Pororo Talk - Unangel

This review of Pororo Talk was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 28 November 2014.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Pororo Talk contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

There are no levels within this app.

App description

Pororo Talk is an educational app that allows users to develop their language and communication skills through conversation. The objective of the app is for children to engage in conversation with the character of Pororo, who may call from a variety of contexts and discuss a different subject matter each time. The skills required to engage with the app include language skills, as well as listening and verbal communication skills.

Reviewers comments

Upon opening the app, players are shown a large money jar with the text ‘Pororo Talk Open Event! Press the coin below and get 15 coins!’. After this, players are taken to the central menu screen – this contains the options of Daily Routine, Fun Playing, Special Place, and Special occasion. Pororo talk charges 5 coins for every call. Pororo involves receiving calls from a small bird character. He talks about how he slept well because he went to bed early, and proceed to ask if the player slept well. He also says that he drinks a cup of water in the morning, then asks what players do after they wake up. He respond with statements such as ‘I see’, after a short waiting period for a player to actually reply. Players are able to view themselves in a small box in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, via the device’s camera. They are also able to hang up at any point. Each of the set calls have different contexts and occur in different locations.

Within the Daily Routine category, the contexts/situations include: Waking up, washing hands, having breakfast, brushing teeth, and cleaning up. Within the Fun Playing category, these include: Hide and seek, playing peekaboo, and playing with blocks. Within the Special Place category, these include: At the public restroom, the library, the hospital, the car, the playground, the amusement park, the kindergarten and the restaurant. Within the Special Occasion category, the call contexts include a birthday, parent’s day, and teacher’s day.

It is possible for parents to set the time of calls for their children. They may select a call scenario, day of the week as well as preferred time for the app to notify the device user of the incoming phone call.

The app also contains a keypad with phone digits on it. Players have the option of pushing the buttons and hearing the numbers read aloud, or the options of hearing each button as a sound effect (e.g. a piano note, xylophone note, or different percussion sound).

In App purchasing

In order to refill coins, players are able to make in-app purchases using real-life currency. They have multiple options to select from, including unlimited call ticket with auto monthly payments of $1.99, 100 coins for $3.99, 200 coins for $6.99, $400 coins for $12.99, or 800 coins for $20.99.

Online information

N/A.

Gambling

No gambling content found.

Advertising and product placement

Full-screen advertisements appear which must be manually closed. These appear to be for the Black Friday sales and relate to the app itself, mentioning an 80% discount on an ‘unlimited call ticket’. When players attempt to manually close these ads, another pop-up appears that states ‘If you block pop-up, you can’t get special benefits anymore. Do you still want to block?’.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

N/A.

Coarse language

N/A.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

No game playing behaviour which may be of concern to parents was found during the review.

Other

N/A.

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