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April 24, 2005
idog!
Say hello to the idog, from Sega Toys. I searched high and low all over Tokyo this week and nobody had it. The ¥4,179 "music entertainment pet" came out April 2 and sold out quickly apparently. So how did I get my hands on one? From the airport, of all places! On my way out of Tokyo, the toy store on the 2nd floor of Narita (before immigration) had some! I guess international travelers don't know about these puppies yet so not many people bought them. I know I had never heard of these things until my cousin told me about them before I went to Tokyo. In any case, I think there were maybe 4 or 5 left there (hard to tell as they were stacked behind the counter) so pick one up if you happen to be flying through Narita! The airport sells it at the MSRP, however. Yodobashi sold them for ¥3,340 but, like I said, they don't have them in stock anymore. And when I asked, none of the stores had any idea when they will be back in stock.
The idog is powered by 3 AAA batteries which the instruction sheet claims will last about 3 hours of continuous usage. In a bizzare design decision, the battery compartment cover is held with a small screw. Since the battery life isn't great on these things, you'll need to have a small screwdriver around to change the batteries. What a PITA.
The idog, as you can tell from the name and his looks is a riff on the iPod. The boxes they come in even look like the iPods' packaging. The body is white and the front of his face is covered by clear plastic, which creates a grayish and shiny effect (similar to the way Apple achieves the mirror look on its mice). I guess the gray/shiny part is kind of sort of supposed to remind you of the iPod's aluminum back. His front legs can be manually adjusted in three positions to alter the height of his stance. There are 7 LEDs on his face that lights up in various ways and colors (red, orange, green, blue), depending on his mood. He can flap his ears up and down and sway his head from side to side while "talking" or singing to you. The instructions are only in Japanese so I'm not entirely sure how to play with him. So far I've discerned from the kanji on the page and from playing around with him that when you press his nose, he gets happy. When you touch his tail, he becomes angry. Pressing his head makes him more obedient (not sure what this means exactly).
When at rest, the LEDs on his face light up in a circular pattern. He has 3 moods. Happy is orange. Calm is green. And angry is red. The faster the lights move, the more intense his feelings. So for example, when he's very happy, his face will show a fast moving orange pattern. Kind of mad, would be a slow red pattern. Etc, etc.
He likes it when you talk to him, too. Sometimes when you talk to him, he will record what you say and repeat it back to you in his own doggie language, which just sounds like a bunch of beeps to me.
This is a needy dog! You need to touch him and talk to him, otherwise he becomes bored and gets into a bad mood.
He also sings if you hold down the buttons on his head for a few seconds. When he is singing, you can wave your hand in front of his face and he will respond by changing the pitch of the song (there is a light sensor in his face). The more you play and talk to him, the more songs he will play (he only plays one song at first).
Angry idog... I touched his tail too many times. Oops!
There is a 35mm stereo mini plug on his right hind leg into which you can plug a music source (from an iPod or a CD player for example) and in addition to playing the music through his (mono) speaker, he'll move his head, flap his ears and flash his lights in response to the music. It looks really cute, but as can be expected, the sound from the speaker is crap. Plus the noise from the mechanisms moving head and flapping his ears are pretty loud. Still, it's fun to watch his face light up in all kinds of dancing colors and his head and ears move to the beat of your music. It might be nice to get a Y-splitter and send one to the idog and the other one to a regular set of speakers.
Maybe because of its deliberate attempt to remind you of the iPod, I was expecting iPod-like quality and finish on the little puppies. Sadly, it's not that expensive looking. I suppose you can't expect that much for about $40. It's very plastic-y, and the shiny face surface is actually not that shiny. The plastic is a little dull and scuffed up straight out of the box.
Okay, so it's pretty useless and his "singing" will probably get really annoying after a while as there is no way to shut off the sound, only turn it lower. Nevertheless, it's so cute! Kawaii!
