Product test
The big boxing duel: Tiger vs Tonie
by Michael Restin
The Tigerbox can now do it longer and wirelessly
16.12.2023
Translation: machine translated
The new Tigerbox Touch Plus offers a larger battery than the previous version and Bluetooth for headphones. The upgrade makes the already good audio box even better.
The Tigerbox Touch is great. My older son has been using it to listen to his stories for over three years. Less great, however, is the battery life. Because he keeps looking at the album cover on the display, the box runs out of juice after just a few hours.
The new Tigerbox Touch Plus offers 20 per cent more battery power and now also has Bluetooth. These are both welcome changes. The Plus will replace the Tigerbox Touch in future.
you can find all modelsSince nothing else about the box has changed, I'll mainly focus on the new features and tell you why my son and I think the box is so great. If you want more details about the Tigerbox, I can recommend the test by Michael Restin from 2020
The Tigerbuddies now also connect wirelessly
In the summer, my son tested the Tigerbuddies. These are children's headphones from Tigermedia, the company behind the Tigerbox. The headphones already have Bluetooth. With the new Plus Box, they now also connect wirelessly. Unfortunately, it is not possible to listen to the same box via cable and Bluetooth at the same time.
You can establish the connection to the headphones via the settings. You can access these by swiping two fingers from top to bottom across the display. The connection with the Tigerbuddies and other Bluetooth headphones works quickly and is stable. Unfortunately, you can only connect one pair of headphones wirelessly at a time.
If you prefer to leave Bluetooth switched off, you can also deactivate it in the settings.
A bigger battery that can save you the hassle
The Tigerbox Touch Plus is designed to run for up to 8.5 hours. The manufacturer achieves this with a larger battery and optimised firmware. In my test, it lasted for eight hours and 15 minutes - with Bluetooth activated. The display is active for about a quarter of an hour during this time if I change tracks in between.
If your child, like my son, is constantly pressing the display, the battery life will probably be significantly shorter, depending on the brightness. Based on my experience with the standard version, I assume four hours at medium display brightness. That's still not much, but it's enough for a longer train or car journey. A full charge takes around three hours with the supplied power adapter on the USB-C port.
This is why my son and I are fans of the Tigerbox
In addition to these changes, the Tigerbox Touch Plus is characterised by the same strengths as its predecessor. This starts with the successful design and the top workmanship. The Tigerbox also appeals to me as an adult. My son likes it, whether he got it as a six-year-old today or as a three-year-old as a present.
The sound quality is very good for a small speaker. Nothing stands in the way of a disco in the children's room. I also find the intuitive touchscreen operation better than that of the Toniebox. My son thinks the Toniebox figures are "children's stuff" and I know many parents who switch from the Toniebox to the Tigerbox from school age. The box with the tiger should therefore be more durable.
Thanks to the album pictures, even children who can't yet read will find their way around. You can activate the parental controls to prevent children from making any unwanted changes.
The kids listen to content either via the streaming service Tigertones or via Tigercards or Wildcards. They insert the cards into the back of the box and thus have access to the content on the card.
We do have a few cards, but we prefer the streaming subscription. If the kids listen to at least six different albums a month, you've already more than recouped the streaming price compared to the cards. You can also create up to five profiles for five boxes at the same time with one ticket.
You use these profiles, which you create in the Tigertones app, to curate the content. You filter between age, topics and heroes. This way, the children only hear what you want them to hear. For example, you can send "Thomas and his friends" to the kindergarten child and "The school of magical animals" to the second-grader's display.
The box doesn't always have to be online. The content can be stored on the eight gigabyte internal memory. That doesn't sound like much at first, but it's enough for over 80 radio plays - enough for a car journey south.
Sensible innovations that make good things even better
Despite these positive innovations, I would also describe the battery as the biggest weak point of the Plus. But the competitor Toniebox offers even less battery life and has neither a touchscreen nor Bluetooth. <p
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
