A danish fan named MasterJan was very interested in buying a wand but couldn’t decide to do so. So only after the ten percent January offer for people that attended the December giveaway he did so.
In the meantime he published a review of his own:
The pictures on the internet might show how the wand looks, but nothing can tell you how it truly is to hold and look at, before you hold it yourself! Honestly, I actually thought the plastic would be a bit… cheap. But it isn’t! It isn’t wood, but I think it’s nearly as good.
I quickly learned it a signal, and I made a big smile the first time when I turned our TV on. It didn’t just control the TV, it also gave me a feeling of… real magic, as if I was holding a real wand in my hand.
He also translated the danish blog post by David Guldager:
A review by TV2 beep:
This is how a real wand works
It’s not just bearded men with tall pointy hats, who are allowed to swing with wands. You have the opportunity youself, and we’ve tried the most strange gadget we’ve ever seen.
There are products you really can’t see the idea beind, and then gadgets that are so strange and different, that you would never imagine they would be for sale.
For two weeks ago, we wrote about a very real wand, called Kymera, and to be honest, I though it was a joke, but when a Danish contact person wrote to us, to hear if we wanted to test the wand, we wouldn’t say no.
Many have been running around as little with a stick, trying to make bushes to enemies or make mess in a room disappear. But yet, those “magic wands” haven’t quite worked for me.
Considerable skepticism
Therefore, my skepticism was indeed more than apparent, when I received the wand in a black oblong box. But when I saw the wand Kymera down in the box presented in red, I had to give me a bit.
Suddenly I was aware of the magic moments.
I don’t know what I had expected, but wands today still can’t make the mess disappear, make my wife into a bush or do anything else, than act as a good old-fashioned remote control. But it also does that fine.
Magic on your tv
Kymera itself is made by a company, who of course have the firm name, The Wand Company Ltd. Their somewhat different remote control can control a TV from movement, and it’s more techable than one might think.
By turning the wand vertically and tap two times on the middle, you get the opportunity to learn your wand some tricks from your remote. It’s shakes gently when it has understood, and when you’re then sitting in front of your TV, flicking your wand to shift channel, it shakes gently to confirm as well.
It works surpringly well, even though it can be a bit hard to learn the difference between the many movements your hand can perform. But if you just learn your wand tricks with widely different gestures, then you’re one step further.
Of course, this wand is also meant more as a smile, than a replacement of your remote control. It can only learn up to 13 different tricks, and the gestures can be somewhat cumbersome in length unlike what you’re used to – by pushing the button. And as one colleague pointed out, it’s much more fun to have on your table, than an ordinary remote control.
Kymera Specifications:
- Uses 2 AAA-batteries, can learn 13 “tricks”
- Costs about 100 dollars
- Is out from October 1st (2009)
We LOVE: Always interesting with magic wands, pretty techable, looks more fun than a remote control.
We HATE: Can’t make things disappear, actually it can’t do magic! Only 13 gestures, it’s difficult to distinguish between the different movements.
Written by David Guldager (Original danish review here
Translated from danish to english by Jan Nikolajsen
