If you have been a long time Retro Dodo reader, you will know that myself and the team are obsessed with handhelds, it’s what led us to building this website, and what led us to entertaining almost 300,000 subscribers on our YouTube channel.
The evolution of handhelds has come a long way, and as the months go by there are more being released in the premium category, rising the costs of of the device but rising the length of use that a customer gets out of a device, many of my favourites I have used for years now.
There are some devices in my collection that I want to protect dearly, for example the Analogue Pocket, the AYANEO Pocket Micro and my Game Kiddy Pixel. These are my crown jewels, my premium devices that I take everywhere with me, but they are the ones that are prone to scratches the most due to the glass display and metal bodies.
I also hate cases, they take away from the beautiful design and ergonomics of these devices, so I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, trying to protect them as minimally as I can. Now, there’s a solution to that, thanks to the talented team over at PWRUP.
They have crafted a kit that features a ceramic coating liquid that can be manually installed onto your handhelds that protects it in the same way that car enthusiasts protects their cars. It’s called the PWRUP Ceramic Kit and costs just $19.99 (or $18 for Retro Dodo readers).
This kit comes with a 3ml Nano-Ceramic coating liquid, alcohol prep pads, a microfiber cloth, an applicator cloth and Nitrile gloves so that you don’t apply it to your skin. It comes beautifully presented and accompanied by a QR code that takes you to an easy to understand application video.
The installation process is pretty simple, but does require some research using their guide, as the liquid is incredibly strong and requires it be applied to a clean, dust free device that has been prepped using the alcohol pad. So make sure to wipe down your device as well as you can before using the coating, as there’s only 3ml in the bottle which can be used on 5 – 10 handhelds depending on their size.
Once prepped dab 5 or so droplets of the coating onto the grey application cloth and massage the ceramic into and around the device to create a tiny thin layer of protection that guards the entirety of your beloved handheld. That’s a nice way of looking at it, and why you would buy this.
In essence the coating cures and creates an invisible, strong coating that protects your device from light scratches and makes the glass look glossy, the buttons glow and the metal perfectly matte. Once dried you will see your handheld come back to life, as if its brand new and pulled fresh from the box, but this time with a 2 microns thick protective layer around it that’s extremely hard and feels like it’s not there at all.
PWRUP gives their customers two application cloths for a good reason. Once used you will notice your original cloth will start to harden, this is the ceramic coating doing its thing but on your cloth, making it unusable on another device. You may be asking “But Brandon, you said it can be used on 5 – 10 devices?”.
Correct, so it is recommended that you get all of your handhelds lined up and take time to do a “coating session” on as many devices as you can to take full advantage of the two cloths. Larger devices such as the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch will take more time and more liquid, so choose your selection wisely as the 3ml will go fast.
Prep your handhelds using the alcohol pad, then get dabbing with the nano-coating, you should be able to get through your 5 – 10 handhelds with one cloth, but there’s one spare if you want to do two coating sessions. Once done, your handhelds are ready and protected with a luxury ceramic coating that’s used by automotive enthsuiasts.
I think it’s a genius idea, and a product I didn’t know I wanted or needed until I tested it. My $200 devices deserve to be protected, and for just $19.99 my handheld selection looks good and is less prone to scratches. It’s a worth investment and a great gift for yourself or your friends who love handhelds.
I had the opportunity to ask the founder of PWRUP how this idea came to fruition:
“Detailing cars has been a longtime hobby of mine – I love cars as much as I love my handheld devices. Why shouldn’t my Analogue Pocket have the same level of surface protection as my car? Highly cherished handheld devices, like the Analogue Pocket and other handhelds have such delicate finishes. They should be used and enjoyed, not babied! It is a perfect use case for the invisible scratch prevention of a ceramic coating”.
I have been an avid watcher of PWRUP over the years, testing their PWRUP Grips and I must say they’re moving in the right direction and continuously wanting to build awesome products for the handheld community. They are small, independent and one of the good guys, so I am happy to see them building great things that I know our readers will enjoy.
I will come back to this article in a few weeks to see if the coating holds up and update you, but for now I am really impressed. It’s such a simple, yet effective product, I kinda wish I thought of the idea to be honest!
PWRUP have kindly given Retro Dodo readers 10% off their order using our link here.
