Violet Karotz review

Karotz is the latest gadget from Violet, the company that brought us the Nabaztag internet rabbit back in 2006. Karotz is actually an upgraded version of Nabaztag, but the subscription-based service of its predecessor, where you paid £3-£4 a month to send messages to other Nabaztag users, has been changed to an app-based one with loads of free applications, from radio tuners to social media. If you have friends who also have a Karotz rabbit, you can call them for free across Violet’s network using VoIP.

Karotz retains the stylised rabbit shape and expressive ears of its Nabaztag forebear, but Karotz has one large light in its belly instead of Nabaztag’s four. The light is used to indicate Karotz’s status – online, offline, listening, updating and so on – and can also be used by applications to communicate with you. There are even apps that allow you to use Karotz’s light as a mood lamp. Karotz’s ears move around when it’s performing tasks, but they don’t have semaphore-style hidden meanings.

There’s a button on top of the rabbit’s head which you have to press to put it into listening mode and which is also used by some of the apps. Karotz’s power switch doubles as a volume control, and below it is the USB port used to flash the firmware and to plug in a flash drive containing music for Karotz to play. Nearer the base is a Mini USB port, which you can use to connect Karotz to your PC to fill the internal 256MB storage with music – the official Karotz website says that there may be some compatibility problems with Windows 7, though.

Setting up Karotz is significantly easier than the experience we went through with the original Nabaztag. You have to first register an account at Karotz.com and download the right firmware. The firmware is customised automatically to include the login details for your wireless network, which you’re prompted to enter by a helpful web-based setup wizard. You’ll need an empty USB drive to copy the new firmware to. Then all you have to do is insert the drive into the USB port on the back of Karotz, plug it in and turn it on. The colour light on its belly helps you track its progress as the firmware is flashed and Karotz connects to your wireless network.

There are lots of apps you can use with your Karotz

Once it’s found your network and got online, Karotz will give you a quick demo of its features. However, you’ll need to go online to add some apps using the web interface before you can really do anything with it. The account you registered during set-up includes access to an app repository with hundreds of programs to choose from. They’re all free, although there is a – currently empty – section for commercial applications.

The apps include two different MP3 players, weather apps which can give you forecasts either verbally or by using Karotz’s coloured lights, RSS feeds for major publications including BBC News and Sky Sports, a text reader, alarm clocks, radio stations such as Kerrang! and BBC London and integration with your Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud and Windows Live Messenger accounts. As Karotz doesn’t have a screen, the information on all these services will be read to you in a synthesized American female accent. You can also have Karotz tell you the time or share random snippets of wisdom by installing appropriate apps. A full development kit is available to download if you get the urge to create your own apps, too.

You’ll primarily use voice commands to interact with Karotz – it works rather well, although it’s quite odd to find yourself going to some pains to enunciate clearly into the head of a plastic rabbit. Karotz’ voice recognition is good enough to take dictation of Facebook and Twitter posts and recognise song titles when you request them. We did find that the voice-controlled MP3 player had trouble hearing us when it was actually playing music; fortunately, there’s an alternative app called MiniPlay which allows you to navigate through your music collection by moving Karotz’s ears.

A low-resolution and poor-quality camera means you can use Karotz as an IP camera, while a mobile app for Android and iOS lets you control the rabbit’s ears, activate the webcam, stream music to Karotz from your mobile device or make it speak. An application called At Home sends an email to the address of your choice – with an optional shot from the webcam – when someone activates the app by voice command or by swiping an RFID tag; perfect for letting the family know you’ve arrived home safely.

These flat Karotz-shaped RFID tags, called Flatnanoz, are designed to clip to your keying. These are blank to begin with, and Karotz can program them to launch a certain app when you swipe them in front of the rabbit’s belly. Karotz comes with two Flatnanoz, and you can buy more for £4.49 each. There are also tiny model Karotz RFID tags, which are £5.99 each. Replacement ears and decorative decals are also available.

Karotz is cute and both its free app-based features and properly-translated website are a big improvement on those of the original Nabaztag. It’s still a cute novelty item rather than something that’s genuinely useful, but it’s a particularly fun way to interact with your social media. At £79, it isn’t insanely expensive and it’s fun, useful and well-designed enough to mean that you’re more likely to keep using it than you are to leave it in a dark cupboard after a week or so. However, amusing though it is, an interactive rabbit-shaped helper robot probably isn’t on most people’s priority purchase list.