Top toys for Christmas: from Star Wars tech to Apple gear

NZ Herald

3 Dec, 2015 02:32 AM2 mins to read

Top toys and technology for Christmas. Photo / Graphic News, NZHerald Graphic

People shopping for toys for young and young-at-heart technology fans will be inundated with choice. Toys are becoming smarter and more interactive than ever before.

At the top of every Star Wars fan's Christmas list will be the Sphero BB-8 app-enabled droid. The droid has already proved to be a hot seller. The manufacturer thought it had roughly a month's supply when these tiny robots first hit store shelves in September. In fact, they sold out in hours.

BB-8 can scoot around your house, either on its own in "patrol" mode or with you controlling the robot from an app on your smartphone. The character is part of the new Star Wars: the Force Awakens movie and Disney has said you can think of BB-8 as something of a souped up R2-D2.

Air Hogs has developed a quadcopter model of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. The remote controlled helicopter has four rotors and makes sounds recognisable from the films.

Lego has had a hi-tech makeover. Lego Dimensions is a playset that includes both action figures and a corresponding video game. When kids place an action figure on a console, that character pops into the video game.

For younger kids, Fisher-Price has released an interactive toy that young people can play and learn with. The Smart Toy Monkey learns about the child that plays with the, and can create "personalised adventures". It has voice recognition and image recognition capabilities. The Smart Toy Monkey is available online from stores like Amazon for New Zealand residents.

Apple products, including the new Apple TV and Apple Watch, never fail to make popular gifts for Christmas. Both products were released this year to much excitement from consumers, and are available through the Apple online store. iPhone was the most-searched item on TradeMe in November.

Virtual reality gear has featured in many hot toy lists ahead of Christmas. The Samsung Gear works with a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, and creates a virtual reality mega-sized screen in front of your eyes. The app linked with the headset features gamers and movies that you can watch in the headset.