| Review Items | average mark |
|---|---|
| Degree of parent-child enjoyment | 4 |
| operability | 4.3 |
| continuity | 4.2 |
| design ability | 4.5 |
| lightness | 4.5 |
| average | 4.3 |
- Digicoro, which is played by rolling it around on an iPad, is a new type of educational toy that crosses the digital and analog worlds.
- Easy to use! 10 different apps to enhance children's intellectual curiosity and creativity!
- There are many ways to play! With a little ingenuity, the whole family can have fun!
Participating parents with children aged 0-6 years old, as well as pre-parents and pre-moms who are expecting a baby and want to actively use technology such as gadgets, apps, and home appliances in their child-rearing.BabyTech Communityholds a monthly "Review with Everyone - Making Baby Tech More Fun".
This project aims to help community members share their experiences with various baby tech services with the goal of finding enjoyment in using baby tech in their child-rearing lives. Each time, members who have actually used one baby tech service will post a review of the service on a special website. They then share their impressions and usage in an online roundtable discussion, which is published as a review article on BabyTech.jp.
In this fourth installment of the series, we will introduce a new intellectual toy that can be played with anywhere with an iPad, calleddigital cell phoneIntroduction to "Digicoro". Playing with Digicoro is simple. Simply place or roll the yellow-green sphere, which has black protrusions about 5 cm in diameter, on your iPad (for ages 3 to 10). That's all there is to it, but don't underestimate it: with 10 dedicated apps, you can enjoy drawing, adventures, observation, and a variety of other play activities. It is said that brain-stimulating hand-to-hand play is important for growing children. Digicoro allows children to stimulate their three senses of "sight," "hearing," and "touch" at the same time while enhancing their creativity and curiosity about nature.
In this article, community members who have actually used Digicoro review the service for fun and usefulness (numerical rating on a 5-point scale from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5). In addition, Tetsuya Nagata, CEO of PapaSmile, and community members participated in an online roundtable discussion ("cross review talk") to discuss the review results and the appeal of digicolo!
Cross-Review Talk Participants
Talk Participants
miyashin
Sachi.
developer
Digicolo Corporation
Yumiko Oikawa, Representative Director
Papa Smile Co.,Ltd
Representative Director Tetsuya Nagata
The level of enjoyment for parents and children: Various games can be enjoyed depending on one's ingenuity!
| reviewer | Review score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | 5 | My daughter was 5 months old, but she was interested in it, and I thought she would enjoy the simplicity of the controls as she gets older. |
| miyashin | 4 | The kids had a lot of fun. |
| Sachi. | 4 | He was a 5 year old child, so he was enjoying doing it more and more on his own, rather than enjoying it with his parents. |
| Yoshie | 5 | – |
| Mr. Nozomun | 4 | There was live action that my parents didn't like (specifically insects). |
| falconry (using falcons) | 2 | I got the impression that there weren't many elements shared between parents and children. |
Nagata:Thank you for your time today. I would like to begin our cross review talk right away! First, let's look at the "degree of fun for parents and children. Here, although the overall rating is high, it seems that older children tend to be able to play more and more on their own.
Sachi:I feel that the key is to know what kind of playing style you want to play with. My son is 5 years old and was playing with me today, competing with me for scores.
Nagata:It would be fun for families to play games that produce scores while competing against each other! If each family can share what kind of games they are playing using Digicoro, the range of fun will expand dramatically.
Operability] I like the fact that it can be operated sensibly, and as long as the application is installed, it starts up immediately.
| reviewer | Review score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | 5 | As long as you have the iPad app on, you can get up and running and play right away. |
| miyashin | 4 | When operating the digicolo unit, it was difficult to hit the target area. |
| Sachi. | 5 | I think it is easy for children to operate sensibly! |
| Yoshie | 3 | – |
| Mr. Nozomun | 4 | There were areas that my child (3 years old) could not fully operate. |
| falconry (using falcons) | 5 | A 4 year old could touch it at random and still get the game going. |
Nagata:As for "operability," the fact that you can play easily with an iPad and a DigiCoro console is highly evaluated. How did you feel when you actually held Digicoro?
Sachi:It was lightweight and solid to hold. The app "Kuru Kuru Time" was great to see how a chrysalis turns into a butterfly or a bud opens into a flower when you roll the digicoro on the iPad, and my child became familiar with insects and flowers. In the future, it would be great if you could add more types of videos that can be viewed!
Nagata:I can say that the appeal of this product is that you can touch it with your own curiosity and that it is easy to operate. Another convenient feature is that as long as you download the application, you can play offline, and the device itself does not require batteries or recharging.
