Summary

Talking Tom is back! That's right, it's the return of everyone's favourite digital Android cat making his come-back as Talking Tom Cat 2. He's moved up in the world and by now has a swank apartment to call his own. Find out if the popular game starring the talking cat is just as much fun as its predecessor in today's review.

 Test device: Samsung Galaxy Note
Android version: 2.3.6
Root: No

If I'm being honest I must confess that I hadn't given Talking Tom the time of day up until recently—but all that's changed now.
First things first, download the 7,38 MB file; the permissions strike me as kosher (internet access in order to upload videos or access social networks; change contents of USB storage in order to save videos, record audio so that Tom finds a voice; read telephone status and ID, etc.).

After this primary download you will need to download more data, the size ranging from 5-40 MB depending on which device you are using. This is to ensure the best possible graphics for your own personal device. We tested the app on the Galaxy Note and downloaded a hefty 39 MB—we would strongly recommend doing any downloading via a WiFi connection.

As for the game itself:

Talking Tom Cat 2, who are you?

Tom is an interactive cat that you can keep entertained with a bunch of different activities including:

• Talking: Everything a user says can be recorded and the cat will then repeat what you have said in a funny voice.
• Petting
• Poking
• Slapping Tom's face
• Pulling his tail
• Fart button: Toilet humour is a must. In this case Ben the dog breaks wind and Tom grabs his nose in disgust.
• Bag button: Ben pops a bag giving Tom a fright.
• Pillow button: Ben throws a pillow at Tom's face.
• Phone button: Tom will play with the original Talking Tom version; this then turns into a loop, a sort of infinity mirror of the game.
• ? button: Tom presents you with random objects.
• Camera button: Take pics of Tom and upload them to different social networks.
• Film button: Watch videos created by other users.

So what is there to say about an app that doesn't do all that much aside from torture a virtual cat? Well, Talking Tom 2 is really all about keeping users entertained, and while the app certainly isn't very highbrow, it is very entertaining. My personal favourite is the audio recording option which can be hilarious and actually performs very well. We tested it by enunciating fairly long sentences without breaks, and we were pleasantly surprised by how well the app performed. Check out videos of Tom made by other users—Tom can even sing entire songs. The lip syncing is especially remarkable.

Of course you can record your own videos which you can then send as an MP4 file via email or MMS, upload to Facebook or YouTube or save to the SD card.

If you give Tom's face a good slap a woodpecker that spits fire appears. The woodpecker can only do a limited amount of fire spewing and if you find there's not enough woodpecker fire in your life hit the push notification.

Further settings include selecting whether Tom's face can be slapped, for how long he should lend you his ear (i.e. for how long he should listen before repeating what you've said and whether other users can enjoy your videos. You can also erase you data should you have entered anything for YouTube or Facebook.

Bottom line:
Talking Tom Cat 2 is definitely fun to have around: you can whip him out whenever you feel like spoiling or – well – whipping him. It's not the kind of thing you can do for hours on end, but the app is very well made and, as mentioned, a few moments of entertainment are guaranteed.

As mentioned, the audio recording function doesn't disappoint and Tom repeating what you've said is hilarious. The Talking Tom Cat 2 animations are also very well done. Using the app is super easy and intuitive (I guess we've all slapped a cat across the face before). Just in case you do ever get confused about what to do next, just hit the information button.

The app ran into a problem right at the beginning when I was attemption to download the additional data. I had to start it up again, and by the second time round things were running a bit more smoothly. Talking Tom Cat 2 also crashed twice on me during the test runs. However, I am still overall impressed with Tom's performance because the audio features and animations are really stellar. Videos are converted at the speed of lightning.

Talking Tom Cat 2 costs EUR0,75 which is a fair enough price for an app that's very well made. Whether the app is your cup of tea is something you have to know. Seeing as it's our app of the week it is available for only EUR0,39 for a limited amount of time only.