Orbotix Sphero toy for iOS, Android on sale, ships December
updated 03:00 am EDT, Tue November 1, 2011
Orbotix Sphero ball goes up for pre-order
Orbotix's long in the works Sphero remote-controlled ball has received its final launch plans. The Android- and iOS-steered toy is now up for pre-order and will ship in December for $130 with an inductive charger. Out of the box, six games will ship with the app and ball, including a basic Sphero mode as well as Blox, Chromo, Draw 'N Drive, Drive, Golf, and SpheroCam.
The finished version of the Sphero follows the basic formula we tried at the start of the year and pairs the ball over Bluetooth to directly control it in 360 degrees. It touts a multi-colored LED to help the identify the ball and even has an accelerometer, a compass, and a gyroscope. The ball can move up to three feet per second, although a 50-foot range is only slightly further than a standard Bluetooth signal.
Developers can write to an open SDK to add games of their own.
On Android, it requires at least 2.2 or later to run. iOS users need at least 4.0 or later and can run it on at least an iPhone 3GS, third-generation iPod touch, or any iPad.
