Jooki® smart player with ToyTouch™ technology review

#GIFTED

The boys love music. Taking after both me and their dad, they’ve both got quite an eclectic taste in music and enjoy a variety of music genres.  They love music so much that quite often I find them having their own little discos with music filling the air and their disco ball lights sparkling across the room.

As both of the boys love music the house is often filled with music being streamed from their tablets. Whilst they are allowed to use their tablets to listen to music and audio books the downside is that they get sucked into watching music on youtube which not only distracts them from enjoying and dancing to music or listening to the story, but it also risks them stumbling across content that is not suitable for their age. 

The temptation of being immersed in the world of youtube and apps on the tablets can be difficult to manage. As parents we try to find that perfect balance of monitoring screen time with the positive benefits of technology. As we live in such a tech focused world where their generation are growing up with devices from a young age and are surprisingly clever with technology, it is always good to find new devices that incorporate technology without use of screens. 

If you’re looking for a unique, child-friendly device that uses innovative technology to entertain the kids without needing screen time then look no further than Jooki®.

Jooki

Jooki® is a portable, smart music and story speaker designed for a screen-free childhood.

Jooki was the brainchild of Belgian startup MuuseLabs which was founded in October 2014 by three geek dads. With their mix of technology and design skills and their love for music and kids, the three co-founders of MuuseLabs aim to radically improve the music experience of kids in the 21st century. 

The innovative Jooki child friendly audio system is changing the music world for kids, being a clever portal to the world of music and audio stories without the need for screens. Thanks to ToyTouch™ technology embedded in Jooki characters the Jooki smart player is more than just a simple speaker. 

Combining technology with a child-friendly speaker, Jooki gives children the opportunity to independently enjoy music and audio stories whilst allowing parents the ability to protect their children from content not suitable for them and too much screen time.

The Jooki smart player starter set comes includes - 

* 1 Jooki smart player

* 5 Characters with ToyTouch™ technology

* 1 usb cable

* Quick startup guide

Jooki features a number of key elements that make it more than just a simple speaker -

* Wi-fi or offline use to stream or upload

* Superior sound with a stereo speaker system

* Plays MP3, iTunes, audio files and more

* Micro SD port

* Headphone jack port

* Rechargeable battery with 8 hours playtime

* Voicemail and story playback

* Ability to be a smart speaker controlled by phone without using characters

* Airplane mode available

As well as the brilliant features mentioned above Jooki’s other amazing benefits listed below make it extremely child friendly -

* Splash-proof

* Durable and sturdy

* Portable for use indoors, outdoors and on the go

* Parental controls to keep kids safe - parents can select content, set volume level and set off-times for time out and bedtime

* Fun, chunky Jooki characters

* Kids can independently use Jooki thanks to playlist content being activated by the touch of a Jooki character toy that uses ToyTouch™ technology

* No plugs, wires or cords need be used thanks to Jooki’s battery life and speaker system

Using Jooki

Setting up and using Jooki is incredibly easy. Included in the box is a quick startup guide or you can you the guide available online to get your Jooki up and running and connected to wifi. 

Children can be immersed in the musical world of Jooki in a few simple steps - 

* Create your playlists

Using Jooki’s website or the free to download Jooki app from the Google Play store or App Store parents can help their children create playlists of music or audio stories that can be streamed via wifi or uploaded for offline use. Using the app or website users can stream music or stories from Spotify, Deezer or web radios. For offline audio you can upload audio files from your own device.

* Link to a Jooki character

Designate and link playlists to the different Jooki characters that feature ToyTouch™ technology. Each of the characters come with a song already added to it.

* Enjoy 

Kids can independently enjoy music and stories indoors and out by popping a Jooki character onto the colourful smart speaker. Thanks to the ToyTouch™ technology in the characters that contain the playlists children have control of listening to music and stories without parents help and the need for a screen to control the speaker.

Jooki style

Perfect for kids Jooki is a chunky, colourful speaker. Designed in a vibrant style it is eye-catching and fun thanks to the combination of blue and orange. The blue speaker area is textured with the orange detailing being a smooth. 

