Original BB-8 by Sphero (No Droid Trainer)

I'm a longtime Star Wars fan who is into tech and, yes, hyped for Episode VII. Considering purchasing BB-8? First, have a compatible smartphone and be aware that it recharges via USB. Taking the price of the Sphero alone at about $129, the Star Wars treatment and BB-8 personality (BB-8 head, design and app sounds) are worth the additional cost.Just another opinion in this set of reviews, I can share what I really enjoyed about BB-8:+ The design - Some Star Wars desktop statues can go for a much higher cost than this, but this obviously allows you to do so much more than just displaying it on your desktop.+ The packaging - simple and secure packaging in a nice design. It's Disney + Star Wars. Easy to start playing with it out of the box.+ The accessories - I prefer a USB cable over another AC adapter. The cradle is detailed and provides a secure and clean charging platform for BB-8. The magnetic BB-8 head has wheels to help rotate 360 degrees.+ The interactivity - The downloadable app allows you to control BB-8 directly, listen to the cool sounds of BB-8, has a camera to record augmented reality messages and listens to voice commands. Surely will be upgraded in the future with more!It's super fun to direct and control BB-8 around your home for your friends, family, pets and other BB-8s! The charger and BB-8 unit has lights to indicate charging or when BB-8 is being expressive. See the photos I've included for more details.The $149.99 MSRP may be restrictive to some, but if you have some money that you can put into having one piece of Star Wars Episode VII memorabilia, the Sphero BB-8 is something great to consider. I had no problems with operation. Enjoyable and to me, worth it!

This is the coolest toy I've ever had, and I'm 33. The folks at Sphero clearly were in a rush to get the product out the door for the movie release, but they've kept their promise to update him, and I expect that they will continue to unlock the immense potential of this little guy in the coming months.Pros:-Sooooo cute! The little autonomous head movements make him feel alive. He's just full of personality.-Good battery life. I've yet to have him run down on me during a play session (though I don't think I've tried to push the hour mark)-Durable. The body is made of very thick plastic. He's taken some tumbles, and though the head will sometimes fall off in an impact, he doesn't have a scratch on him. He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.-Controls are easy to learn and use.-Sphero continues to update the actions and sounds available.-Compatible with other programs like SPRK Lab and Tickle (iPhone only) for infinite programming and customization. This allows you to use BB-8 like a regular Sphero. He's more versatile this way, but not as cute. It's the head movements that really make him special, and older Sphero programs don't account for that added motion.- Voice commands are pretty fun, though there are only a few to choose from.Cons:- The current interface is very limited. There are 12 programmed actions, and you can of course drive BB-8 freely. There's no light functions to play with, and Sphero cannot put the program on an open platform because of the Star Wars licensing agreement.- BB-8 runs a bit more sluggish in his specific control program than he does in custom programs like SPRK Lab.- Patrol mode is worthless. BB-8 does not "remember" when he bumps into something, so he just keeps running into the walls and getting stuck in remote corners. Annoying. It would be so much better if he could somehow use distance from your phone or GPS to actually navigate spaces, like a Roomba does. This just may not be possible, but I hope to see better functionality in updates.- Hologram mode does not work that well on my Samsung S5; the image often doesn't line up correctly with the robot, so the image just randomly projects in space. The record function is pretty cool, though. It's just kind of glitchy right now. Hopefully Sphero will update this function.- No "follow me" or "come here" function. This seems like it would be pretty simple to implement. Another function I hope to see in an update.-It would have been SUPER COOL to have a little camera in the head. I know, power issues, it would be too heavy, etc. But I can dream, can't I?Overall, this is a really excellent little piece of technology, but its capabilities are not even close to being fully utilized at the moment. With some added voice and command functionality, and improvement of the patrol mode, I might just never put him down. Well done, Sphero. I look forward to your next updates for my little droid buddy.

This gets 5/5 ot 9/10.First, the bad. Unfortunately, the unit suffers from some mild "false advertising" from what I can see, the toy does not "learn" from your interactions, in any way that I can reasonably tell. Plus, the advertising would lead you to think it has some time of obstacle detection when really it's just an accelerometer (a hard bump will cause it to flash red and it will emote). Finally, I'm not sure it's a criticism or a requirement of the design (probably the latter, friction = coeff*normal force) but the head's magnet is only strong enough for moderate bumps, so about 1/20 times the head can pop off during operation, but still operates fine. The biggest of all of my complaints: the toy has no speakers of it's own, so any noises it makes are completely driven by the app on your mobile device.Now the good. Have you seen how freaking cute this cat is? LOOK HOW HAPPY THIS DROID-LOVING CAT IS.Yes, I'm an undergrad mechanical engineer, and I wanted the toy for science and all that, but I really truly brought this Primarily because I knew it would be THE ULTIMATE CAT TOY. Rick (the cat) absolutely loves it, he stalks it, he sniffs it, he pounces it - and when he pounces it I count a kill if the head comes off. If you have a cat who loves chasing things YOU MUST BUY THIS TOY.The toy is very good on a range of surfaces, but does best on thin carpet. The rollers on the head will collect lint but thats very easy to clean off. The toy is a lot of fun just to hold and mess with, the gyroscope tries to keep the unit "upright" while it is powered, so you can have fun tossing it up in the air, putting spin on it, etc. - spin it on the kitchen floor like a top, it just keeps going.The app is pretty good, I have not explored all the features, I just use Drive mode and patrol mode. Patrol mode is somewhat OK for enticing the cat but I have found the best tactic for fluffy antagonistic mischief is manual drive - get the droid out of the cats field of vision and he feels inclined to chase after it. At the end of the day, this toy has caused me to create an emotional bond with it, and it is so fantastic that I liken it to the invention of the Ball or Sliced Bread or the advent of Transformer toys. This is one of those once in a generation kind of gadgets, frankly, that will get you excited (or your kids or your cat). If the toy had its own speaker, it would probably be even that much better at amusing the cat!