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Comments
hi.. am looking for one of these as well.. but dont think its here in m'sia.. do u know whr else i can find out more of this toy?
Posted by: steph at May 15, 2005 6:28 AM
hi, do you know where i can get the English instructions for this? i juz bot one over the net but it comes with Jap instructions.. tks
Posted by: carine at June 16, 2005 10:17 AM
hey can you please tell me how i can get my hands on to the english instructions. i also bought one but cant read japanese :(
Posted by: charlotte at June 18, 2005 2:48 AM
Hi i got my idog on ebay all you have to do is go to ebay and type in idog and there is a ton of cheep ones they only sell the idog in the uk and hk also i was wondering where would i get instructions in english
Posted by: Ryan at June 22, 2005 10:39 AM
Hi, I'm looking to buy one too although I did come across this site which has translated the instruction to English http://www.mayobaby.com/iDog.html
Posted by: Tracey at June 26, 2005 3:58 PM
Hi, i just bought 1 from tokyo , it comes with a japanes manual , i didnt understand anything, its kinda complicated can u please helpe me?! And why does it stop movin sometimes for a long time Help please
Posted by: Help~ at September 2, 2005 3:37 AM
Hi, I have just bought an idog, all the ones I'm reading about online have 2 buttons on the head, mine doesn't. Are there different versions of idog out there??
Thanks
Posted by: Vampchiq at December 11, 2005 5:09 AM
ok this sucks I live in the us and I think that the ipod like box is one of the coolest parts but the ones in the us don have the cool boxes I could ebay but since i would be buying one from someone across the globe i pa 3 times as much for shipping... any ideias
Posted by: lily chambers1 at December 17, 2005 4:20 PM
I live in Australia and just brought an iDog... Here we get a less good version. It doesn't have any buttons on its head, and doesn't play many different songs. Why's this??
Posted by: Nicole at December 19, 2005 5:26 AM
I bought the pink idog for my girlfriend. It is a huge disappointment. Maybe I got a bad one, but mine DOES NOT dance to music or move it's head and ears. It is definitely NOT more intelligent than the U.S. version. The U.S. version will dance to music simply by turning the idog on and letting it listen. To me it is just a cute, but poor quality speaker. If someone out there has the Japanese version and got theirs to dance by doing something specail please email me at justinfreeman24@hotmail.com
Thank you
Posted by: Justin at January 6, 2006 10:20 PM
I got one for chrissy in taiwan (i live in NZ) and he is not a sega dog and i slightly different than this one uve got mine is hasbro amasingly anough Taiwan and NZs 1s r the same
Posted by: Sarah at January 19, 2006 12:17 AM
Detail Sega iDog Hasbro i-Dog
Detailing Silver paint Chrome detailing
Feet Plain paw Rubber paw print
Personality 70 different 3 personailites
personalities
Play events Music, Record Pet mode only
& Pet modes
Controls Volume control N/A
Memory Personaility N/A
back up
Power Auto power off N/A
Posted by: Sarah at January 19, 2006 12:25 AM
I got one of the Hasbro brand and it's adorable. Sound is pretty good but he does eat a lot of batteries. I've found the leg over the battery compartment attaches just fine without re-screwing because it has 2 tabs on it, so I just don't use the screw anymore.. Makes 'feeding' him batteries a lot easier and you don't need to carry a screwdriver.
Posted by: L at January 31, 2006 10:54 AM
I really enjoy reading your articles. Keep up the great work.
TBoardenson
Posted by: Tom at March 7, 2006 12:52 AM
does the blue japanese i-dog have a sensor? cuz when i wave my hand accross his face nothing happens... ?
Posted by: hannah at March 11, 2006 1:52 AM
my idog sucks, he NEVER stops asking for music(he asks with the blue/pink on his face)... i feed him ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!! retarded idog...also, when i wave my hand above his head nothing happens, isnt that sapposed to be how you scratch his head???
