This year’s biggest mobile trend is the smartwatch, a mashup of a wristwatch and a smartphone. Many big names are reportedly working on these wearable devices, including Apple, Google, Intel, LG, Samsung and Sony.
Thankfully, there are some lesser known players entering the market as well, relying on unique interpretations of what a smartwatch can do. One of these is Filip, a new smartwatch that is designed to be used exclusively by children and their parents.
Filip is pretty simple to use. Kids can use it to call their parents. Parents can use a smartphone app to call their kids, send them messages or see where they are. Parents can set up alerts to see when their kids enter or leave safe zones. That’s pretty much it – oh, it’s also a watch. Of course.
The Filip is relatively cheap, durable and waterproof, and strapped around the kid’s wrist so it’s a bit harder to lose or damage than a smartphone. It’s also available in kid-friendly colours like lime, red, blue and yellow.
Unlike most smart watches like the Sony SmartWatch 2, the Filip doesn’t need a nearby smartphone to work – it has its own mobile radios, and no other features that’d need a paired smartphone. Of course, no smartphone means that your Filip will need its own mobile contract, but it shouldn’t be too expensive.
I reckon that Filip is pretty clever take on the smart watch, and should be an interesting alternative to the general purpose watches we’ve seen so far.
What do you make of the Filip smart watch for kids? Let us know in the comments below!