I still am astonished whenever I see little kids of grade school age sporting their own mobile phones. “Did I even have anyone to call at that age?” I ask myself. “Didn’t I just go outside to play and expect to meet my friends there?”
While I still think that allowing very young children their own cell phones may be overdoing it, I understand the need for safety precautions. As such, I can get on board with cell phones that are designed specifically for kids, like this one by the Japanese company KDDI.
Mamorino is a cute, almost toy-like cell phone that has minimal functions that are limited to calls, E-mail, GPS and SECOM Rescue (which I believe to be similar to 911).
Safety features of the Mamorino include an emergency light that can be programmed to detect darkness, an earthquake alert, and the SECOM button, which when activated, does the following:
Calls and e-mails are restricted to only 4 people on the child’s contact list. You may even choose to deactivate the e-mail function altogether.
All other services that have become so rampant with cell phone use are not available. Parents do not need to worry about distractions or even the abuse of data plans with the Mamorino.
One last great feature of the Mamorino is that it is waterproof. And as you can see from the pictures of the phone, it looks to be a cinch (at least compared to other cell phones) to wipe clean.
Unfortunately, the Mamorino is currently only available in Japan and Korea. But I hope that it — or another phone like it — will make its way stateside soon!
Via Little Seouls Blog.
