~ MamakTalk ~: The Next Step For Tamaogtchis is Smartwatches

2021年6月19日星期六

The Next Step For Tamaogtchis is Smartwatches

Even though virtual pets can be easily downloaded on a smart device, Tamagotchi is still in the market for making physical devices for pets. The company has been evolving over the past 25 years and it recently just unveiled its next evolution. The Japanese Bandai site just revealed the Tamagotchi smartwatch.

It’s called The ‘Tamagotchi Smart’, and it centers around the pet, so don’t expect to answer Slack messages on it

The first Tamagotchi pets hit the store shelves back in 1996, and they’ve been a staple in 90s kids’ nostalgic ramblings ever since. The small egg-shaped devices would contain a tiny creature called a Tamagotchi. It was your job to take care of the little creature so that it could age and spawn the next generation. However, if you were not a good caretaker, you would run the risk of killing your pet.

Now, 25 years later, we have this new smartwatch form factor for Tamagotchi. The watch itself is not trying to be sleek and stylish like a Galaxy or Apple watch- it’s big, bubbly, and colorful. The screen retains the egg-shaped aesthetic of the original device, thus keeping with the theme of the brand.

So far, there are only two colors that have been showcased, bright pink and bright blue. The display is an LCD panel that shows a full-color image. It’s rectangular, leaving a significant bezel for the buttons on the bottom. The actual device seems to be wrapped in a thick silicone outer layer for protection, which extends to the band.

What can you do with the watch?

There are a few neat functions that you can do with your Tamagotchi Smart. Firstly, the small LCD panel that adorns the chassis is a touch screen. With it, you can stroke your pet to make it happy. The main functions of the watch, however, might be handled by the three buttons that are on the bottom.

One true-to-life smartwatch feature that this watch has is the ability to count steps. It seems a bit random to have a Tamagotchi that counts steps. The company doesn’t go into why the step counter was implemented into the device.

The watch has a built-in microphone that can pick up words from the user. According to Input, it’s really limited. There’s, unfortunately, no real voice recognition in the device. The device can only tell when a person is speaking, and the only thing it does is wake up the Tamagotchi.

A nice addition to the Tamagotchi Smart is the Tama-Smart card. It’s a small egg-shaped chip that can be inserted into the watch. You use this to download new content to the watch to change up the look. The data is mostly transferred to the card via the Tamagotchi app.

The watch itself costs about $60 USD and the card is an additional $10 USD. This was announced only for the Japanese market, so folks in the states will are out of luck.