Firefly mobile phone from Cingular with parental control

For parents worried about handing over theuir child a full-fledged mobile phone, the Firefly mobile with parental control is a good answer.

BY TOMS MATHEW

19th November, 2005: Ever thought that your school going child needs a cell phone for you to keep in touch with him? Ever thought that a cell phone can come in handy in case of an emergency and your child is too young to carry it around? In a world where 10 year-olds play with playstations and have fun with iPods, a cell phone is a must have for your child. But you are worried about the maturity of your child, and his or her ability to handle a mobile phone with care. Also a mobile phone brings a lot of responsibility, both on the kid and parents. So, for all those parents out there, who are planning to gift your child a cell phone and want to have a firm grip over the equipment and how the kid uses it, here comes a cell phone from Firefly with parental control.

Firefly comes with a $100 prepay plan from Cingular in the US which is pretty fair. You can't make a more simpler mobile phone than the Firefly. There are no keypads or camera. Built with excellent thought, Firefly carefully avoids all those features which are not necessary to kids. The phone is compact at 3.25 by 1.75 by 0.5 inches and extremely lightweight at 2.1 ounces. A kid can easily fit it inside his pocket. The monochrome display is tiny with 0.8 inch diameter. On the screen we can see date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). The Firely Parental Control phone comes in a cool see-through case and four additional skins are available. 

The Firefly mobile phone has only five buttons. Talk and End keys are placed below the display. The End key functions as a soft key when accessing menus, it also serves as the power key for the Firefly. Menus can be opened using the Talk key. Another key is placed slightly below them and serves the purpose of contact key. There are two keys for calling Mom and Dad, these are dedicated keys.

The Firefly phone was developed with total simplicity in mind, so never mind the small difficulties. Your kid won't have any difficulty in using them. There is a key using which you can dial an emergency number. But, misdial chances to 911 are high. 

Overall, 20 contacts can be saved in the phone's address book. The parents are expected to do this. Using a PIN, parents can protect your kid calling endlessly and accessing phone book's menu. You can't add new numbers to the phone book without the PIN. 

12 monochromatic ringtones are there in the phone's memory and the kid can assign special ringtones to Mom and Dad. When a call comes through, the phone lights up in varying hues.

The Firefly phone with parental control can be directly bought from Firefly's website with Cingular service. Target also offers the phone with a Cingular SIM, or you can purchase it from regional carriers Cincinnati Bell and SunComm with service on their respective networks. Each handset has 30 minutes of talktime, but when it is over we can buy more. An additional 40 minutes is $10, 100 minutes is $25, and 200 minutes cost $50.

The Firefly looks extremely pleasant and compact. Parents can gift their kids with this cute little phone and at the same time have some control over the phone and how their kids use it.

BY TOMS MATHEW