As the world gets older and older, children are getting entrenched in tech at younger and younger ages. Childrens’ tablets and laptops have already swept the scene, and some tykes are starting to get basic cellphones at young ages. Now, it looks like a market for kid-friendly smartphones are on the horizon. The latest addition to Japanese carrier NTT Docomo’s line is the SH-05, an Android 4.0 smartphone that gives your kid a respectable means of communication without the worries of giving up your parental control.
The smartphone’s claim to fame will be its remote security and parental guidance features as parents can set limits on the amount of minutes used each day, filter content to make sure children can’t surf anything that’s not kid friendly and an easy-to-access list of emergency features in case your child needs to reach you or the local authorities in a jiffy.
Under the hood will be a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with a 12 megapixel camera, a qHD display (of unknown size right now), 8GB of internal storage, GPS and mobile payment features. The phone can meet the style of any youngster as it will come in pink, blue or the more neutral white, and will have basic protection against dust and light weather.
The phone’s user interface looks appropriately playful and cheerful, but it looks like it can handle some heavy lifting at the same time. We won’t be able to tell just how deep the software customization is but we imagine a lot of stock apps have been replaced with counterparts that fit the younger personality of the people it’s aimed for.
Unfortunately it’s unlikely we’ll see something like this released on a global scale, but perhaps this phone will inspire other companies to target the younger crowd just as they have with tablets. Take a look above.
[via New Launches]