VTech

Review: VTech Nitro Vision

Dale — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:19:07 -0400

Hannah joins us for an audio review of the VTech Nitro Vision from episode 32.

Toy Fair 2008: VTech 2008 Product Line

Dale — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:24:59 -0500

VTechÂ®, the creator of the Electronic Learning Products category, today revealed its 2008 product line â€“ a mix of high-tech learning toys that go head-to-head with todayâ€™s hottest technologies, providing young children with age-appropriate versions of must-have gadgets and gaming systems.The most talked about toys this year include the motion-activated V-Motionâ„¢ gaming system, the KidiCreativeâ„¢ line of high-tech creative fun, and the all-new V.Smileâ„¢ Cyber Pocket for on- the-go educational gaming. These products, along with the rest of VTechâ€™s new product lineup â€“ including its Web-connected Grade School line and new social site planetvtech.com â€“ will be seen for the first time at the American International Toy Fair 2008 (Feb. 18-19) in New York City. Â â€œVTech continues to lead the toy industry with new,innovative products that encourage active minds through educational play,â€ said Julia Fitzgerald, vice president of marketing, VTech. â€œThis year, VTech has created a variety of products and online resources that combine the best features of big-kid technologies, allowing kids to personalize, create and share through high-tech, interactive play.â€

V-Motion:Wireless Motion-Activated Play Keeps Active Minds in Motion A big breakthrough for junior gamers, V-Motion takes educational video gaming to a whole new level with a motion-activated gaming system that engages both active minds and bodies. V-Motion plugs directly into the TV to provide kids with a high-tech gaming experience using thrilling,age-appropriate learning games and a motion-activated, intuitive wireless controller. Each Smartridgeâ„¢ game encourages active gaming while giving kidsâ€™ minds a workout, too, as they learn basic math, reading, science, spelling and more.

In addition to the action-packed Smartridge game play, the V-Motion includes the V.Linkâ„¢ (USB drive) that connects kids to VTechâ€™s secure online site to unlock bonus games and track their scores against other gamers. V-Motion will launch with eight Smartridges and is compatible with the entire existing V.Smile Smartridge library. New titles will include Kung Fu Panda, WALL*E, and classic friends such as Thomas & Friends, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora the Explorer.

V-Motion will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$69.99. V-Motion Smartridges will be available for an estimated retail price of US$24.99 each. Ages: 4-7.

KidiCreative:High-Tech Meets Creative Fun Â VTechâ€™s new KidiCreative line introduces high-tech creative fun for kids through hands-on electronic play. Itâ€™s a cool new way to learn music or explore art and photography. This new line of products builds onthe fun that kids and parents found in 2007â€™s award-winning Kidizoom Cameraâ„¢. Included in the line are the all-new KidiArtStudioâ„¢, KidiJamz Studioâ„¢, KidiDoodleâ„¢and the upgraded Kidizoom Camera.

The KidiArtStudioÂ interactive art console is a perfect â€œjunior Photoshop,â€ that allows kids to create, edit and display their work on the TV. Its built-in digital camera, gives them the freedom to capture images of family, friends, their own artwork, and even create stop motion animations. The studio also includes an endless variety of activities, from basic drawing and art lessons, to photostamps, frames and wacky effects that kids can use to personalize their images.To send, save, share or print, the KidiArt Studio connects to a PC, where custom e-cards can also be created and sent directly to friends! KidiArt Studio will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$79.99. Ages: 4 and up.

With the KidiJamz Studio, kiddy rock stars will mix up their own tunes with the interactive music station. Children can record their own voice and play it back on a detachable music player, and then add music elements choosing from ten different musical instruments, five music stylings and more. KidiJamz Studio will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$59.99. Ages: 4 and up. Â An interactive drawing pad, KidiDoodle is sold in packs of two so kids can team up or play head- to- head games. The touch-sensitive drawing pad and stylus pen make drawing high-tech, along with an LCD display screen and IR communication ability. Creations can be sent to a friend for anew level of interactive play. KidiDoodle will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$29.99. Ages: 4 and up. Â Kidizoom Camera now features a large,high-resolution 1.8â€ color screen for photo and movie viewing, and snaps 1.3 interpolated megapixel photos at a resolution of 640 x 480. Kidizoom Camera stores 200 photos or five minutes of digital video with its 16MB built-in memory. Available in blue and pink, Kidizoom Camera will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$59.99. Ages: 3 and up. Â

