Original BB-8 by Sphero (No Droid Trainer)

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.

I bought the Sphero BB-8 for my son for his 5th Birthday. The timing of the new Star Wars movie relative to his December birthday could not have been better. I took him to see the movie, and then he received the Sphero BB-8 at the birthday dinner that followed. His reaction was priceless - and alone was worth the purchase. But it gets better. This toy is incredibly fun to play with - and my 5-year old son immediately was able to control it with ease. The interface is that intuitive. The droid moves and reacts as the movie's BB-8 - because it's essentially just a scaled down version of the original. The preprogrammed behaviors are a lot of fun for my son as well, and the visual effects using your tablet (iPad Mini 2 in our case) or phone are pretty darn cool! This toy is incredibly well thought out, engineered and produced. To answer the critique that you need a near 'sterile' environment to operate this toy - that is bunk. My son's carpeted bedroom is anything but sterile, and while this toy responds more sluggishly on carpet - it still moves around without any major issues. The only surfaces I would avoid running this on would be concrete, and some types of tile, due to the fact the harder surfaces will degrade the polymer decal on the body of the droid. The only thing I can think of that I would critique about this toy is that it's a lot of fun for adults too. Thankfully, my son has a relatively early bed time - so I can get some BB-8 time in without frustrating a busy 5-year old.

My kids love this little booger. We've had him for 8 months and he doesn't come out every day anymore, but they play with it more than weekly. It gets used as BB8 in star wars play (dwarfs the other figures but they don't care). It gets used without the head in lots of other play. I saw the ball being a boulder that would chase action figures and run them over. I saw it being the pretend tornado one time. It's really fun to have a remote control ball in all kinds of imaginative play! It doesn't work so great in the snow and ice, but once that melts they've really liked it on the grass. It's perfect both in the yard and at the park. We don't use it on asphalt because I don't want it getting roughed up. They'll use it a little bit on the park equipment. They have fun on the playground equipment that has ramps. They've had less success trying to go up slides and it's not precise enough to try to run along railings. Outside, we mainly use it without the head. But it's still a fun toy that always grabs attention. In fact, that's the only downside with outside use. If the park is full, too many kids will want to interact with it. We bought it as a Star Wars toy. It's been used in so many ways, that I can't begin to tell them all to you. I think a Spero in any form is a great toy in imaginative hands.

BB-8 has been a ton of fun to play with today. Even the cats got in on some droid-chasing action. The small head has little wheels underneath and attaches to the bigger body via a magnet - but the user does have to be careful in where to attach it. It had enough juice out of the box to play with for a little bit, but it does take about 3 hours to fully charge and runs about an hour on that charge. So there is some limited functionality that might disappoint some consumers (not ones who have watched the video). Right now (launch day 9.4.2015), the Android app does NOT support voice commands, which is a little disappointing. There is supposed to be an update "soon" and I expect the enjoyment of this droid will greatly increase. Upstairs, the rooms have a medium pile carpet and several wool rugs. BB-8 navigated them with ease, including the transition up and onto the rug. The downside? If there is pet hair in your carpet, even after vacuuming, the head of BB-8 will pick up some of the hairs and need a small cleaning out of the wheels (ahem, ask me how I know). It is adorable, fun, and takes a bit of time to master the controls. However, a certain very delighted 4 year old was able to make BB-8 move as he wished. The sounds and lights are great, although sounds are made via the phone app (would've been hard to balance and place speakers in a rotating object this small) and BB-8 stops working if the user shuts down the app - hence the moniker "app enabled droid" vs "droid". It's incredibly cute and while smaller than the Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid it's more actually more engaging and fun. Looking forward to much more play with it..

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!