Continuity] There were many requests from the children to continue the program!
| reviewer | Review score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | 4 | Some of the games felt like drawing a picture once on a blank piece of paper, and it might be difficult to want to repeat the game again. There were some applications with a bit of gameplay, but it was difficult to understand how the scores were given and when the game was over, making it difficult to feel the urge to do it again. |
| miyashin | 5 | Surprisingly, the realistic "Kyatchi Mushi (*name of the app)" was very popular (laughs). 3 times I have actively asked to do it. I also play "Tacchi Color" whenever I touch the app. As for fireworks, explosions are my favorite! |
| Sachi. | 5 | They bring their digicolors and urge me to do something like, "I want to do the bug thing today. |
| Yoshie | 3 | I was supposed to give him an iPad to play with Digicoro, but he often opened other apps (e.g. YouTube) as a result. |
| Mr. Nozomun | 5 | Actual testimonials from children. They want to continue to play. |
| falconry (using falcons) | 3 | If there is nothing else I want to do, I will do it myself from time to time. |
Nagata:Overall, "continuity" was highly rated. Kyatchimushi," in which users catch realistic butterflies and beetles that move freely on the screen by rolling a digital dice, seems to be popular.
Mr. Miyashin:I myself was a little scared because the bugs were too realistic (laughs). From what I saw from the children, they liked the fact that they were touching them on the screen using the digicolo, rather than actually touching them with their hands. I really want to touch them, but I'm afraid of real bugs. But if it's through a ball, it's okay! It's like that.
Nagata:I see. This is another good point unique to digicolo.
Design】Highly rated was the design. The colors and beautiful graphics were well received.
| reviewer | Review score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | 5 | The design was both simple and colorful, and the overall design was good. |
| miyashin | 5 | The colors are stylish, and I think "Michipo" is a wonderful thing for adults to look at too! |
| Sachi. | 5 | The design is truly outstanding! I have the satisfaction of exposing my children to the "real thing"! |
| Yoshie | 5 | Each application was rich in color, and I enjoyed seeing them with my eyes! |
| Mr. Nozomun | 4 | Some difficulty with the app's UI (e.g., orientation is specified after launch) |
| falconry (using falcons) | 3 | I thought there was a little more room for improvement, such as having to download each app, and the screen orientation being fixed. |
Nagata:As you can see from Kasumi's review, the colors and designs are very well received. Depending on the application, there is a wide variety, including those that are close to live-action, those with rich colors, and those with a hand-drawn touch.
Nagata:On the other hand, as mentioned in Nozomun's review, there may be room for improvement in the fact that the screen orientation is fixed after the application is launched.
Convenience: As long as you have an iPad, you can play on your own!
| reviewer | Review score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | 5 | Play immediately after launching the app on the iPad. |
| miyashin | 5 | The body is very sturdy and easy to use. |
| Sachi. | 4 | At first, I thought it was a bit tedious to have to download the apps one by one, but once downloaded, you can play over and over again. |
| Yoshie | 4 | – |
| Mr. Nozomun | 5 | There is an iPad for children, and I thought it was easy because children can prepare and play on their own. |
| falconry (using falcons) | 4 | All you need is an iPad. |
Nagata:As you can see from everyone's evaluation, the fact that "children can play on their own if they have an iPad" is highly rated. In addition, some of you mentioned the sturdiness of the device. I touched the actual product myself, and from a parent's point of view, I really appreciated the sturdiness of the device, regardless of whether it is thrown or not.
Mr. Miyashin:In our house, while playing with Digicoro, we also realized that iPads are also fairly sturdy, as long as you don't throw them (laughs).
Nagata:It's surprisingly sturdy. It might be safer to put it in a case just in case. One other thing that was pointed out is about downloading apps. Currently, Digicoro offers 10 different dedicated apps to play with, but it may be a bit of a hassle to download these one by one.
Sachi:It would be helpful if there was some kind of button to download them all at once.
Nagata:Indeed. It would be useful to have it integrated into one app.
Playing with digicolors enhances children's curiosity and creativity.
Q: Please let us know if there is anything you have noticed after using digicolo.
| reviewer | Comment |
|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | The idea is that you can taste both analog and digital, but I wonder if there is room for verification as to how much this will be conveyed to children and whether they will enjoy it. There are realistic physics toys, but the feel and such may not be that interesting, so |
| miyashin | I don't like realistic insects, but I was quite enthusiastic about the "kyatchi bug" and was happy to find something I liked about it! |
| Sachi. | I enjoyed learning about the process of becoming a butterfly from a chrysalis in an easy-to-understand manner. |
| Yoshie | I would have been happier if the digital roller itself had a mechanism that made a sound when it was moved. |
| Mr. Nozomun | The child's ability to learn independently is surprisingly amazing; after one play session, he was almost self-serving. |
| falconry (using falcons) | They have discovered the fun of playing on the iPad! |
Nagata:Let's now look at the overall review results. As for our findings, we received comments that children were able to find their favorite apps and their own "likes" such as "Kyatchimushi" and "Kurukuru Time," as well as comments that they learned the fun of playing on the iPad.
