First off, welcome to 2014 for those still following along the V Smile Homebrew website. Hey! was that a tumble weed that just blew by? ?
So imagine my delight when Vtech Toys offered me the opportunity to review something called a V.Smile Cyber Pocket. I figured this might be something that my kids would like so I agreed to take a look. Although we didn't own any Vtech toys before this, I was familiar with their products. VTech VSmile Cyber Pocket Blue (with Scooby-Doo) by VTech. 3.3 out of 5 stars 18 ratings. Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock. Flip screen and touch pad Improved viewing angle for superior game-play Works with all existing V.Smile Learning Games. Search instead for “ vtech vsmile pocket ”? Sort by relevance. VTech Spin and Learn Color Flashlight. 4.5 out of 5 stars with 102 reviews. VTech Chomp and Count Dino. 4.4 out of 5 stars with 115 reviews. Cory Carson SmartPoint Vehicle. The V.Smile is an educational game system by VTech. It is designed for children ages 3 to 6, but offers software designed for several age groups between 3-9. Titles are available on ROM cartridges called 'Smartridges', to play off the system's educational nature. The graphics are primarily sprite-based. The console is often sold bundled with a particular game. With most of them having a game.
Things have been happening behind the scenes with game development and porting current arcade style games to the V Smile platform, however the major hurtle at the moment is putting the games on real cartridges. If anyone has some incite to that, please comment below.
In other news, I recently picked up a “Bob The Builder: Bob’s Busy Day” cartridge for $1.00 USD. Not a bad deal. I haven’t tried the game out yet, but for a dollar, you can’t go wrong. I’ve seen V Smile cartridges going for crazy money at local thrift stores lately, like $7.00 – $8.00 crazy. Maybe that’s cheap, but to me that’s pricy for a loose cartridge.
Anyway, hello and “thank you” for following along. I’ll try to work on some screen shots of games I’ve already ported to work on the V Smile, which means hopefully more frequent updates to the site.
We are not video game people. Well, not yet at least.We don't have an XBox. Or a Wii. I'm not even sure that I am spelling those things correctly. We just haven't really gone down the video game route yet.
But the infiltration has begun -- slowly but surely. My daughter received a Leapster L-Max as a present last year. And she loves it. I limit the amount of time that I let her play with it because the sound makes me batty, but she really enjoys it and is able to use it totally independently.
This same curious daughter returned home from a play date last week and informed me that she wanted a Wii for her birthday because her friend's older brother has one. And so it begins -- the coveting of other people's fancy toys.
I am not saying that video games or hand-held electronic toys have no value. I certainly think that limited, independent play with educational electronics is a nice alternative to say . . . . plopping the kids down on the couch to watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. And anyone who has ever traveled long distances by car or plane with a busy preschooler can also tell you that a little portable entertainment doesn't hurt.
I am trying to navigate my way through the world of kids and electronics as my children start to become interested in these sorts of things. I have some reservations -- but I am open to exploring the options out there.
So imagine my delight when Vtech Toys offered me the opportunity to review something called a V.Smile Cyber Pocket. I figured this might be something that my kids would like so I agreed to take a look.*
Although we didn't own any Vtech toys before this, I was familiar with their products. In fact, I think that Vtech does a great job of marketing their brand and their social media outreach to moms is first-rate.
When we opened our new Cyber Pocket (which retails for $49) both my three and five-year-old were eager to try it out with the Zayzoo: An Earth Adventure game that was included. This product is designed for kids ages 4-7 and my three year-old was pretty baffled by the whole thing so after he and I worked on it together for about ten minutes, he lost interest and abandoned it on favor of a set of wood blocks. Seriously.
My five year-old was more successful in her attempts to use the Cyber Pocket, although the stylus wasn't somewhat difficult to use and she was confused about what some of the buttons were for (and so was I frankly). The device includes activities for a wide variety of skill sets -- from spelling to math and music. After playing with the Cyber Pocket for awhile, she went to her room to retrieve her Leapster L-Max that she received as a gift for Christmas last year. She pointed out that the buttons and pen on the Leapster game were easier to use. Over the next few days, she continued to play with the Cyber Pocket and she started to get more familiar with the both the device and the game.
And then the Cyber Pocket totally stopped working. I changed the batteries, but still, nothing. When I told the Vtech folks about this problem, they couldn't have been nicer and overnighted me a new Cyber Pocket -- which has been working just fine for week now.
So what's my bottom line on the V.Smile Cyber Pocket? I continue to think that these types of hand-held electronics are a good thing for kids to use in a very limited way (I keep them up high so that my kids have to ask for my permission first). Our initial experience with the V.Smile Cyber Pocket has been a little bit disappointing but I think that it is something that my kids will enjoy more as they get older and more proficient at using the device on their own.
And although our experience with the V.Smile Cyber Pocket has been just so-so, I am definitely willing to consider their educational electronic products in the future as my kids become more interested in these sorts of things -- which seems inevitable because of older brothers and their fancy Wii systems.