Why You Can Trust CNET Sphero Mini could be the greatest $50 cat toy of all time
Looks like a ping-pong ball, rolls like BB-8.
- Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
Before Sphero branched out into making Star Wars toys and anthropomorphic cars, it was known for its rolling robot balls.
The company's best-known product, the original 2011 Sphero, has since gone through a bunch of permutations and updates, but its $99 price tag always felt a bit too rich. And that's exactly why the new Sphero Mini looks like a winner. It's far smaller and half the price: just $50 (£50, $AU80).
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Sphero Mini is very small.
It's also adorable.
I've had a chance to play with the Mini and a prerelease version of Sphero's new app for iOS. The app focuses on a few basic remote-control play modes: touch, tilt, slingshot mode, and a bizarre face-controlled mode that requires smiles, frowns and head-tilts to move. I had more success with my smiles. I drove Sphero Mini off the table lots of times, and it seemed to survive. It's not as durable as the larger Sphero, but it should handle basic falls from normal tabletop distances. Its shell may or may not pop off.
Sphero Mini next to the larger Sphero.
Sphero Mini isn't waterproof like the larger Sphero, and doesn't have inductive charging. You have to pop open the plastic shell and plug the inner motor in via Micro-USB. Sphero sells extra shell designs for $12 each. Some look like pool balls. A golf ball might be in the works.
Its accelerometer and gyro work like the larger Sphero, however, so it can move similarly. I was also able to pick it up and use it as a motion game controller for a few fun little arcade games in the Sphero Mini app -- kind of like a handheld trackball.
Bowling with Sphero.
The Sphero Mini will work with Sphero's EDU app for programming via an early October update, so it could also be a cheap way to explore some programming fun. But Sphero needs an iOS or Android device to control it, and it lasts 45 minutes to an hour on a charge. That's pretty good for something this small, and far better than nearly every drone we've ever tested.
My kids would love this. And if I had a cat, it would love it even more.
I'm trying to drive with my face.
Key specs:
- Looks like a possessed ping-pong ball
- Glowing colored lights
- Works with Sphero EDU programming app
- Remote control needs iOS or Android device
- Changeable shells
- Comes with mini bowling pins and cones for games and obstacle courses
- Available now for $50 (£50, $AU80)