Karotz Smart Rabbit review

What is the point of the Karotz Smart Rabbit, the internet-connected robotic rabbit? It's a question that we've asked ourselves a number of times during our time with this gadget.

The Karotz is an evolution of the Nabaztag, and at first glance it looks like a fun novelty toy. However, after a long, complicated installation process that involved driver issues, countless restarts and even an email to customer support - who were to be fair friendly and helpful - we can't really say that it's much fun.

Although it looks like a toy, it's not really suitable for kids, as it needs to be connected to the mains to work. Plus we could imagine a child getting quickly frustrated over their parents taking such a long time to set up and install the thing.

So is it useful then? Once everything was installed and the Karotz Smart Rabbit was connected to the internet, we were able to add 'apps' to enable it to connect to radio stations or RSS feeds. The only visual cue you get is a coloured light on the front of the Karotz so RSS feeds and emails are read out in a computerised voice.

You can get apps to run at certain times, or associate them with one of the three plastic RFID keys that come with it.

In theory you pass the key (shaped like a little rabbit) in front of Karotz and it will register the key and run the app. In use this was a frustrating process of rubbing the key all over the Karotz Smart Rabbit in the hope that it will read the key. It was annoyingly inconsistent.

Verdict

Costing £115 in the UK or $130 in the US, this just isn't fun or useful enough for the price. The inevitable rise of the robots and overthrow of mankind is still some way off.