Mr Buckshot
January 21st, 2009, 05:59 PM
http://www.gadgetreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/sony_rolly.jpg
It's the Sony Rolly dancing music robot. I first saw it at a Japanese store in summer 2008, then I just saw it again today in a Sony Store at the shopping mall. The one I saw in Japan was actually moving though - it was dancing like mad to La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. The one I just saw in Vancouver wasn't working, probably ran out of battery and the salesman didn't charge it.
While it's a really cute and fun concept, and would definitely attract the attention of little kids, its $400 price tag (both U.S. and Canadian price) immediately puts me off, considering that I can get a very good ordinary music player (including Sony's own walkmans) for less than a quarter of the price. As such, the Sony Rolly suited as a filthy rich kiddo's toy.
Technical specs on the Rolly:
- bluetooth audio streaming
- 5 hours battery life
- 2 GB built in memory...ugh it's not even expandable, big mistake!
- customizable sharable motion, basically it means you can use a PC to program custom dance routines for the Rolly and also share these custom dances with other people.
- self-motion capability - the Rolly can analyze a song and generate a dance on its own if you're too lazy to create a dance yourself.
Gotta say that for such a small device, the Rolly has pretty good speakers, about as good as the speakers integrated into my laptop. However it lacks a display readout to show the name/progress of the song being played - another mistake.
Like I said, it's a really neat gizmo that's fun to play with, it's just a great pity that its price tag is so high, especially considering that Sony itself sells music-capable devices that offer more practicality at significantly lower prices (i.e. PSP, walkman, some Sony Ericsson cell phones).
It's the Sony Rolly dancing music robot. I first saw it at a Japanese store in summer 2008, then I just saw it again today in a Sony Store at the shopping mall. The one I saw in Japan was actually moving though - it was dancing like mad to La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. The one I just saw in Vancouver wasn't working, probably ran out of battery and the salesman didn't charge it.
While it's a really cute and fun concept, and would definitely attract the attention of little kids, its $400 price tag (both U.S. and Canadian price) immediately puts me off, considering that I can get a very good ordinary music player (including Sony's own walkmans) for less than a quarter of the price. As such, the Sony Rolly suited as a filthy rich kiddo's toy.
Technical specs on the Rolly:
- bluetooth audio streaming
- 5 hours battery life
- 2 GB built in memory...ugh it's not even expandable, big mistake!
- customizable sharable motion, basically it means you can use a PC to program custom dance routines for the Rolly and also share these custom dances with other people.
- self-motion capability - the Rolly can analyze a song and generate a dance on its own if you're too lazy to create a dance yourself.
Gotta say that for such a small device, the Rolly has pretty good speakers, about as good as the speakers integrated into my laptop. However it lacks a display readout to show the name/progress of the song being played - another mistake.
Like I said, it's a really neat gizmo that's fun to play with, it's just a great pity that its price tag is so high, especially considering that Sony itself sells music-capable devices that offer more practicality at significantly lower prices (i.e. PSP, walkman, some Sony Ericsson cell phones).