Gululu Revives That Tamagotchi Life In A Smart Water Bottle

There's a virtual pet living inside the water bottle we've been using over the past week. Made for children, they say, and "playful adults", Gululu contains your water and encourages you to drink said water. You'll interact with a digital cartoon pet via two touch-sensitive strips on the bottle's sides while the bottle reports how much water is being consumed to whichever smartphone or tablet it's wirelessly attached to. This water bottle connects to the internet.

This water bottle connects with your smartphone using Wi-fi. The bottle becomes connected to your local Wi-fi network whenever it's placed on your wireless charging dock – it then syncs and updates firmware (if need be). If the water bottle stays within range of your smartphone, updates on the amount of water your child is drinking will come immediately.

Thus far, our experience with this water bottle has been very positive. It's encouraging for my child to see the Glululu pet floating in the bottle and the imagery reacting to water being imbibed.

Of course she quickly figured out how to game the system by pouring water in and out of the bottle, but that's beside the point. She's a winner and she's going to win.

In addition to acting as positive reinforcement for your child drinking large amounts of water, this digital pet-in-a-bottle can connect your child to their friends – without the need of a smartphone. They're tiny kids, they don't need smartphones yet. Give them a digital animal pet in a bottle. Done deal.

If this bottle becomes so incredibly popular that your child and their friends all have one, they'll be able to connect bottle-to-bottle. Though we were unable to test this feature as we've got just one bottle at the moment, kids will be able to shake their Glululu bottles near one another to become friends in the Glululu app – their friends' Glululu pets will appear in their bottle, and they compare scores through the future.

This bottle is waterproof and is charged with a wireless charging base that's included in the box. A full charge will take around 1.5-2 hours to achieve, and the bottle has lasted us between 3 and 4 days on one charge. That's WITH using the bottle all day long – we're still not sure how long it'll last in standby mode.

Apps for this bottle are available for both Android and iOS.

One thing that could be improved – though we're not entirely sure how – is the rubbery outer surface of the bottle. It's very, very attracted to dust and hair. One other thing is a bit of an oddity: because one of the ways you can interact with Glululu's digital pet is to shake the whole water bottle, my 5-year-old is prone to do so. It's easy to forget to screw the cap of this bottle back on before shaking the bottle – wetness ensues.

Otherwise this project is pretty awesome. You can see the very quickly growing Kickstarter campaign up now, it having started today, the same day this article is being posted. Have a peek.