Alright, so I had already received a competitor's product for review, but when the Parent Bloggers Network asked if I'd be interested in reviewing the V. Smile Cyber Pocket from VTech, I instantly said "Yes!" After all, both my boys have non-educational "just for fun" handheld video game consoles, but until the V.Smile showed up on our doorstep, we only had one educational hand-held video game.
Yes, boo-hoo!, but don't you want both kids learning in the backseat of the van?
Yup, I thought so. Two educational handheld games it is!
The Cyber Pocket has a different "look" than what the kids are used to: this looks like a mini-laptop computer, with a little flip-up screen. Of course both boys were very interested, especially when they saw the game that came with it is called "Zayzoo: An Earth Adventure" and sports a photo of a cute alien.
Zayzoo includes several different components including singing songs (great for the preschool set) or practicing filling in missing letters of common words (excellent to reinforce those early reading skills.) The Cyber Pocket system itself is recommended for kids age five and older. It is therefore not a surprise that four-year-old Splig found some of the games too challenging; however, he still loved them. The Cat is seven, and enjoyed playing "Math Mining," "Alien Beat," and "Language Learner" the most, but has yet to explore several of the games available.
When we first turned on the system, it took some time to figure out what to do. The stylus on the lower screen corresponds to the cursor on the LCD upper screen. This is rather tricky to co-ordinate, so I was relieved that finger-joystick controls were available instead. There are both right-joystick and left-joystick positions for the console. This is the first time in a video-game situation where I've seen particular attention to whether a person might favor right or left hand.
Still, I wish the stylus were easier to use. Although the "write on one surface, see the result on another" might help hand-eye coordination in the youngsters, for this nearly-35-year old it was too tricky. I like to write directly on the screen. One advantage of not writing directly on the LCD screen, though, is that the screen life will be much longer. Many of these "write on the media" products have the potential of getting scratched and worn over time.
When the Cat tried out the system, he was frustrated by trying to use the stylus to play the game. He didn't have any trouble working the navigational screens, but when he had to actually control the character, the finger joystick made much more sense. Still, the game prompts, "Use the pen to move Zayzoo!"
I don't know whether the stylus is used exclusively in some games. If so, this would require an initial adjustment period.
What I was most intrigued by, though, was how many skills this single game covers: spelling, synonyms, antonyms, 3D puzzle building, logic, arithmetic, vocabulary, sentence structure, reading comprehension, beat and rhythm, and more. With such a wide variety of skills emphasized, kids can be both confident in the skills they've already mastered (earning lots of coins!) and challenged by those things that they are still working on, but having fun in the process.
One especially fun feature of the Cyber Pocket is that it can be plugged into the television screen via the included cable. Sure, there are plenty of TV screen video-game consoles out there, but none that you can then take with you in the van on a road trip. While at home, the kids can choose to play the Cyber Pocket with a large screen; but then on the road, in a comfy arm chair, or in their rooms, they can relish in the portability of the system. I like that there is a headphone jack so I don't necessarily have to listen to their games. I must listen to their laughter and squeals of delight, though.
The Cyber Pocket comes with a "V.Link," a little device that is a USB-port on one end and a connector to the VTech on the other end. A smiling glittery piece of toast serves as the slider between the "connect to VTech" and "expose USB port" configurations. Okay, he isn't a piece of toast, but the smiling computer screen logo looks very much like that tasty breakfast staple.
Kids can connect the V.Link to their console to download their scores; they then connect to the computer to record those scores. In the case of "Zayzoo: An Earth Adventure," kids can earn gold coins during console play that can be used on the V.Smile website to unlock special bonus games. The Cat hasn't earned enough coins to unlock anything yet, but I am certain he'll enthusiastically try, then reveal in the accomplishment.
Both boys love this system. Although we are just getting to know it, I have a feeling it will be used quite frequently at our house.
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Up Tuesday: A side-by-side comparison of Leapfrog's Leapster2 and VTech's VSmile Cyber Pocket, a Smackdown! if you will. Stay tuned...
