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myFirst Fone Is A Kids Phone In The Shape Of A Smartwatch

myFirst Fone is one of the latest Kickstarter projects to go live and looks to solve one of the issues that is likely to concern most parents – when to give their child a smartphone. While myFirst Fone is essentially a phone (capable of making 3G calls and sending messages), it actually comes in the form of a watch. Resulting in a product that is more akin to some of the more premium smartwatches that are capable of making calls without having to piggyback of a smartphone’s signal.

Where the additional benefits for parents come from, though, is the device also acts as a tracker. Allowing parents to keep tabs on the whereabouts of the wearer, whether inside or outside, through the use of GPS, Wi-Fi and GSM signals. It largely does this by being first coupled with the parent’s smartphone and the tracking features are then further enriched through myFirst Fone’s ability to send notifications to a parent’s smartphone when the device has stepped outside of predetermined ‘safety zones.’ Another of the additional parent-focused benefits is that while the device is capable of making calls, it can only do so to numbers that have been set up by the parent in the first place. Which means that unlike traditional smartwatches (or smartphones given to younger users), the outbound features of myFirst Fone are exclusively accessed and managed by the parent’s connected phone. For families with more than one child, myFirst Fone is also capable of connecting to other myFirst Fone devices allowing the two wearers to communicate with each other.

To add more features to the equation, myFirst Fone is also equipped with a camera which allows the wearer to not only capture images which can be shared back to the parent’s app, but also facilitates video calling as well. While additional features listed include a “long battery life,” a splash-proof design, the ability to count steps and calories, and more. As for availability, with this being a Kickstarter project there is no guarantee that the product will make it to market. However, those who would like to back the project and help it along its way, can do for less than $2. While those looking to secure a myFirst Fone will be able to do so for $89 per unit as an early backer – which represents a 44-percent discount compared to the suggested $159.99 retail price.

myFirst Fone (Kickstarter)