iPets : i-Dog product reviews

The i-dog is one of the cutest ipod accessories that you are going to buy that special someone for Christmas. It is so much fun and it would suit any persons age 7 and up.

The whole idea is to feed the dog music and when you do not, it gets sad... when you feed it more, it gets happier to the point where if you feed it enough music, pat it's head and rub it's nose... it becomes ecstatic, which is indicated by the flashing lights on the face. The head and ears of the puppy move when it is happy or sad and also moves when you play it music.

At first I did not think much of it, but the more I played with it the more addictive it became and the more of a certain type you play your puppy, the more it likes that type of music and it responds less to other styles of music when played, thus it gains personality and it starts to like what you like.

The unit comes with all the accessories that you need to connect it to a variety of music equipment, however, batteries are not included in the box so remember to get them before you wrap the item and give it as a gift. It is going to save you going to the service station on the day.

The only drawback is that the unit does not run well on rechargeable batteries and it can become expensive to run it in the long run.

I think this is the ideal gift for all ages especially the techno geek in the family.

FINALLY! A pet I can leave alone for hours on end and it won't tear up the couch, soil the carpet, or get stuck in the catflap while trying to sneak out to chase birds... the ultimate pet for any 'l33t g33k who enjoys a few 'tunes while they surf.

First off, you have to slap some batteries into it. Thankfully, the designers made sure to curb their sense of humour, and the battery compartment hidden inside the hip. Access is gained by removing a rear leg... and it requires a delicate touch. If you simply undo the screw and try to rip it open, you'll damage your pooch in one easy step... gently gently is the way to go. Otherwise you'll never get the leg to stay on, and you might as well give in to having a dog wearing a duct-tape nappy.

Once it has juice, however, it is pure simplicity to operate. Open the little rubber socket-cover on it's left flank, and either plug your speaker cable directly into it, or use the pass-through cable supplied so that you can loop the signal thru the pooch and out to your chosen speaker system. I piped the PC signal through the i-dog, and out to the surround sound rig, and was impressed at the level of signal retained.

The light patterns can be a little disturbing, after all, how many 7-eyed miniature dogs with chrome noses have you seen recently? However, after a few minutes, when the dog has started to pick up the rhythms in the music, the patterns become quite funky. And when you are not feeding it music, you can pat it's head and stroke it's nose to give it company and comfort... and you'll be rewarded with grunts and yip-yaps and flashing lights.

Double-press it's nose and it will tell you how it's feeling by playing music and flashing patterns of lights at you. Yes, for a while you will need to keep the manual handy to interpret the colour/pattern combinations, but after a short while, you'll be fluent in i-dog light-speak.

Now, at this point it needs to be made clear that you don't actually HAVE to have the i-dog plugged in, in order to 'feed it' music. With it's built-in mic, it will happy listen to any music nearby that's loud enough to register... but I think it's 'speaker' function is by far the most important, and practical feature.

A couple of things to note... even high-end batteries won't last forever... so you will need to make sure you turn the i-dog off if you plan to leave it sit for more than an hour or two. it will go into dormant mode, but wakes up to 'complain', draining battery time. Secondly, though it is technically 'portable', it's not THAT portable... yes, it makes a great little speaker to attach to your little MP3-player, but be aware that such use will cost you far more in batteries.

Overall, despite the very few drawbacks, this is one seriously dinky desktop toy. I think it would have been good if it had a way to power off a mains adaptor, and have a rechargable battery pack, or even a USB connection... but I guess we can't have all the cake and eat it too. Still for those who have everything (else), it would make a wonderful gift for any occasion. I plan to find a way to customise the colour-scheme of mine... always wanted a Dalmation. -grin-