Every so often, I get the opportunity to try something out with my kids. I have a 7 and 4-year-old, into their tech, they always ask about the stuff I get delivered and I thought the TOBI smartwatch was a great chance to review something together, from a parents view and a child’s.
The TOBI Robot Smartwatch is from Little Tikes, the company behind the iconic little red and yellow, Flintstone car that I’m sure many people had growing up. The watch itself is currently retailing for just £49.99, it comes in two colours, blue or pink and is aimed for school goers, 4 to 6years, maybe a little older.
Tech spec:
- The display is 1.54″ with a resolution of 240×240.
- Built-in camera, VGA 640×640 pixels.
- Video resolution is 320×240 pixels at 14fps.
- Internal memory is 512mb (not upgradable). This will hold about 3000. photos or 30minutes of video.
- Photos are saved as JPEG, Video as AVI.
- Battery life circa 2days on average, higher & lower depending on usage
As mentioned earlier, the watch strap comes in either blue or pink, the watch itself, which can be removed from the strap, is white with a black screen. The strap is thick rubber, it’s got several holes which should suit most wrist sizes and the rubber acts as a protective cushion as well, however, the screen is not covered, so bare that in mind. There are cutouts in the strap for the buttons.
The main home button is on the front, this is the only button. There are two silver parts either side of the watch that I originally thought were buttons but they are not, they’re TOBI’s arms and legs! The main camera is at the very top, with the micro USB port at the very bottom. As well as the watch and strap, you get a USB cable and a stand, another casing without the strap and a fold-out leg at the back, so take it off your wrist and use it on a table and stand it up.
Both my daughter & I had the same initial impression, that’s a chunky watch. I wear an apple watch, I’ve got mechanical watches too ranging from a 38mm face to 42mm and this is bigger than that. My daughter put it on her wrist and it did take some getting used to but she did get used to it. We did find it wouldn’t always fit underneath her tops, so it was on show.
Let’s talk about what the watch can do. It’s a smartwatch so like every other, it will track your fitness, to a degree. It will track your activities, you can set goals and it will track your progress. To get you moving, there are a few games like musical statues, or they’re calling it Freeze Dance. Dance along with the music from the watch but when it stops, you’ve got to freeze!
There are non-fitness games too, educational and some just for fun. Smash Math, simple math problems are displayed and you need to answer them correctly within the given time. A-Maze-Ing-Balance, a game where you have to move the watch/wrist around to try and get the balls to drop into the correct holes on the display.
The watch is interactive, TOBI is AI, interact with him and have fun. Swipe on screen, talk and TOBI’s facial expressions will change, his arms and legs might pop out and he interacts with you.
There are the cameras, the POV camera at the top of the watch, plus the selfie camera built into the watch face. You can take photos, edit them, save them, share them, video as well. Sharing comes in the form of messaging from one TOBI watch to another. You can link the two together, send photos, and emojis to each other, plus voice messages.
Lastly, it’s a watch, it will tell the time, you can set an alarm clock, a timer, a stopwatch and there is a calendar as well. There are different watch faces, digital or analogue, so suit how your child has been taught to read the time.
Overall, it’s a nice bit of tech for the money. It works well, it’s lightning fast but it’s easy to navigate and the screen is responsive enough. The games are both fun and educational, the fitness bit is good, get the kids up and moving around. The cameras take ok photos and videos, they are grainy but there is enough definition there to see what you’ve taken. TOBI, the AI is cute, big blue eyes, his arms and legs pop out, he chats utter nonsense but the kids love him.
Negatives? It rattles, why? Those little silver arms and legs, it’s those when they inside the watch, so no need to worry if you think something inside is lose, it isn’t. Getting the watch in and out of the watch strap, which you need to do to charge it, its ok, my daughter could do it but it is a little tricky. Getting the watch in and out of the stand is a lot harder and I had to do it because my daughter couldn’t.
At £39.99 today (£49.99 RRP), what a bargain to get your kids into the smartwatch / fitness environment. It’s not to be taken too seriously, but with the fitness and educational activities, I’m more inclined for my daughter to play on this for a while, instead of playing a game on an iPad. I think they’ve priced it right, I think it will keep your child amused for quite some time, so I recommend it.
For more info, head over to the official Little Tikes website.