Posted by: thatonegirl at March 29, 2006 8:27 PM
my idog is alright..... i geusse ..... but like every one else the dumb sensor doesnt do crap at the top of his head. and i have no clue wat that third cord does (the one that has no stick) i got the stupid thing thinking it would download songs but it doesnt so its been sittn in the back of my closet for dayz. so maybe ill use it if i can get some answers cause i threw out the instructions the moment i got it so it sucks!!!
Posted by: brit at April 26, 2006 10:42 PM
Has anyone else been having a problem with their idog?? We bought one at Xmas and it doesn't work anymore and can't get any info how to fix it. help!
Posted by: mom at May 21, 2006 6:54 PM
in your last paragraph you said there is no was of turning off the sound, you can hold down its nose for 3 -5 seconds and it will go to sleep!
Posted by: gjtdj at June 16, 2006 6:21 PM
can you help me need the english instructions could u tell me where i could get them
thanx
Posted by: gareth at June 27, 2006 2:49 PM
Maybe I got a bad one, but mine DOES NOT dance to music or move it's head and ears. To me it is just a cute, but poor quality speaker. If someone got theirs to dance by doing something special please email me at shashi19752@gmail.com
Posted by: Shashidhar at July 3, 2006 6:34 AM
hi i love the idog u should make more animals like ikitkat
lol
Posted by: mia at August 7, 2006 3:27 AM
Hi Garreth, drop me a email. I just bought one in Australia and it comes with a english manual.
Posted by: Pete at September 12, 2006 10:01 PM
ok, to clear things up
there are TWO versions of this little guy
sega version: only available in japan, has 720 musical riffs built in, and acts as a physical visualizer on your desk (his face lights light up similar to a bars and waves thing, and his ears and head start moving once the volume gets too high (makes a great effect of moving on the loud notes and flashing on the low ones, simple but neat)
hasbro version: utter crap, you can tell the difference by the appearance and price. The hasbro version costs $25, and his ears are thin and transparent. When plugged into music, he really doesn't do anything. Every 30 seconds he just flashes a bit and moves his head and ears (it's a pre-programmed function, meaning he just does the same thing over and over). Not to mention the lights on his head are HALF as functional as the sega version (can only display 2 colors as opposed to 4)
he has very little personality, limited musical capacity, and just plain sucks. Visually, however, i'd say he looks better than the sega version. The front paws have little rubber puppy feet on my bottom, and his head is a bit smaller, as well as being more streamlined. His ear and head motors also are very quiet.
If sega would put their technology into the hasbro idog's body, it would be amazing.
Posted by: Hoaxx at November 6, 2006 11:36 AM
Wait wait wait, were are the two buttons on his head??? I got mine from a Tagrget in California and he dances to music has a good feeding but doesnt make his owm music, if you know where the head buttons are please make like a picture and circle them or someting and send it to meowtiggy@yahoo.com Thanks for the help
Posted by: Idog luver at April 11, 2007 7:33 PM
hmmm...my hasbro idog is alright. It does do the same things over and over. My one has rubber puppy paws on its back and front legs. The music coming from its speakers are clear and I can adjust the volume by using my mp3 player. When playing music it only display 2 colors but when not playing music, it sometimes dispay 3-4 colors. When I "pet" its head, it doesn't react to it really. Overall, I'd give it a 6.8/10
Posted by: alice at August 22, 2007 10:03 PM
Oh wait...just discovered that my one can display more than one colors when playing music...but most of the time displays only 2 colors.
Posted by: alice at August 23, 2007 6:19 PM
Oops, I meant my idog can display more than two colors when playing music.
Posted by: alice at August 23, 2007 9:49 PM
hey! I can't find the idog A OR B button!
Can som1 explain where it is?
Posted by: megan at November 5, 2007 1:14 AM
is iDog nice ? please rate it
Posted by: Kat :) at November 10, 2007 4:04 PM