Sphero 2.0 comes to us from the same people that created Ollie and we fell head over heels in love with him so we were excited to get our grubby paws on the original product. Sphero 2.0 is a tough polycarbonate ball that is propelled by an electric motor and controlled via Bluetooth from an app on your smartphone or tablet, it has an inbuilt LED light for playing in low light and can travel up to speeds of 4.5mph. The Sphero 2.0 is actually a rather simple little toy but there are over 25 Sphero and third party apps available for iOS and Android that can be used alongside it and it can be programmed and hacked to encourage the kids to get their geek on. It has a 50ft remote control range and will give you an hour of playtime from one charge, it also has a range of accessories available like ramps and covers for extra traction and steering control. So with a bit of imagination there are endless ways to play with Sphero 2.0, two of my favourite games we found were the Rolling Dead, which is an augmented reality game (mixing reality with digital elements, think roger rabbit but in game form) where you have to use Sphero to fight these adorable zombies popping up from your living room floor and another one that was pretty cool was Sphero Golf where you use Sphero to play a golf course you set up within your home. Some of the apps however are pretty limited and lose their fun factor fairly quickly the best thing about Sphero is just driving it around like a race car, it is made from a tough plastic and can take a bashing (as well as being waterproof and pet proof) and after a little practice is it easy enough to pilot. There is also an educational element to Sphero with the Sphero Macrolab and orbBasic which introduces children to the basics of coding and to execute basic programs, create and prototype autonomous behaviours, and explore the inner workings of Sphero. Sphero 2.0 is fun to play with as an app controlled toy but the novelty of some of the companion apps wears off quickly if it was a choice between Sphero 2.0 or Ollie for me Ollie would win hands down but that doesn’t mean Sphero 2.0 hasn’t got its own charms it’s just a little more limited than Ollie.  RRP $129.99

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4 out of 5

Pros

Fun and interactive

Educational

User-friendly

One hour battery life

Cons

Some apps are very basic and become boring