Featuring rounded smooth edges the speaker is a square shape approximately 18cm by 18cm. As the speaker is portable it has a handy soft rubber handle to carry the speaker. The speaker feels hefty in weight without being too heavy, making it feel durable and sturdy which is a must for kids.

The centre of the speaker features control buttons and a base for the characters to be placed on. The controls include on/off button, volume button and buttons to move to the next or previous song. When being used the centre and buttons light up (unfortunately this is hard to see in the photos).

Jooki comes with 5 ToyTouch™ technology characters. The colourful characters include a blue whale, silver knight, orange fox, green dragon and white ghost. The characters are adorably cute.

Sitting on a round base that fits on the Jooki speaker the characters stand between 5 - 6 cm in height and are chunky in size making the perfect for little hands.

The boys love the style of the Jooki speaker and it’s cool characters. They think the speaker is funky and colourful and the characters are cute and fun to use. 

They both found it very funny that Guss the Ghost was being spooky and playing a practical joke as he was hidden away in the box with a BOO clue on where to find him.

They also love the fact that all of the characters have their own names - Daan Dragon, Kyle Knight, Wanda Whale, Guss Ghost and Mr Fox which adds to the fun of using characters to play music and audio stories.

Jooki rocks!

The kids love using Jooki to listen to music and audio stories. Thanks to the innovative ToyTouch™ characters it is fun to use Jooki. The boys love that it is easy to use the characters to play the different playlists assigned to the different characters and that they can pick their own character to have their own playlist on. 

Not only is Jooki fun to use but they also love the fact that once the playlists have been created and connected to a character they can independently use Jooki and don’t need to have help from mum or dad to enjoy the sounds. At four, our youngest (soon to be middle child once the baby is here) feels like a very big boy being able to play his favourite songs and stories all by himself using Jooki thanks to the clever toys which has boosted his confidence and encouraged independence. Jooki is amazing for giving children a sense of independence, control and freedom whilst encouraging a love of music and audio stories.

The sound quality of Jooki is brilliant and for a little speaker it can sure pack a punch! But if you are worried about your child’s hearing Jooki using the parental controls available in the app you can ensure the speaker is toy safe and limit the maximum volume level. 

It plays different genres of music wonderfully and audio stories emanating from the speaker sound fantastic. Whilst the boys have always loved audio stories thanks to Jooki’s ability to be screen free they are not tempted to explore their tablets when listening to audio stories which has helped their audio story time be more relaxing and encourage the boys to actually listen to the stories. Thanks to Jooki they’ve been enjoying quality screen free time.

They also love the portability of the smart speaker. They can enjoy music indoors and outdoors plus on the go in the car.

Keeping kids safe

The fact that kids can use Jooki independently is also a fantastic bonus for us as parents as we get some peace and quiet, safe in the knowledge that the kids are able to use it independently whilst only accessing content we approve of. 

As keeping the kids safe is massively important to us parents we love that Jooki helps keep them that little bit safer, limiting the risk of them accessing content online when using tablets themselves to listen to music. It is amazing that Jooki enables safety online whilst incorporating amazing technology without the need for screen time - it really is a smart speaker!

I also love that thanks to parental controls you can control the audio volume using the Jooki app and can set off-times for times like bedtime without needing to physically interact with Jooki. 

Another bonus is the fact that as it has a rechargeable battery you don’t have to worry about kids and wires - no risk of tangling or messing around with electric cables.

Jooki connecting loved ones

We also love the fact that Jooki can connect kids with their loved ones. Using the Jooki app parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family and friends can record messages or stories for the children to listen to using the smart speaker.

Jooki love

We’ve been blown away by this innovative, clever smart speaker packed full of genius child-friendly technology that make it more than just a simple speaker. The ToyTouch™ technology characters make the speaker fun and exciting. We love the child-friendly elements of the speaker, how it encourages independence and the useful parental controls.

The only little thing I could negatively comment on is that as Jooki is portable it is a shame that it does not come with a storage bag or have one available to buy as an optional extra to help keep the speaker and characters safe and protected when using them out and about on the go.

The Jooki player set currently costs £171.95 and is available to buy online here. You can also buy additional characters such as a white set of characters or tokens that work the same as the characters.