Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Rotom Phone review: It’s literally a lifesaver

As the pokemon world is becoming a bigger, richer place, filled with an ever-growing number of new monsters, the pokédexes that trainers receive at the start of their journeys have similarly evolved with the release of pokemon game. Initial, Pokémon Scarlet and purpleThe new Rotom Phone may not look like a big step up from the first generation model introduced in pokemon sword and Shield or appear completely new compared to Pokémon Legends: Arceusdivine arc phone. But the most popular smartphone in the Paldea region has some helpful updates to classic apps, user interface changes and new life-saving safety features that make using it feel like a whole new experience.

While pokédexes have a long history of taking design cues from Nintendo’s portable consoles, Pokémon Scarlet and purple mark the return of Generation VIII’s Rotom Phone – an otherwise ordinary smartphone that gets supercharged after being possessed by a Rotom. While the jump from Generation VII’s Rotom Dex to the original Rotom Phone saw the device undergo a drastic redesign to improve portability, the Generation IX Rotom Phone is more of an incremental hardware update intended to make the phone more usable for adventures. Apart from a new second camera module and a slim built-in ring light around the back, Scarlet and purpleThe Paldean Rotom Phone from Paldean looks more or less exactly like the previous generation model and comes in a familiar fiery red-orange, but can also be customized with a variety of cases.

While it’s nice to see the implementation of a dual-camera system on this year’s Rotom Phone, the addition of a second lens doesn’t seem to have done much for the phone in terms of its photo-capturing capabilities. Aside from 11 filters (none of which are anything to write home about), the new Rotom Phone offers few features intended to enhance photos or videos you take, and the lack of any zoom functionality makes it extremely difficult to take photos. to make of Paldea’s wild pokémon without getting attacked in the process. That said, the new Rotom Phone’s front-facing camera is much better than its predecessor, largely due to the fact that it actually works and is accessible rather than simply being a black dot on the device declaring its existence. of a camera implies.

Some previous Rotom-owned pieces are known for being overly talkative and pointing out the obvious when you’re just trying to figure out where certain Pokémon like to hang out. But the Generation IX Rotom Phone stays pleasantly quiet while you use the map, pokédex and profile applications – the three most useful tools built into the device, all of which track your progress as a trainer and as a student at Naranja or Uva Academy.

Because Paldea is so huge and its cities are often connected by beaten paths rather than paved roads or well-defined routes, the new Pokédex’s map functionality is key to navigating the land and understanding how things relate to each other. located from each other. In addition to major cities such as Mesagoza, the new Rotom Phone map will automatically display the Tera Crystal coordinates where Tera Raid battles can be undertaken, the locations of various gym leaders, and the places where particularly powerful titan pokémon are known to live. Even though the map app’s zoomed-out view sometimes feels a little unwieldy, when you’re zoomed in it proves to be surprisingly useful, both as a navigational aid and as a lightweight detector for whatever Pokémon are in your immediate vicinity.

With so much to do in Paldea and the freedom to visit towns in any order you like, the Rotom Phone’s ability to set waypoints which are then reflected on your minimap is invaluable once you’re on your way with your Koraidon or Miraidon. But there’s a certain amount of fussiness with the map as you zoom between different views of Paldea, which occasionally makes getting in and out of the application more of a hassle than it should be. This is especially true when you consider how much Pokémon Scarlet and purple is about exploration.

While the new Rotom Phone’s map will tell you when certain wild pokémon are nearby, for more detailed information on the different creatures, you’ll need to launch the new pokédex application developed by Naranja / Uva Academy biology teacher Jacq. Like previous pokédexes, the Generation IX iteration automatically records and displays key pokémon stats and descriptions after you capture or battle them. But instead of presenting all of its data as a simplified vertical list of various sprites, the new Rotom Phone’s pokédex app is more stylized as a horizontal, skeuomorphic bookshelf with dozens of books, each representing a different pokémon entry.

Unlike the old pokédexes of yesteryear that had to be filled in by hand, the new Rotom Phone is packed with details about their general habitats and the specific types of places within those habitats they like to visit – both of which become available after encountering a pokémon in the wild. In general, the amount of information the new ‘dex gives you is more or less the same compared to previous generations, as are their descriptions of many classic Pokémon. But the way each Pokédex item features a unique, detailed wildlife photo of that particular Pokemon is a welcome change that makes filling out the digital encyclopedia a joy (and a reminder of how limited the Rotom Phone’s camera is) .

As beautiful as the new items are, scrolling through the new Rotom Phone’s pokédex can also be an exercise in frustration due to the way pokémon sprites take a few seconds to load when scrolling through the app at high speed. Hopefully that bit of roughness can be ironed out in future updates, but in its current state it’s certainly something about the pokédex that leaves a lot to be desired.

The same also applies to the profile application of the new Rotom Phone, which adorns a selfie of your choice with information about how many badges you have collected, how many Pokémon you have caught, how many sandwich recipes you have collected and how many shiny Pokémon you have fought. While it’s nice to be able to see when you first enrolled in Naranja/Uva Academy, how much cash you have on hand, and what gym badge effects apply to you, the profile application feels like the least elaborate part of the Rotom phone. If that were all for the new Rotom Phone, it might be hard to really understand why upgrading the Paldean model is worth it. But all it takes to really appreciate the coolest feature of the new Rotom Phone is having it with you as you fall from a dangerous height that could seriously injure or kill someone.

Trainers familiar with the Hisui region understand it well how dangerous it can be to venture into the wilderness looking for powerful pokémon that prefer living in remote locations that are not exactly safe for humans. The Pokémon of the Paldea aren’t as aggressive as their Hisuian ancestors, but the region’s mountainous terrain is often just as dangerous as Hisui’s thanks to the numerous sheer cliffs that aren’t easy to slide off. Similar to how Apple’s most recent generation of iPhones and Apple Watches are equipped with Emergency SOS features to help people no matter where they are in the world, the new Rotom Phone can detect when you’ve fallen from a great height and will jump in action to ensure that you do not meet your untimely death.

While the Rotom in any Rotom Phone doesn’t seem to be that interested in your well-being in normal situations, during falling emergencies it will take control of the device and use its ability to hover to keep you from crashing to the ground as long as the phone is in your hands. As well as saving your life, the new Rotom Phone will also offer to fly you back from the point where you fell, because it understands that while you probably don’t plan on tumbling off lighthouses or off cliffs, you probably will. plan to be at those places for one thing or another.

Pokédexes (or the devices that contain them) are rarely the most interesting things about exploring new regions of the world. pokemon world, and the Paldean Rotom Phone is no exception. The new phone certainly feels like a piece of hardware that understands the basic role it needs to play in your next big adventure, and rather than packing a bunch of little features here and there that you’ll never use, it’s focused on a few do things very well.

It might have been nice to see the new Rotom Phone come equipped with a more robust range of photo-taking capabilities, similar to New Pokémon snap‘s research camera, and the lack of a major aesthetic overhaul may disappoint some. But the fact that the new Rotom Phone will literally save your life in situations where your life is in danger makes it a must-have for all trainers looking to navigate their way through Paldea.