Bandai Introduces SmartBerry Handset

Bandai, famous for the ’90’s Tamagochi craze, has introduced their new SmartBerry Communicator device. Targeted at young girls, this slider styled touch screen unit offers profile personalization - a virtual business card with blood type and birthdate as given examples - to be shared with trusted friends via real email, including photo attachments and emoji icons of course, with instant chat and multi-player gaming functions, just to name a few.

Available starting this weekend, for about $100, the company has forcasted moving 100,000 units in Japan by spring 2009.

You have to wonder how long it will be before the folks at Mattel catch-up with something like this for Barbie Girls too.. Egad! More details after the jump.

Machine translation of the Japanese Press Release below:

- Profile
It is a digital business card that exchanges profiles of the blood type etc. with the friend on the name and the birthday. The likeness can be registered by using the montage. Can it see, and it enjoy E-mail and the picture mail with the other party with whom this profile is exchanged.

- Friend notebook
Exchanged profiles can be preserved in “Friend notebook” (30 or less).

- E-mail
Mail can be exchanged with the friend (64 characters or less).

- Picture mail
The picture and the character drawn with the touch pen can be sent to the friend (It is possible to preserve it up to ten).

- Chat
The room made use of to chat from three rooms (room) can be chosen, and it enjoy talking with the friend who entered the same room in the character and the emoticon (16 characters or less).

- Game
It can enjoy four games to be able to enjoy the communication play besides the game only for the fortune-telling and play by one person (one kind for each).
typing mastering Typing game to be able to enjoy communication play up to four people
picture match Nervous breakdown game to be able to enjoy communication play up to two people
Quiz competition that it can enjoy communication play up to four people

2. Character room

It can enjoy the care play of the partner character. The content of the chatterbox action of the partner character changes depending on the degree of communications. The partner character can make it come and go with friend’s smart berry.

- The partner character is chosen from four kinds (the hamster, the dog, the panda, and the rabbit).

- It is in the room in a smart berry, and various actions are done and it asks the user for the partner character. The user can talk to the partner character by inputting the character.

- The item listed to the partner character can be bought, and the room be remodeled by using point “Berry point” that can be gotten when playing in the game.

3. Tool

Registration, the calculation function, and the alarm function etc. of the schedule are provided besides being able to use it as a schedule notebook.

- Brand name: “Mobile Communicator smart berry”
- Price: 10,290 yen(including tax)
- Release date: July 19, 2008(Saturday)
- Size of commodity: W110×H65×D29.5mm
- When the slide opens: W110×H100×D29.5mm.
- Weight: 112.3g(without battery. )
- Size of liquid crystal : W50×H35mm (80×56 dots and 4 black and white steps)
- Battery: AAA dry battery ×3
- Content of set: Main body and 1 (main body storage) touch pen manual
- Target: Girl of 6-9 years
- Sales route: Toy counter in toy shop and department store and discount house etc.

Posted: 19 July 2008 | Filed: Editor's Note, Sign of the Times | Feedback | Print |