Musical Apple Watch toy for toddlers: P-Watch

 

 

A Musical toy Apple Watch for kids.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, I love my Apple Watch. Perhaps to the surprise of some, I also love my kids. That being said, my youngest daughter likes to grab my Apple Watch and play around with it, refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer. So unlike the Apple Watch, every now and then my love for the kids is tested. My youngest at the time of this writing is about a year and a half old and has a fondness for destroying my house, hiding my iPhone charger, throwing food on the floor and screaming for milk – even when she has some. I swear I love her but I am drawing a blank at the moment on providing any example of why I do. She also has a deep love of music, to her credit. I was looking to spoil her with a little toy a short while ago, but what do you get a kid who wants an Apple watch, is Hell bent on loosing or throwing anything I give her and also likes music? Introducing the P-Watch!

The P-Watch is a toddler’s musical watch that straps on to the wrist and plays a wide variety of musical clips and sound effects when one of the icons on the watch face is pressed. Thankfully, the watch face is essentially a sticker of a pseudo-Apple Watch home screen and the good folks who made it had the foresight not to make it out of glass. Some of the icons are Apple ‘inspired’, such as the garage band icon – which incidentally plays the best tune on the watch, while other icons are original designs.

© AliExpress

What’s with the terrified cat in the middle? He looks like he witnessed a crime and is now in hiding.

I won’t lie, I was also assuming when I bought it that even if my daughter disliked it, it would be more than likely a great candidate for a Knock-Off Nerd rubbish review, and so I had nothing to lose by spending the measly $5 they were asking for it. I am somewhat disappointed to say – it doesn’t suck. In fact both my daughter and I love it.

Hey Siri, move my scheduled nap to tomorrow afternoon, I have stuff to do today.

Let’s skip right ahead to the verdict – If you have a toddler who loves music and you want something cute and fun to strap onto their arm that they can’t lose – buy it, they will love it.

The P-Watch is available in a variety of colours – Red/pink, green/yellow and black/blue. Unfortunately they missed the opportunity to make a $10k gold edition for the opulent child.

© AliExpress

Touch my watch again you little brat and it won’t just be your watch that is black and blue!

 

I only bought one of them (the green/yellow one) although I believe it is a safe assumption that they all have the same features and sound effects. Each one of the icons (large and small) will play one of several unique possible sound effects. Fairly impressive considering at such a low price you would assume the entire watch would play, at best, 3 or so random sounds, but the P-Watch went the extra mile to provide incredible variety to play with.

The Apple fan-girl training starts young in my home.

To power these sounds, the watch uses 3 small AG3 ‘watch’ batteries, and despite the multiple sound effects and long-term usage, they last a long time before they need replacing.

Not all sounds on the P-Watch are created equal – some are music clips that get my daughter dancing while others are ‘computer beeps’, chimes or other random sounds. There are even times when the P-Watch will start talking when an icon is pressed, which the advertising claims is Chinese poetry and storytelling but I cannot confirm due to the fact it is not in English.

“There once was a spoiled child with an Apple Watch

Who thought that she was so posh.

When her imperialistic society collapsed,

She was forced to sell off her ass.”

Ok, Ok, maybe it doesn’t say that, but think of how funny it would have been if a disgruntled worker at the P-Watch factory had snuck that into the sound files.

Funny stuff dad. This is why mom is my favourite.

The ‘Digital Crown’, or at least the non-union, knock-off equivalent version of it, turns the device on and off, providing full autonomy to the child. This is where the P-Watch really shines; a child can control the entire experience from turning it on, to playing the sounds, to stopping it when done. I am a big supporter of giving children some autonomy and authority over their lives, even at a young age, and granting a child the ability to control when he or she can listen to some music is a great gift to give to a growing mind. This is why she has a knock-off iPod Nano and Shuffle as well. Since the device is strapped on to their arm they are unlikely to lose it and are encouraged to play with it randomly throughout the day.

And play with it she does – especially when she sees me use my Apple Watch. The second I sit on the couch and fiddle with my watch, she will toddle over, sit beside me and start playing with hers as well. I love hanging out with my little watch buddy! Funny though, it feels like I forgot to do something…

Shit! I forgot to feed her again!

The watch is relatively well built (by knock-off standards anyway) and so it should survive general use, even by an aggressive toddler. Not all is perfect with the P-Watch however; it is slightly difficult to attach the strap onto her wrist as the plastic, while flexible, is still plastic and is not as easy to manipulate as a rubber or leather strap would be. Unfortunately this means that my daughter cannot get it on by herself and looses, albeit a small amount, of her aforementioned autonomy. If I can make any recommendations for the P-Watch 2, it would be to use an elastic type of bracelet made to look like the Apple Watch strap instead of an actual strap and buckle mechanism that the child cannot manipulate. Great, now I have to pay attention to my kid? This damn thing was supposed to prevent that from happening!

Another small nitpick of mine is the placement of the speaker. It is on the back of the watch – yes, the part that makes contact with the skin. The tighter my daughter wears the watch, the lower the volume and more muffled the sound becomes. A speaker on the side would be a better idea, but I think I am asking a lot for my money here. Honestly though, the volume is at an acceptable level regardless and it is not like it should be as tight as psychiatric hospital restraints anyway. Well, not for most toddlers…

In the end, despite some small flaws which are manageable and do not take anything away from the overall experience, the P-Watch is well conceived, designed and is fun to use. It helps that it only has 1 thing to do, but it does it well.

Ultimately this is one of the better knock-off Apple toys I have bought for the kids. My daughter loves it, it’s well built, it has enough variety to hold her interest, its dirt cheap, she can’t lose it and of course now my daughter and I are watch buddies, which we both seem to enjoy.

I wanted a musical Android watch! I hate you dad!

Well I enjoy it anyway…

What do you think? Would you buy something like this for your child? Please leave your comments, like and share this review with someone you know. Together we can spread the word of the nerd!