Petcube Play Lives Up to its Promise

Petcube Play is an interactive pet camera that lets you see, talk to, and play with your pet from your smartphone. The product’s promise is to let you enjoy peace of mind knowing your pets are home and secure. Sounds practical and fun – right? Well we wanted to try one for ourselves so we contacted Petcube and they were kind enough to send us one to ‘test drive’ and summarize on our blog.

Our tuxie (Newman) was most curious when the box arrived…we think he was angling to become their new cover model. >^..^<

We are not technology reviewers so this post is not intended to compare Petcube against other competitive products nor debate the technical merits of its design. Rather we set it up, tried it out and quite simply found that it lived up to its promise.

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The unit itself is clean, sleek, modern and unobtrusive. There are no on/off switches or buttons…it’s basically plug and play. It reminded us of when we first set up an Apple iPod many years ago.

To set it up we first installed the app on our smartphones (we have iPhones), plugged in the Petcube and then ran the app. Configuring the unit was pretty simple and straightforward and the camera connected to our home Wi-Fi network automatically. We then registered our free account with Petcube and voilà we were able to access our cube from anywhere in the world via our smartphones. Nifty technology indeed!

We literally had it up and running in a few minutes and were playing laser tag with our curious tabby. It took a little bit of practice to work the laser motion from the iPhone screen but that was just part of the learning curve. It wasn’t as smooth as holding a laser pen but hey…you’re playing remotely and you can see that your kitties are safe.

Our unit did not include the optional tripod mount which we would highly recommend getting. The reason is that we had to prop up the rear of the unit to direct the laser beam to the floor area where we wanted it. The beam angle was restricted with our cube sitting flat on the lamp table. Again, not a real inconvenience…just a minor adjustment to suit our household.

The Prognosis:

Was it fun? Yes.
Did we enjoy the ability to remotely watch and play with our cats? Yes.

Was the video quality good? Yes.
Did we feel better knowing we could check up on them when away? Yes
Would we recommend getting one if you want this type of service? Yes.

Another fun aspect is the ability to set your user profile as ‘public’ which then allows other people remote access to your cube and the ability to play with your cats. At first it seemed a bit creepy (George Orwell meets James Snowden) but then we got to play with cats at remote shelters and rescue homes. The cat community is a very interactive and caring one. Besides you can control the field of view and restrict it to a designated area or room in your home. Just don’t leave a pile of dirty laundry within the camera’s view! 🙂

The Rating:

Our Purrington Post score for the Petcube Play came in at a strong 4.5 /5.0

Summary

We connect to our cube regularly and our cats enjoy the extra playtime. See what other pet owners are saying about their Petcube in this candid video.