Fisher-Price wants your kids to watch TV everywhere
Its Kid Tough portable DVR, shown at CES and out in May, is designed with 3- to 5-year-olds in mind.
LAS VEGAS--Fisher-Price is coming out with a portable DVR that even a 3-year-old can operate. In fact, that's entirely the point.
Tonight at Pepcom Digital Experience the toy maker showed off its upcoming portable DVR players called Kid Tough, designed for kids 3 to 5. They're rugged devices that come in either blue or pink (clever, huh?) and that can record up to two hours, although the memory is expandable with a micro SD slot. The screen is a small but sufficient 3.5 inches and looks easy to use via a touch interface, which is what kids are used to nowadays.
The unit comes with a dock that connects via cables to a set-top box, and the company says the battery life lasts for four hours. They will sell for $150 and be available in May.
The main selling point of the Kid Tough, it seems, is that it's rugged. I asked the guy demonstrating it to drop it on the table for me, but he said it's a prototype and it would break. Even so, the prototype looks like Fisher-Price's Kid Tough Digital Camera, and since that can survive most kid abuse, I suspect this DVR can handle a 5-year-old's mishap or even a tantrum.
But here's where I'm skeptical: My kids want to interact with their devices. If they're holding something, they want to touch and swipe and play games. On the other hand, this is cheaper and more rugged than most tablets. And nothing makes a car ride easier than having the little ones plugged into a portable player. Naturally, there's a headphone jack.