You know how there's that automatic pornstar name generator site? Somewhere out there is an automatic cellphone for kids business model generator site, too. If you know the URL, send it along. Clearly, the folks at Kyocera have it.
This new phone runs on a PHS network, which I think is the low-grade technology that got mobile phones rolling in France way back, no? [weren't they called the Boppy or something? maybe I'm thinking of something else. Bi-Bop, I was close.]
For EUR7.50/mo, your kid can make unlimited calls to any of three pre-programmed numbers. Step outside that sandbox, though, and you pay, presumably a lot. Also, Akihabara News seems to think it's the first terrorism-ready cellphone out there: you can send the phone an alarm/alert alarm "in case of an attack."
If you can't tell where I stand on the cellphones for kids issue at the moment, just try pronouncing the acronym in the headline.
Willcom / Kyocera PHS phone [akihabaranews.com, via dt reader Ed]
This is way down the road for us but my wife and I were talking about cell phones in school the other day. We have no idea what the deal is, can kids have them, use them? Not an issues for us yet considering the boy just discovered those amazing toes of his. Kind of made me feel old and it seems like complete ancient history that I was in school (I first went to college with a typewriter, a really cool one, but a typewrtiter)
I've heard kids shouldn't have cellphones until they're at least 14. Something to do with radiation and their little developing brains.
Is the PHS network different somehow? While we're a few years off, keep tabs on our son is a topic that comes up.
[check the akihabara link for a 2-line explanation of PHS. it's lower power, smaller cells, I think. But trust me, if there was even remotely plausible evidence that kids under 14 shouldn't have cell phones, there'd be a big scandal about thimerosal-style coverups by the phone company. -ed.]