[Apptoys Smart Palette (Android)] - Stem Toys l Arts and Crafts for Kids | Learning Games for Kids | Kid Art Supplies | Coloring Supplies | Drawing Supplies | Painting Crafts | Gifts for Kids

I really, really wanted to like this gadget. I've never seen anything quite like it before. I was really excited for our Little Girl to have a new way to create art on her tablet. I figured that all I needed to do was to get it set up in advance. That way, as soon as we showed it to her, she could jump straight into creating art.But that's not how things worked out.Problem #1: The instruction manual is written completely in Korean. Granted, the United States doesn't have an official language. But if you're marketing a product using English, to English-speaking customers, it would make sense to offer instructions in English. I figured that I would still give the product a shot. After all, how often do we ignore instruction manuals, and try to figure out how to use a gadget on our own? Plus they had a few diagrams that might come in handy. Then came the next step....Problem #2: The app. On the product page you're looking at now, there's a picture that mentions the app you need for the device to work. I used the tablet to go to the Play store, look up Smart Palette. It's 3 out of 5 stars, but I can't read any of the reviews because they're in Korean. I install it anyway. The listing for it in the Play store said that it was 17MB. Turns out, it takes up 423MB of space on the tablet. Which is more space than any other app I've voluntarily downloaded and installed.Then there's the permissions. Access to images on the phone. Makes sense, approved. Access to the camera? Seems odd, but maybe it has something to do with importing pictures. Access to our location? Nope. Denied. Chrome needs to know my location, when I'm doing a search for "tacos near me." Walmart needs my location, so it can check for product availability nearby. There's no reason why a kid's art program needs to know where our child is located. So once I denied that option (still lets you continue to use the app), I was ready to test it out.PROBLEM 3: Can't connect through Bluetooth. I tried to connect every way possible. The tablet simply wasn't able to even find the device. Went through the diagrams again, made sure it was wired correctly, etc. It's a ghost, tablet can't find it. And my phone couldn't either, when I tried that out just for kicks.The end result? I have a device that's totally unusable, with an instructions guide that's totally unreadable (to me, anyway). Maybe a Korean-speaking Amazon customer will buy this, and will figure out something that I missed. But that doesn't change the fact that if I had gifted this to anyone other than one of my friends that does speak Korean, they won't be able to use it. And even if they can read the manual, there's still a chance they won't be able to pair with it through Bluetooth.As of the moment that I'm writing this review, there are no reviews for it posted yet. If I come back and see new reviews pop up, vaguely praising the device with no specifics, I'll just assume they didn't even take it out of the package. If I see positive reviews without photos of the device actually being used (and artwork), I'll assume they didn't actually attempt to use it. I said what I said.Don't buy it. Even if you speak Korean, don't bother. Unless you're confident that you can get it to work. If you're in the Vine program and it's offered to you, don't bother. Even if you don't have kids, but thought you'd gift it to your grandson or niece, you'll have egg on your face once the parents realize they can't even read the instructions. I got this for free, in exchange for a fair an honest review. And I'm telling you, I'm frustrated that I put any time and energy into trying to get it to work. The only good thing about this entire experience, is that our Daughter never actually saw the package for it, to get curious. So at least she wouldn't have to be disappointed when Dad couldn't get it working for her to use. But I was let down, even after giving it a good effort.5/3/21 Update: Someone wrote a glowing 5-star review for this product, and it very specifically mentioned my review. That review has since been removed. Something suspicious about the account used to write it? Chalk that one up to "we'll never know." But I did find it very odd that the other reviewer mentioned reading my negative review, STILL ordering it, and then offered gushing praise. Weird, right?