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1.0 out of 5 stars
It will make your little girl cry and you angry and frustrated, October 30, 2009
Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars
Attempting to set up the Password Journal, half an hour later, had me shouting in anger and frustration and my little 6 yr. old daughter disappointed and crying.
Thanks to Amazon's great reviewers I knew that this is was coming but the deceiving TV advertising campaign conditioned my girl into wanting it so intensely, me reading what others had to say about this over-hyped item had no effect on her. She simply wanted it and she had to have it. In the end, I had to hope against hope that everyone describing their experiences with this toy was wrong and ordered it. Now, a few days later, we both agree that this is not what she expected.
WHAT I DID LIKE ABOUT PASSWORD JOURNAL:
- Nothing but my little girls likes the fact that it sometimes opens when she says the password.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT PASSWORD JOURNAL:
- Batteries not included (3 AAA's).
- As I was inserting the batteries, the contraption woke up and demanded that my girl said the password and confirmed it. It seems it took the vibrations generated by my screwdriver to be the password because it accepted it.
- Since my girl couldn't imitate the noise of a screwdriver, it refused to open.
- To reset it, had to unscrew the crew closing the battery door and had my girl scream her password as I was inserting the batteries.
- Once it finally opened, all we found inside was the cheapest possible notepad of a non-standard size, probably impossible to replace once used, some cheap plastic stylus and nothing else, except of a UV lamp - that's exactly what my kids needed, a little cataract.
- Attempting to set the time and date is were we stopped. This brain-comatose device is suppose to understand human speech but the claims are slightly exaggerated. To set the time, for example, you must say 'change time'. 90% of the time, this is interpreted as 'change password', 'change date' or simply not understood. In the rare instances when the command is fully understood, you are supposed to say the year's digit, one at a time as in 'two' [beep], 'zero' [beep], 'zero' [beep], 'nine' - can ANYONE explain why you have to say two-zero-zero on a toy that was launched in 2004? Anyway, it usually gives up after the first 2 or 3 digits so the time is never set. Want to tell it to turn on the light? No problem, it will ask you for the new password. And on, and on, and on it goes.
I must admit that I was partially wrong. Even though many of the advertised features - time/calendar, voice commands - don't work and never will, our girl is happy with the fact that the PJ opens at the sound of her saying her secret word and she can hide her secrets in there - we did succeed in setting a password, eventually. And, if she is happy, then I am happy but, the grown-up in me says that, while the concept is good, the implementation is not.
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