Cell phones for the younger market

For many people, the mere idea of giving a mobile phone to a small child is enough to bring them out in a cold sweat, with images of four figure telephone bills and a child permanently glued to their handset as if it were some kind of high tech comfort blanket.

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.

If you have adventurous children, then you might want to consider the Wherifone, a child-friendly cellphone which features a GPS device to allow anxious parents to track the position of their child when they are off on their own. This even works in covered areas such as buildings and forests, and an SOS button allows the child to call for help when they get into trouble. It also features parental controls, which you can use to ban calls to certain numbers, or to disable functions such as text messaging or online games.

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 set is not really a cell phone at all, rather a two way radio with many of the functions of a modern cell phone, such as text messaging and photo sharing. The main advantage of these is that they don’t use the cell phone network, so all communications are free, although they can only work with other ChatNow devices within a two mile radius.

About the Author:
Vodafone offer a huge range of phones and price plans. If you like smart phones, you will love the Samsung Jet with its fast internet for express browsing and downloads.