by Katy Everett

Created on: September 11, 2010

Talking Carl is an iPhone application which is available to purchase from the App store for just 59p. I decided to buy this application after seeing it on a friends phone and deciding that it would be funny for my nieces and nephews to have some fun with.

This application is very simple in that it is a little animated character, you open the application and then he will listen to things that you say and repeat them back to you. When Carl repeats it back it is in a high pitched voice. When Carl is listening to you he is standing there holding a little red hand to the side of his red square face and this shows that he is listening to you. When Carl repeats things back to you he will open his mouth wide and change his expressions so that it looks like he is actually saying the things that he is repeating back to you.

Carl can also be tickled or poked and he will laugh or get very upset with this. My nephew seems to like poking his eye in particular as then you can watch it close and Carl makes a noise like he is being hurt. 

Overall I would say that this is a very funny application that can give you fairly limitless fun depending on what you do or say with it. My nephew loves saying funny phrases as high as he can and then Carl will repeat them back at a ridiculously high pitched voice giving him lots of laughs and keeping him entertained for many minutes each time he plays with Carl.

There are lots of quirky little sounds that Carl makes when you poke and prod him but these do become repetitive quite quick, however, you might hit the same place several times and not end up with the same noise coming out each time with makes things a little bit more random.

One of the more popular things to do with this in our household is to open it up and then leave it on the side in a room, then once someone comes in and says something Carl will mock them in his high pitched tone and leave the person, initially, wondering where that voice has come from and who is mocking them.

My nephew, in particular, loves doing this numerous times around the house when I let him play with my iPhone and it just makes me laugh every time as he is so funny yet so predictable so I actually find myself saying things loudly just so Carl can pick them up and make my nephew chuckle.

It’s fair to say that this application is very simple to use as my nephew was only just 5 when I first let him play on it and he picked it up with no problems at all. You simply open the application and Carl will begin copying everything that you say. I do find that you need to give him a few seconds to pick everything up and to stop listening once you have finished your sentence or words but this is to be expected as almost nothing is instantaneous in life, particularly something that only cost 59p!

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