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AT&T has announced a standalone smartwatch that will be offered exclusively on their network in the coming months dubbed the “FiLip” (pronounced “Phillip”). Different from the Samsung Galaxy Gears of the world, the FiLip is smartwatch made specifically for kids (between ages 4-11) and is a tool to help parents keep tabs on their children, while ensuring the lines of communication are always open. You know, just until they get into their teenage years.
Children wearing FiLip can only communicate with 5 contacts a parent has specified, so you don’t have to worry about your kids Snapchatting selfies to their friends. Working together with an app for smartphones, parents will be able to see the location of their child, make calls, send messages, and even set “safe zones” that alert the parent when a child leaves a designated area. There’s also an “intelligent emergency procedure” that triggers an automatic location beacon to parents, ambient sound recording, and direct line to emergency services in the event that parents/family/friends can’t be reached.
FiLip is is built right here in the USA (take that Motorola), and will be available in 2 sizes and 4 colors. It’s also semi-rugged featuring water resistance although the manufacturer recommends your kids probably shouldn’t take it swimming.
AT&T was curiously silent on pricing details of service plans and the upfront cost of FiLip (usually not a good sign). If priced right, we can see this being a big hit amongst parents. To be quite honest, I’m thinking about picking one of these up for myself.
[AT&T]
Provided the price isn’t too high, this would be great for my son.
Verizon had something similar a few years back. It was a phone that had five programmable buttons (mom, dad, grandma, home, etc). I think it was about $10/month.
Not so effective, if taken off, …..
Drill 2 holes. Use padlock. Effectiveness improved.
Drill 2 holes into your kids arm…that a GREAT idea Chris. See if those lil bestards can get it off then! HA
Pretty cool. I should replace my wife’s iPhone for one of those. o.O
Can’t hate that. Well done with a practical use for these things. Until they make smart watches look better they’re not going to appeal to most adults, but if I had kids i’d buy this in a heart beat.
Looks pretty good!
“… Snapchatting selfies to their friends” … Haha what’s wrong with you?
this has a lot of potential so long as it’s not too expensive but 11 year olds are NOT going to be wearing it. 9 or 10 tops
I think they are awesome I have already shown this to my daughter and she wants one, I just hope they come to the UK.
And I think that some of the smart watches that are out or coming out could take a few leaves out of this book and widen their own markets to have some practical uses rather than just be another gadget to add to a collection, as far as price goes how much is a child safety worth? (The strap could better rather than pop on, pop off )
Cool!