messenger bag. It's got room for 3 UMD discs inside, as well as room for memory cards.

The thing is beastly huge - look at its size compared to the PSP in the second picture. Whilst I want to keep my PSP safe, I don't necessarily want to carry it round on my chest all day, advertising the fact I'm carrying £250 worth of kit about my person.

I could probably forgive the size of the thing if I was able to cart a mains charger too, maybe some headphones, and definitely my entire games collection. However, none of these things fit in, with room for only 3 discs, and even though the size of the Street means it provides solid protection for the PSP inside, I can't help but feel there are better carry cases on the market - unless, of course, you really want to sling that PSP over your chest as a status symbol.

Name: Logitech PlayGear Street
Buy it at: Dabs
Cost: £18
Verdict: A bit bulky for the tastes of most.