ROCK ON

I waited impatiently to get my own Sphero BB-8 App-Enabled Droid! I had watched the Sphero product videos and was amazed at what this cute little guy can do. I'm a gadget nerd and had to get my hands on this! Unfortunately, my expectations were too high. First, let me start off by saying BB-8 is very cute. That part is true. I love the look, the design and the shiny finish. It is made of plastic, but appears to be good quality. It's very user friendly and you can be playing with BB-8 within minutes. The only set-up required is to charge BB-8 and download the app. What can BB-8 do? Once you download the free app, you can: "Drive" This feature of the app lets you control BB-8 as if you were using a joystick. "Message" Record and play holographic messages. "Patrol" When you select patrol, BB-8 goes exploring on his own. BB-8 has the capability of responding to 10 preset voice commands by going to the settings in the app, such as "wake up", "watch out", "go explore" "go to sleep". I was expecting more than 10 voice commands. Siri has spoiled me. I have heard, but cannot verify, that the voice commands only work with iOS devices. If this is accurate, that's a huge drawback for anyone without an iPhone or iPad. BB-8 is very cute (I know, I'm saying it again), has a great personality and is entertaining to watch as he rolls across the floor. That is about the extent of the entertainment. I feel I was misled by the promotional videos. I was under the impression that BB-8 can "detect" when he is going to run into an object, stop himself and change directions; or, perhaps, adapt to his surroundings and learn where objects are. My impression of this came from the part in one of the promotional videos where BB-8 rolls up to a fishbowl with a goldfish in it, stops before hitting it and changes direction. When I set BB-8 to "patrol", he wobbles around a bit, rolls quickly across the floor, hits a wall or other object, wobbles around again, rolls across the floor, hits another object, etc. It's entertaining to watch and the expressive sounds are fun, but after about 5 minutes I'm bored. The worst part of this is BB-8's head falls off frequently when running into an object so I'm constantly following him around to put it back on. Also, if you have stairs in your house as I do, watch out! BB-8 will roll right down the stairs and I'm not sure if he's sturdy enough to bounce down the stairs and land on a tile floor without breaking. I've "saved" BB-8 an untimely death a few times now. Again, this falls under my misunderstanding of thinking BB-8 will adapt to his surroundings or detect a drop off. I have a robotic vacuum that didn't cost much more than BB-8 and has that very capability. It knows to turn around to avoid crashing down the stairs. It also vacuums right up to the edge of walls and furniture, but never actually touches it. Hmmmm....... Next is the issue with the sound. Again, my expectations being different than reality. I thought the sounds would come from BB-8, when really the sounds all come from your smartphone. Very disappointing! I'll set BB-8 on "patrol", set my smartphone down in one room and let BB-8 go explore the house. I don't get the enjoyment of hearing the sounds if I don't carry my phone with me and it's not as realistic even if your phone is right next to BB-8 because you can easily tell no sound is coming from him. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment. Finally, the holographic messages. I thought it would be like in the movie and BB-8 would project a recorded message onto the wall or what-not and play the recorded message. The message only shows up on your smartphone. When using the app through a Motorola smartphone (and others), this feature doesn't work at all. I don't know if it's something that there will be a fix for in the future? It does work on an iPhone and other devices, but is still disappointing that BB-8 isn't really projecting anything. This is a very expensive toy and the novelty wears off very fast, especially if you're expecting something more and it doesn't deliver. If you're a Star Wars Memorabilia collector, you've probably made up your mind and probably should purchase it. If you're like me and love Star Wars but aren't a collector and/or your a gadget nerd like me, you'll probably be disappointed. There's not much to it besides watching it roll around the floor, crashing into things. To summarize the Pros: Very Cute! Realistic looking miniature version of BB-8 Great novelty item for Star Wars Collectors Cool Gadget Easy Set-Up Fun Sound Effects To summarize the Cons: Entertainment won't last long Doesn't detect obstacles or objects in it's way Head falls off Doesn't sense drops to prevent it from falling down the stairs Sound doesn't come from droid Holographic messages are really just a video on your smartphone ~ if your smartphone is compatible Only 10 voice commands Voice commands may only work with iOS devices Price is too high for what you really get

Unlike most people, I did not see the trailer until AFTER I bought this. Originally I wanted an original Sphero Sprk but after seeing that they had a BB-8 one, AND for only $49 on Prime Day, I knew my SW-loving kids would love it even more. BB-8 Sphero is exactly what I was looking for because it is PROGRAMMABLE, just like a Sphero Sprk, plus all the bonus Star Wars toy features that I now see on the trailer (yes, but it's a shame that the sounds don't come from BB-8 directly and the holographic images are only on your mobile device). The key is to not only download the BB-8 specific app but to download the Sphero Edu app, which allows you to control, program your BB-8 to be way smarter than its pre-programmed self. You can have it react or turn around wherever it bumps into something. You can have your mobile device make BB-8 sounds automatically (or even roar like a Lion) whenever BB-8 starts charging. My 8yo programmed it to run laps around my kitchen island. You can program it to go up to your fish bowl, change colors, and turn around. It's a lot of fun and provides quality STEM-based intro-to-robotics education for my kids. Make sure you have your mobile device Location AND Bluetooth turned on in order for the Sphero Edu to connect to BB-8. And remember to orient BB-8 via the AIM feature before running your program so it runs relative to your orientation. We are loving it in my household when there's so much more you can do with it than just having it explore (roll aimlessly), go to sleep, etc.

It was a bit of a struggle to get the droid connected to the app, but once it got connected the first time, it's been seamless when I connect to the app. There are great options within the app and the controls are pretty easy to figure out, somewhat sensitive but once you get the hang of it, is fun to play with. My dog likes to chase him around and you can put him on an auto roving setting and he'll just make his way around randomly. Way fun and super cool if you're a Star Wars fan!

Ótimo produto. Uma pena não ter à venda, no Brasil, os outros droides. Há alguma previsão para isso? Aguardo retorno.

My seven year old daughter is saying dad " Will my new friend grow big as I am growing? " Thanks amazon.

Es un juguete muy bonito, llego en tiempo y excelentes condiciones, el tamaño no es muy grande, tiene la altrua de un iPhone Plus, pero para un rato de diversion o como anexo de tu coleccion es exclente.

Es mi segunda experiencia con un bb8 dron y es lo mejor, la app fue mejorada y el dron funciona perfecto.