V.Smile Cyber Pocket: A New Level of Fun for On-The-Go Gaming The V.Smile Cyber Pocket is a great way for young kids to get their game on and tap into online gameplay. The V.Smile Cyber Pocket features a new compact, flip-up, high-resolution screen and touchable writing pad for fun, wireless video gaming on the go or at home.Kids can connect the handheld to the TV to play on the big screen, and then disconnect without disrupting their game. Kids can extend their play with the VTech V.Link (USB drive) online connection to unlock bonus play and track their scores. V.Smile Cyber Pocket is compatible with the current V.Smile Smartridge library and new licensed titles, including Kung Fu Panda and WALL*E. V.SmileCyber Pocket will be available fall 2008 for an estimated retail price of US$69.99 â€“ an affordable option parents will love. Ages: 5 and up. Â

Planetvtech.com:A Safe Online WorldÂ VTechâ€™s new line of Web-connected Grade School Learning products takes educational toys to a new level of fun. The Grade School laptops and handhelds connect to the Internet via USB to access a new, safe web site â€“ planetvtech.com.

Planetvtech.com is an online virtual world designed for kids ages 5 and up, where they can play, learn and hang out! This exciting online community allows kids to play games where they earn points that can be redeemed for great rewards, and the content is constantly refreshed for never-ending fun. Kids will also enjoy interacting with fellow planetvtech.com members and parents will appreciate the safe, contained content.Â Additionally, planetvtech.com features three special areas where kids can take a test run of the newest products from VTech. Each Grade School Learning product comes with a free one-year membership to this â€œMom Approvedâ€ site.

Review: VTech Double Vision Notebook

Teresa — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:18:43 -0500

The Double Vision Notebook from VTech is a learning laptop. Besides just being a laptop toy to take with you, it also can connect to your TV with the included A/V cable for even more activities.

The laptop has a black and white LCD screen with adjustable brightness, but not to the point that you would see it in a dark room. It has no backlight. It has volume control buttons and a headphone jack. Besides the track pad (VTech calls it the cursor pad), it also comes with a mouse and mouse pad, in case you prefer to use that instead. Also included with the laptop were 4 bonus activity cartridges - Explore Nature, Spanish Challenge, Secrets of the World and Word Workout. They each have different activities, which also differ depending on whether you are playing on the LCD screen on the laptop or connected to the TV.

Laptop-mode has 22 activities including the 4 cartridges. TV-mode has 34 activities including the cartridges. Besides the cartridge categories, the other categories include Language Booster, Math Explorer, Brain Trainer, Creative Studio, Cool Tools and My Office.

My Office in laptop mode allows you to set your preferences, create a personal profile, type in friends' information and make a budget.

In the Creative Studio you can create a silly story, or write a song. The laptop includes a word processor that allows you to save so you can view it later. It doesn't have a way to get it off the computer, greatly reducing this feature's value, but it's still a nice feature that allows for journaling and brainstorming.

When the laptop is connected to the TV, you can put together a presentation with photos, text, music and transitions between slides. You can save your work and play it for others. My 12-year-old wasn't impressed with the limited options of the presentation software, but she has made Powerpoint presentations for school. This software is designed mostly as an introduction to making a presentation.

My 6-year-old played with this and said some of it was hard for her. I think the more she plays it, the easier it will be for her. My 12-year-old liked some of the games, but said it got boring after a while (although she played with it for over and hour). She and my 9-year-old also said it was hard to get used to the keyboard, complaining that their keystrokes often didn't register, as they are used to a regular computer keyboard.

The games are fun to play: typing, mixed up words, driving boats over the right answer, number and letter bingo and more. If you have auto-leveling selected, the game levels will adjust depending on how well you are doing. It has a lot of great activities that can help reinforce concepts taught in school. It gives extra practice in activities, while making it fun at the same time. The Double Vision Notebook expands on its array of games with the innovative TV hookup that you won't find in most laptop toys. So many laptop toys are almost identical in function with just minor variations in case design and available games. It's good to see VTech taking a different direction to produce something all new.

Review: VTech Kidizoom Camera

Dale — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:26:20 -0500

Over the past couple years, several cameras for kids have become available. Given the photographic skill of the average preschooler, digital cameras outweigh film cameras in value not only because of their lack of film and development cost, but because of the immediate gratification of a preview screen. Anyone who's had children run over to a camera to see the preview screen immediately after the flash goes knows what I mean.