Mr. Miyashin:I think it is great that the app allows children to closely observe and catch insects that they do not usually have the chance to touch. In fact, after using Digicolo, a child found an ant and observed, "There are ants! They are eating sweets," and even observed them.
Nagata:Unpredictable creatures such as insects that we see for the first time are scary in real life, but in a game we can see them calmly.
Mr. Miyashin:I felt that you are properly aware of the real world and the virtual world, and you know that the virtual world does not affect you.
Nagata:In connection with insects, Sachi also commented on the "Kuru Kuru Time" play in which a chrysalis turns into a butterfly, saying that it was easy to understand and enjoyable.
Sachi:Yes, it was very nice. I thought it was wonderful to be able to observe with my children these precious moments that we don't get to see very often, even in everyday life.
Nagata:The "sound emitting mechanism" mentioned by Yoshie also sounds interesting. The sound system would add to the realism of the game, increase the number of ways to use the game, and broaden the scope of play itself.
Looking forward to further enhancement of the application and the addition of a batch download function!
Q: What are your expectations for the future of digicolo?
| reviewer | Comment |
|---|---|
| Kasumin. Three. | Diversification of applications and more mechanisms to make children happy. |
| miyashin | I thought it would be nice to have a collection of apps for things like cooking. It could be used for kneading bread or mixing flour! I thought. |
| Sachi. | I wish there was a mechanism to download all the apps at once instead of downloading them one by one! |
| Mr. Nozomun | I'd appreciate a better UI and the ability to switch between live action/animation, etc. |
Nagata:As for the future of Digicoro, many people seem to be requesting additional applications. The "cooking app" mentioned in the comments sounds interesting! I would love to see an app in a genre that has never been done before. What did you think of Miyashin and Sachi?
Mr. Miyashin:I haven't mentioned it here, but in fact, some applications are played without using digicoro and with fingers. I thought it would be nice to have some games that are difficult to control and can only be played with digicoro.
Also, after reading Sachi's and everyone else's reviews, I felt that there are so many ways to play.
At our house, we play the "Michipo" game, in which we use a digicolo to apply paint to a white canvas, as a "Let's mess up daddy's clothes" game, where the canvas looks like my clothes, and when my child paints, I say "Stop messing up my clothes! when my child paints colors on the canvas.
Nagata:Sounds like fun! If we could collect feedback from users saying, "This is how we play at home," it would further expand the scope of digicolo play.
Sachi:I would like to hear from different people! Also, I thought one of the best things about digicolo is that children are making a lot of discoveries as they play and operate the digicolo.
Nagata:What does it mean?
Sachi:In "Michipo," where animals and stars appear when you roll the digicoron to make a path, you can not only roll the digicoron around and around, but also push it to connect doors to various places, and in "Fireworks," the size of the explosion changes depending on the operation of the digicoron. I thought it was an item with many discoveries.
Nagata:Indeed, I feel that there are many ideas scattered everywhere to stimulate children's intellectual curiosity, such as "What will happen if I do this? I feel that there are many ways to stimulate children's intellectual curiosity.
Mr. Miyashin:These items have rich "margins" that can be enjoyed by children without parents having to set rules.
Nagata:Children are geniuses at play, aren't they? In this review, I felt that Digicoro exists as a kind of "vacant lot" in the past, from which many possibilities for play are born. Lastly, I would like to ask the developer, Mr. Oikawa, what he thought of today's review.
Mr. Oikawa:Thank you very much for your valuable feedback today! We are very happy and thrilled to hear that children are playing with Digicoro by themselves and enjoying the application. The fact that we focused on realistic insects and not illustrations is exactly what we were aiming for (laughs).
Nagata:You were right on target! Please let us know if there are any other points of particular interest.
Mr. Oikawa:You focused on reality, not a childish digital picture. I designed it to have a sense of reality, with realistic objects, realistic drawings, and realistic sounds. In "Michipo," we also focused on rustic drawings, lines, and drum-like sounds.
Nagata:The reviews seem to convey such "commitment!
Mr. Oikawa:"Couldn't we make a toy that uses the iPad to play with your hands and fingers?" This is how Digicoro started. We would like to make it even more interesting and fun with a variety of applications in the future. We appreciate all the feedback on the application, and it has been very helpful for us in our future application development.
In fact, we have an idea for a second phase of digicolo that uses Bluetooth. It will not be easy to realize, but we would like to move forward step by step. First of all, we will do our best to make Digicoro more known to everyone.
Nagata:I look forward to seeing more and more of Digicoro in the future! Thank you very much, everyone, and Mr. Oikawa, for joining us today.
Related links for this article
Digicoro, a digital x analog educational toy (https://digicoro.co.jp/)
BabyTech Community (https://babytech.jp/community/)
