Cell Phones for the Younger Market

Many parents are ambivalent about giving their child a cell phone, worried that their child will turn into some kind of horrific miniature yuppie, or spend all their time chatting to their friends and racking up massive phone bills in the process.

Many parents are ambivalent about giving their child a cell phone, worried that their child will turn into some kind of horrific miniature yuppie, or spend all their time chatting to their friends and racking up massive phone bills in the process.

The Firefly, with its bright, cartoony design, and large Mum and Dad speed dial buttons, is the current market leader in this field. It features a 20 number address book which can be locked with a PIN number, so you can restrict the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls to only those that you have pre-approved.

Parents who get nervous when their children are off on their own might want to have a look at the Wherifone, which features a GPS function that allows you to see where your child is at any given time via a computer connected to the internet. This can also come in quite handy if the phone gets lost, as the GPS can tell you where it is to within an accuracy of a few metres. It also features all the usual parental controls that you would associate with phones aimed at the younger market.

Another popular model is the LeapFrog TicTalk, which has some pretty comprehensive parental controls, making it popular with parents who want to restrict their childrens cell phone usage to within certain parameters. It also features educational tools such as a fun camera, which is perfect if you want to encourage your childs artistic side, and a to do list function, which can help them to get in the habit of organising their time effectively.

The Disney range of mobiles are aimed at slightly older kids, with features such as a flip top design, text messaging, and content downloading. They still, however, feature all the parental controls that you might expect from a unit of this type.

The Tracfone is a cheap, durable phone with a pay as you go service, which makes it suitable for kids, although it lacks the brightly coloured stylings and parental control options of child specific cell phones, making it one for the older kids.

The ChatNow phone is really a walkie talkie dressed up to look like a phone, with a radius of two miles, and a number of phone-like functions such as text messaging. The best thing about the ChatNow is that after you have bought the unit, there are no additional costs, as all communication takes place on freely available radio frequencies.

Visit Vodafone today for your next mobile or for a greatsim only deal.