VTech's Kidizoom camera not only gives these basic features (No actual zoom--not even a digital one--so don't let the name fool you.), but adds some games and kid-friendly photo editing software into the mix.

Image Quality

The Kidizoom offers a resolution of .3 megapixels (640x480 "VGA") with a 1.8" color screen, or the photographer can use the double viewer instead, which is the pair of traditional lenses typical with kids' cameras, although my kids all prefer the screen. The camera also features an automatic flash, allowing kids to take indoor shots of every nook and cranny of your home.

Images are not exactly publishing quality. They're grainy, and anything that was moving even the slightest bit ends up blurry. The clarity of the added elements like frames and stamps (see below) accentuates this problem. That said, most 3-6-year-olds will be more excited about using the camera and snapping photos of family, toys, refrigerator magnets, and the carpeting than they will care about photo quality. Even so, parents may be disappointed that the occasional photographic gem is too low quality to print.

Camera Specs

The Kidizoom can also do video, but the resulting AVI files (Motion JPEG Compressed) have a resolution of 160x120 at 11 frames per second, so at that postage stamp size, image quality becomes almost irrelevant. That said, preschoolers will still enjoy the chance to record their family and pets in embarrassing situations. It includes 16MB of internal flash memory, which, with such small resolutions, can store over 200 photos or 5 minutes of video, plus an SD card slot can expand that capacity to practically limitless levels. The SD slot is in the battery compartment, which requires a screwdriver to open, thus preventing children from losing the batteries or card.

VTech created a simple interface with onscreen icon-based menu so even pre-readers should have little problem navigating to their preferred modes with the thumb pad. VTech also includes interchangeable faceplates to slightly customize the look of the camera, and the faceplates hold very securely. (You'll only lose the unattached one!)

The camera includes 2 cords, a standard USB cord like any other camera and a monaural A/V cord with a proprietary mini-jack. When connecting the camera to a Windows PC, the PC instantly recognizes the camera and offers to import the media. Mac OS X will recognize the camera as a removable drive, allowing photos and movies to be accessed from the Finder, but iPhoto doesn't recognize the camera as such, so any images you want to save will need to be added via drag and drop or other manual methods. Also, since the camera has no internal clock, you'll need to adjust the creation date of the files if you like to sort them by date or event.

Like other kids' cameras, the sides have large rubber hand grips that not only make it easier to hold (I'd like something like this on an adult camera for my large hands!), but also protect it if when it gets dropped on a hard floor.

Play Time

While the Kidizoom falls short in image quality, it shines in the play department. While taking photos, the budding photographer can add cartoony elements via the thumb pad like frames, bunny ears, or a pirate hat and eye patch. These can be added as the photo is taken or afterward using the Photo Editor. The Photo Editor can also add distortion like a warped mirror or view the photo with a handful of animations (Like a sphere that wraps the photo around a rotating ball). Sound can also be added to the photo afterward using the Voice Photo, so kids can label their images or add funny sayings if they like. (Probably more the latter!)

The camera also features three built-in games. The first is Tic-Tac-Toe, with a fairly random AI, so kids will have a decent chance of winning games. Matching Pairs is a standard Memory card game that shows the cards face-up first and adds more cards the longer you play. The only game to actually use the photos is Rotation Puzzle, which splits photos (both user-taken images and a collection of sample images) into four or more squares, randomly rotating each square. The player selects each square and rotates it to the proper orientation. This game is the most challenging of the set, especially when your child has taken a picture of the carpeting, and it looks the same no matter which way you turn the image!

PC Software

The stamps and frames available using the Photo Editor on the camera only offer a sampling of the total number available. The included CD ROM (Windows only--sorry, Mac users!) includes image editing software that allows users to add frames and stamps with a wide variety to choose from. Users can also use distortion and animation functions, with one more animation available onscreen. (Note: Animations can't be saved into the image.) Hannah loves playing with the PC software about as much as she loves snapping photos.

The Big Picture

The Kidizoom doesn't take the best photos of the various kids' cameras, but the included software makes it a compelling choice. Macintosh homes will probably want to look elsewhere, but for the fun factor, this camera will give a child enough creative play to last a long time.