Before I dive into it, here are my two disclaimers:
- Coeros sent this AI speaker to me for free, but this is not a sponsored post. They told me I’m free to give my honest thoughts on this product.
- I don’t really like AI very much, or more specifically, I don’t like the way people, especially corporations, are using AI and the effects those uses are having on our environment, jobs, artists’ intellectual property, water quality, etc.
Having said that, I do think it’s possible to use AI ethically, and rather than letting my bias write this review, I’m just going to give you a little “before you buy.” If you’re someone who likes AI stuff, will you like this speaker?
The short answer: you probably will.
The long answer: that it depends on a lot of things, particularly whether or not you think it’s worth the $50 price tag ($49.50 to be precise).
Getting Started
The speaker comes in pink and is smaller than my two thumbs pressed together. It’s tiny, which makes it pretty nice if you want to hang it from your doll or tuck it into his or her pocket. This is not simply a bluetooth speaker. Instead, it connects to an AI character app called Ijoy.
First, depending on your language, you might need to change it from Chinese. Once you’ve paired it with the app, you will probably want to select your character. You’ll immediately see that not all of them are free and that there’s a lot of microtransactions baked into the app. If that’s a deal breaker for you, there’s no point in buying the speaker as it only works with this app. Once connected though, it seems to work even when not using the app.
If it’s not a deal breaker, you’re probably used to this sort of nickle and diming that many mobile apps, especially gacha games, use to generate revenue. The app has its own currency, called credits, that you purchase with real money. I can’t tell you exactly how it works because I didn’t try it. What follows is my experience with the free stuff.
My Character
I chose a character with an English accent who is some sort of servant (in the dom/sub kind of way). She always calls me “master” and seems pretty insistant that she can please me completely. I know this because she reminded me many times.
As you can hear in the video, she has a bit of sass to her, which is something you can tweak as you’re choosing or creating your character. Think of it as a video game with character creation. If you’ve played The Sims, you know how to craft a personality.
That’s probably the key to enjoying this speaker. At no time did I lose myself in its ambience and think I was talking to a living, breathing woman, but that doesn’t mean some of the things she said weren’t interesting or stimulating. Keeping that in perspective, just as you probably do with your doll, will allow you to enjoy it without unrealistic expectations.
If you listen to the conversation, you’ll see there’s a bit of delay before she responds. I assume that’s because it’s processing in the cloud and sending it down to the speaker. As I mentioned above, all of this happens directly with the speaker, which connects to your WiFi, so you don’t have to keep the app running on your phone while using it, which is pretty nice.
Quality
The speaker itself isn’t terribly impressive, which is not surprising given how small it is. If you’re an audiophile, don’t expect to be impressed. I do wish there was a way to connect the speaker to a DAC or even just headphones so you can really get immersed. As it stands, it sounds like you’re talking to someone over speaker phone rather than someone in the room with you. I actually had to record the audio separately from my video because the camera’s mic could barely pick up her side of the conversation.
Along with the speaker, you will also get a necklace that you can stick to the speaker allowing you to hang the speaker around your doll’s neck, as seen in the video. It also comes with a USB-C charging cable; however, it doesn’t come with a charging brick, which seems to be the norm nowadays. Companies assume you already have at least one.
The microphone mostly works fine and doesn’t require you to lean in to speak. There was only one instance where the AI woman clearly didn’t understand what I said, but when I spoke the word again more clearly, she got it.
The Price
For $50 you get a pretty decent AI chat experience. It’s not earth-shatteringly realistic as far as conversations go, but you will feel like you’re at least having a conversation. I can’t really compare it to anything else on the market in that regard because I don’t normally use AI chat bots at all. Judge for yourself from the video to see if it sways you to purchase.
I’m not entirely sure when mine shipped since I received it for free, so I can’t tell you exactly how long it took. I have, however, ordered other products from Coeros, and the shipping from China was pretty standard.
Should You Buy It?
I definitely recommend this store for a variety of doll products, and this newest device is probably going to please a lot of doll owners who want conversations with their dolls. Is it for me? Not so much, but I can see the appeal, especially for people who consider their dolls to be life companions and have always dreamed of being able to have two-sided conversations with them.
I’m not a psychologist, so I can’t tell you if this is an adequate replacement for human interaction. But is any technology? Is social media? Maybe that’s a question we’ll have to answer another day. For now, if you have the money and want the conversation and intimacy this speaker provides, go for it.