Review: Camy Pro Gear Dual Injection Faceplate

Camy Pro Gear Dual Injection Faceplate
Manufacturer: Camy
Site: Buy from DecalGirl
Price: $24.99

Overview :
Dual Layered Special Edition
We are immensely proud of our brand new Special Edition Dual Layered PSP faceplate. With two cool looking designs on the pearl black double injection PSP it not only fits perfectly on your PSP like the original but also brings a brand new feel to it by adding a unique look separating you from the masses!

Twin Dragons
Enter of the Dragons! This beautifully crafted “Twin Dragons design is a collaboration of our US and UK designers. Sleek lines and sharp Silver or Gold colors accent this design with the “original” pearl black PSP faceplate back drop.

Hell Skull
The Hell Skull design incorporates Japanese and American styled art; blended into a truly unique piece of PSP accessory. This design also comes in Gold or Silver with pearl black PSP faceplate back drop.

All Dual Layered S.E. CAMY PRO GEAR FACEPLATES comes in our highly sorted after “retail pack”. Finely crafted, these packs are ready for your online or retail store. The retail pack includes the following:

• Clam shell packaging
• Custom Dual Layered PSP faceplate
• Screw driver
• Spare Screws
• All buttons
• Detailed Full Colored Installation Instructions

Quality/Usability : Camy International has entered the PSP market with their own faceplates. You must think that its just an ordinary aftermarket faceplate. Yes, thats true but these are different. How so? Well, these faceplates are "Dual Injected". What is "Dual Injected" you might ask? First off, these faceplates have designs on them and not the usual solid color faceplates. Secondly, the quality the design is the same as that of the original PSP faceplates made by Sony. This means that there are two separate layers, one with the design which is actually on the outside (not inside as some suggested) and the other is a clear coating to protect the design from coming off.

The packaging looks professional and is sealed all around unlike some accessories out there that uses a latch or cheap seal. Inside the packaging, you have the faceplate, screwdriver with magnetic tip, spare screws in case you strip the original screws, entire button set and instruction manual.

The instruction manual is easy to understand. But its always good to have other sources for instructions on how to dismantle the faceplate such as IGN.

Installing the faceplate is easy. Installation can take about 15-20 minutes, depending how fast you work and how careful you are. I took my time as I'm anal and a perfectionist when it comes to these things. One little dust particle would irk me. Not to mention, I'm not really the type of person to open up my system and do these modifications since I'm not all that handy with tools. So, if I can do it so can you! There is a problem though. Once you have the faceplate on and everything put back together, you might experience a problem with the UMD tray. It wont close. To fix this problem, you will need to modify the case a little by shaving off some of the plastic using either a dremel or x-acto knife.

Its nice that the screwdriver included has a magnetic tip. Easy for getting those screws out and whats also nice is that they include spare screws. I personally used my stock buttons rather then the ones that came with the faceplate because the buttons that came with the faceplate left gaps. But both stock and aftermarket buttons fit fine.

I dont know if it was already on the faceplate or if I caused the problem even though I used a microfiber cloth to clean the screen but I noticed some swirly scratches. I dont know if its on the inside or outside. But it can be an annoyance when playing with your PSP.

Conclusion : Overall, the Camy Pro Gear Dual Injection Faceplates is a nice faceplate. From the craftsmanship to the quality, its top-notch all around but the UMD tray situation is a big problem. The designs of these faceplates are also nice looking as well and will definitely turn some heads. The Dual Injection Faceplates are roughly $5 less than the Official Sony PSP Faceplates. Although, Camy does not have a online store, you can purchase from DecalGirl as they are the Official sellers for Camy. Hopefully the bad batches that were sent out are not the actual retail packages sent to sellers. If not, would there be a replacement in place? If it wasnt for that problem, this would be the best faceplate.

*UPDATE* - 2/22/07
I contacted Camy regarding the problem with the faceplate preventing the UMD door from closing and here is their response:


So it seems they are aware of the situation and the batch we got was not the final retail version but looks it. Camy is nice enough to send us updated faceplates. We will update once we receive the retail version faceplates.

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