The good people over at Vaja Cases have been kind enough to send over a PSP and UMD case for review. Now let?s get one thing clear, these are designer cases and they aren?t cheap; they offer both a fashion statement and utility.

When I first saw the pictures of this case online a couple months ago, I mentally put it in the same category as the Gucci iPod case: Useless and expensive. But after actually wrapping one of these cases around my PSP, I was quite surprised at how much utility it had to offer, and found myself really liking the case.

The cases come in a stylish black box, with shiney little designs on it. The cases are made out of full grain cowhide leather, any color in the rainbow you want. The PSP case is solid; when you knock on it it sounds almost like wood. I feel that if I were to drop my PSP in this case it would be protected.

It is held together by strong (enough) magnets, and uses two button snaps to secure the PSP within. Playing the PSP while in the case is quite comfortable, and it is much lighter than the Logitech. All the buttons are easy to get to and the speakers are not obstructed. On the bottom of the lid are three slots for extra memory sticks, which slide in and out securely.

The UMD drive can be accessed while the PSP is still in the case which is a really cool feature. What I really liked, however, was that there is an opening for your memory stick to be swapped while still in the case. You can also plug in A/C power and headphones while the case is closed.

Vaja also sent over a leather UMD case which is a quite straight forward and fashionable UMD wallet. It has a strong snap which holds it together, and it (very) securely holds four UMDs. It feels to be made of padded leather; it does not have the same ?wooden? feeling as the PSP case. The stitching on this case is very tight and high quality.

So, what's the bottom line on the Vaja PSP case? Yes, it delivers on functionality, quality, and style, but it isn?t for the nickel and dime shopper. Is the UMD case anything special? Nah, not really, smells good, looks good, and protects your UMDs. If you are interested in any of these, or other cases (phones, mp3 players, etc) head over to www.vajacases.com.