Mobility Digest Review: BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car

Remote control anything I just love so when I had the chance to review a remote control Mini Cooper I said yes of course. You might wonder why I’m reviewing a toy here, but it’s controlled over Bluetooth with your phone. I think that’s cause enough to be reviewed here. The BeeWi Mini Cooper S was provided by MobileFun for my review and you can control it by touch button controls or by using the gyroscopic sensor in your phone. I have to say it’s a lot of fun, probably the most fun I’ve had with a phone in a long time.

Author:  Kristofer Brozio

Vendor:  MobileFun

Price: £39.95 / $64.50

Overall Rating: 5/5

Specs/Features:

BeeWi Mini Cooper S Bluetooth Controlled Car

Control the remote control car with your phone
Have an Android or Symbian powered phone? Use it to control this Bluetooth Car. Simply pair it, load the app and your good to go. The 1/20 Scale Mini Cooper S is a perfect replica. The car can be paired with up to 8 devices and has Bluetooth version 2 and a range of up to 10 meters. For an added sense of realism, the car can either be controlled by the tilt sensor on your phone (your phone must have one) or by the on screen control pad.

Provides hours of fun with super fast motor
The intuitive controls will allow you to tilt your phone to control the vehicle. If this feature is not compatible on your phone, the on screen controls will also work. The super fast motor, will keep you entertained for hours with its incredible speed.

Compatible with a wide variety of phones
This car is compatible with all Android phones running Android 2.1 and above and also Symbain phones running S60 3rd edition or 5th edition and above, including the new Symbian 3.

Specifications:
-Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Serial Profile
-Up to 3 hours battery life
-Class 2, range 10 meters
-Simple pairing, up to 8 devices in memory
-Size: 18 x 8 x 7.5cm
-Weight: 250g
-1:20 Scale

iPhone 4 speakers

What’s in the Box?

The BeeWi Mini Cooper comes in a display style box.

Inside you’ll find a brief instruction manual and a CD with software or apps on it.

The Mini Cooper S I got for review is black with white accents, and it’s very detailed. It’s plastic of course and it’s actually rather heavy.

On the bottom you find the power switch and the battery door, it requires three AAA batteries to operate.

The tires are rubber, and the car can go forward and backwards along with left and right.

Impressions / Review:

To give you an idea of size, here’s my Samsung Captivate with the Mini Cooper S:

As you can see, it’s not a small car like one might expect it to be.

To use the car the first thing you’ll have to do is install the app. You can get it from the Android Market, or off of the included disc if your phone can side load.

Once installed, just turn Bluetooth on and connect to the car. You only have to pair the car to your phone once, after that you just press connect in the app.

The app offers two controller styles touch or orientation style. Orientation uses your phones gyroscopic sensor to control the car. You tilt your phone forward to move forward, back to go backwards an right and left to turn. Almost like driving a real car, almost.

The touch controls are just pressing the appropriate buttons on the control pad. There’s a ‘P’ button for stop or Park. Pressing it stops the car from all movement and the P turns orange. Press it again and it turns green and you’re ready to roll! The interface is animated as well, turn and the wheel turns, the gear shifter is for forward and reverse.

Using the car is a lot of fun. It works great on most any surface, even carpet, and it’s fast, very fast. I was very much surprised by just how fast this little car can go. For the most part it can go pretty much anywhere, but it does have low ground clearance so it can get stuck sometimes.

The controls are just fine, the car is very responsive with virtually no lag. Range is decent as well, I can easily control the car from room to room with no interference.

It’s a great little gadget for sure, but there is one downside, you’ll only get about three hours on the batteries. I still haven’t had to change the batteries since I’ve gotten it, you won’t be driving it around for hours at a time surely so they should last.

Another small issue is that it’s not readily available here in the states from what I can see, so you’ll need to buy from overseas.

Conclusion:

The BeeWi Mini Cooper S is just one of those things that everyone should have I think, it’s just tons of fun. You can use it around your home or office and it’s nicely made with great attention to details. It works great on carpet or bare floors and it move fast. The range is surprisingly far so you can easily harass pets or co-workers from a distance!

If you’re a guy or you have a guy who likes toys then they’ll most certainly appreciate this one especially if they’re gadget freaks who always play with their phones like us.

 

 

Pros:
+Fast
+Fun to drive
+Easy to use
+Very nice looking and well made
+Good range

 

Cons:
-Battery life not exactly the greatest
-A bit on the expensive side