Ring ring ring and play away who is on the phone today (Vtech Soft Singing Phone)

Member Name: soutram

Product:	Vtech Soft Singing Phone
Date:	01/10/09 (144 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of different sounds and melodies

Disadvantages: Not really a soft phone as the name suggests

Recently my little girl (7 months) is into absolutely everything, she seems to have a real thing for our sky remote and our mobile phones so I decided to find her a toy that was a similar size to the TV buttons so she could play with that instead of constantly turning the TV over and pressing the mute button etc.

After having a look around the new Toys R Us store in my area I came across the Vtech Soft Singing Phone, as soon as I saw it I thought it would be perfect because it's a phone & a similar size to the TV buttons.

What's in the box?
All you get in the box is the toy itself & a set of instructions which tell you how to fit the batteries & what functions the toy has.

The Phone:
There are two versions of this phone one is bright pink and purple which was great for my little girl and the other is yellow, blue and red so ideal for little boys. The phone is 17cm long, 7cm wide and 3 cm deep (very similar size to a sky remote control).

The front and back of the phone is made out of a hard plastic and the sides are a padded fabric which has pictures of triangles, squares, numbers and musical notes on it. On the top of the toy is a soft fabric strap which has Velcro so you can attach it around pushchair straps etc to prevent it getting thrown on the floor and it also has a soft antenna which my little girl loves chewing.

On the front of the phone you have a baby safe mirror which is surrounded by a clear plastic that has two green and two yellow beads inside, just under the mirror you have the on/off switch and then below that you have four buttons, one is a red square with a picture of a cat and the number one on it, the next is a purple star which has a picture of a dog & the number two on it, the next is a green triangle with a picture of a bird and the number three on it and finally a yellow circle with a picture of a rabbit and the number four on it.

The last button is at the very bottom of the phone, this is a roller ball, one side is yellow and the other side is green, the ball can be rolled in any direction (rolling the button does nothing) and the ball can also be pressed to activate the phone.

When you first turn the phone on it rings and all four buttons flash, whilst they are flashing it also sings "ring ring ring and play away who is on the phone today" it then asks you to call one of the four animals on the buttons for example "lets call the rabbit" the rabbit button will be lit up & the phone will be making a ringing sound, if you hit the correct button it would make the animal noise and then say "hello rabbit & laugh".

The phone also plays other melodies, there are ten in total on the phone and they are activated by pressing one of the numbered buttons (as you press the buttons they also say whichever number is on them).

The melodies you get are: Row Your Boat, Merrily We Roll Along, Old McDonald, London Bridge, Wheels On The Bus, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Incy Wincy Spider, Three Blind Mice, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Rock-a-bye Baby.

The phone has a automatic shut off so if it's not in use for 30 seconds it turns itself of to preserve the batteries, if you hit one of the buttons it will come back to life.

Care & Maintenance
To keep the phone clean you can wipe over it with a slightly damp cloth. The instructions say to keep it out of direct sunlight & away from any direct heat source, they also says not to drop it in water.

The phone takes 2 AA batteries (mine where already supplied) it does recommend not using rechargeable batteries. Batteries are simple to replace, just take the screw out of the back & the panel comes off revealing the battery compartment.

My Opinion
This has to be the toy my little girl plays with the most, it's a good size for her to hold onto and has bits on it she can chew if she wants. The buttons are very easy to press so she can activate al of the sounds etc herself.

It does say it's a soft phone, I wouldn't really class it as being that soft, the front and back are a normal hard plastic & the fabric sides although padded are still not what I call soft so if your child is prone to hitting themselves with toys then probably best to not to get them this one.

Overall though this was a great purchase, it only cost £9.99, its getting loads of use and most importantly it seems to keep her away from our TV buttons and phones.

I bought this phone from Toys R Us for £9.99; it's also available on the Vtech website for £7.99 at Amazon for £5.99

Summary: A great toy that has saved our TV buttons