Girls of Geek Toy Review: BB-8 App Enabled Droid by Sphero

​Written by Shae

Last week while hanging with John, and totally not seeing Star Wars for the fourth time, we stopped at the book store in hopes of finding some POPs. Which ones, we weren't sure of. But we didn't find any, instead I found this little guy. I didn't know Barnes & Noble was selling the Sphero BB-8 that we've seen everywhere else. To make a super long story, which isn't even entertaining, short. I bought him. I'm not obsessed with this little droid per se, I'm just in need of owning all the BB-8 things.

The set up instructions are pretty simple, and easy, and have pictures! Look, some of us are bad at reading directions, so you know, that helped. BB-8 runs for quite a while right out of the box, at least mine lasted a half hour for the first go. After that he does need to charge fully, but he'll run for an hour, if not a tiny bit more. So, to actually control BB-8 you must download the Sphero app, which is free and available for any smart phone. After which you turn on your Bluetooth, power up the app, and do as instructed. The app and phone have to be near BB-8 for it the sync and work.

Once you have that on you have options! You can remotely drive BB-8 yourself, this allows you to give voice commands to your droid, which he will react to. The app will actually learn your voice in order to better understand you. BB-8 doesn't make noise through the actual robot, but he will via the app, which is pretty cool if you ask me. However, I would prefer to have my BB-8 make its own noises. The app also allows you to put the droid in Patrol mode. Here you can see BB-8's speed, which can be adjusted based on the surface he's on (carpet vs hardwood), and also get updates. BB-8 actually alerts you if he runs into a "life form", such as animals or other people. He and my cats met for the first time, and needless to say, well, they were considered a hostile life form.

Other features include messages; some prerecorded, others you can record yourself! Lastly, settings, where you basically can change the volume of the sound, adjust speed, and so on.

Over all this little droid is worth what I paid! He's a fun little guy, and there are a lot of things you can do with him. The app is currently being worked on for updates and hopefully some additions will be made. BB-8 is a bit pricy at around $150.00, but if you're a geeky nerd like me, you forget about the price and just buy the thing! I have to say, having him chase the cats has been my favorite part of the day!

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