Should You Get Your Kid a Palm Phone?

Smartphones are one of the most used devices in today’s age and time. Moreover, thanks to their functionality, portability, and accessibility, almost everyone now has access to one. The problem is that although smartphones are a great utility and entertainment center for adults, giving them to children can give birth to a host of new issues.

For parents looking for a good smartphone alternative for their young ones, a Palm phone might come to mind. Let’s explore whether a Palm phone can serve as a good alternative.

Part 1: What is a Palm Phone?

When the Palm phone was first invented, it was made as a small pocket device that was portable and helped people in business keep their notes, contacts, to-dos, and events all in a single place.

Nowadays, where smartphones are far more powerful and accessible, the use of Palm phones has seen a decline. However, since Palm phones are focused more on functionality rather than entertainment, they can serve as a suitable replacement for the younger generation. Also, they keep them away from explicit and inappropriate content online while ensuring they don’t miss out on the productive side.

Moreover, the company that makes these Palm phones has also realized how their product now needs to serve a different purpose than smartphones and has shifted its plan to a more minimal online interactive device that helps a person handle texts and calls, among other functions.

Furthermore, the Palm phone now serves as a device that breaks people’s reliance on smartphones and can help children that spend way too much time on their smartphones. Parents can simply get them a Palm phone to protect them from the negativity online.

A Palm phone with a child can be used for tracking, calls, messaging, and most of the stuff a regular phone does without the addictive part of a smartphone. The Palm phone is also more compact, comes with gorilla glass protection, and is neatly designed, making it a lot more durable than your typical smartphone.

Part 2: Is the Palm phone Really Good for Kids?

In Fact, this is how palm phone describes themselves: "Palm is the best small phone for minimalists, athletes, and families. Your entire digital life now fits in a coin pocket. Perfect for taking a break from your big phone".

It's quite clear that the phone is not specifically designed for kids, but still, some of the features make the phone quite ideal for parents to buy for kids. For one thing, it can serve as children's first phone that allows them to stay connected to their parents and their loved ones but intentionally limits them from social media applications and entertainment services such as YouTube. Besides, it helps children establish a healthy relationship with their devices and understand how they are meant to be used.

Here are some of the reasons why getting a palm phone for your kid sounds like a good choice:

• Life Mode

The life mode of the palm phone is unique. The mode silence the phone when the screen goes dark, meaning all the notifications from the phone are paused to display, which is perfect for kids to take classes and study. When kids get used to the mode, they feel less distracted by smartphones and focus more on real life.

• Family Plan

A family Plan is one of the most attractive features for parents. It provides as low as 5$ monthly for kids to use. Learn more on the palm kids page.

• Ease of Use

Palm phones are now designed according to the needs of children, so they are kept simple to use and have features accessible with the tap of a button. It is a fact that the connection to the internet is limited with the Palm phone, which is why user privacy is prioritized, and children will have no problem using the device without online danger.

• GPS Service

Another aspect that makes palm phones stand out for children is their GPS services. It has become a fact that the cases of harassment, kidnapping, and bullying have increased significantly. For this reason, it is now essential to know the kid’s whereabouts, whether they are going to school on their own or to a restaurant.

Using the GPS feature, they can quickly figure out more about the Uber driver’s sketchy shortcut or their friend’s wrong turn. With both of the Gmail synced, you can also map your child’s current location to your phone.

• Battery Life

Whether your child works part-time in a restaurant or sits late in the school library for studies, they’ll need long battery life to be in contact with you to inform you about all of their plan changes. Thus, palm phones know the importance of long battery life that can survive all day long.

Moreover, the phone also has a life mode that extends the battery life for up to 30 hours. You get up to 3 hours of call time, 4 hours of GPS tracking, and 5 hours of just music streaming, which is clear enough to keep it up throughout the day.

Part 3: How to Set Up Parental Control on a Palm Phone?

Within the palm phone, there are two different types of parental control methods that you can use to keep a check on your children’s activity through the smartphone. These methods include setting up Google Family Link or just through the Play Store.

• Setting up Google Family Link

Google Family Link is an extension introduced by Google to monitor the activity on your child’s phone. Through this extension, you can easily manage the apps downloaded, lock their devices, set the screen limit, and even navigate their current location.

To access this, all you have to do is create your child’s account on Gmail by switching the bottom left menu from Myself to My Child. After some primary settings and granting permissions, you can connect your Gmail to your child’s.

After the connection is formed, you can easily track the targeted smartphone without any hindrances, and your child can’t even switch it back.

• Setting Parental Control via Google Play Store

Most Android operating systems don’t have special parental control features for devices. However, Palm phones have parental control designed to monitor Google Play Store.

This is quite helpful to restrict your children from downloading adult applications or mature content through Google Play.

After setting up, you can just go to the Apps & Games tab and choose the options and features to restrict according to your desire, depending on the age of your children. If you're still looking for a full guide to family link, take a look at these articles: 

Family Link Not Working: Quick & Proven Fix Solutions

How to Set Up Family Link on iPhone

• Why Wondershare FamiSafe is Still a Good Choice

Although both of these methods provide parental control options, the domain of their features is quite limited. Thus, you need a proper parental control app like Wondershare FamiSafe for better monitoring features. You can easily install it on your child’s smartphone and track their activities without being detected.

The FamiSafe app offers an extensive range of parental control features. 

One primary feature available with the tool is geofencing. Once your children get their phones, they tend to make plans with their mates. However, most parts of your town aren’t safe for your kids to wander around. You can now monitor all of their moves using this function all the time with this application.

Moreover, the Wondershare FamiSafe web filtering feature lets you detect inappropriate content on your child’s Palm smartphone either on any website, social media app or within the chat. This feature can automatically filter out abusive or offensive words.

After getting their smartphone, most kids aren’t able to manage their work, physical activities, and studies simultaneously quite well. With FamiSafe, you can limit screen usage for your kids so that they can focus more on other physical and mental activities than this.

Part4. FAQs

1. Does the Palm phone have parental controls?

Palm phones have several parental control features, such as location tracking(thanks to Find My Phone). Also, the parent can install dedicated apps to keep a check on the child from the Google Play Store on the Palm device.

2. At what age should kids get a phone?

The right age for a child to get a phone is when she can make good use of it. It is not about the number of years she has lived but about her maturity. Children are often very curious about things around them, so they need to learn from their parents, the most responsible people in their lives.

A child’s first phone should be used for communicating with parents, family, and trusted friends and not be used for playing games, using apps, or talking to strangers. A phone will help a child communicate with other people and make friends, as long as they can balance it with other things in life. Moreover, to keep tabs on their phone activities, FamiSafe is a reliable ally.

In this video you will learn how to protect your kids from online threats irrespective of the gadgets’ in-built safety parameters.

Wondershare Famisafe

FamiSafe lets parents control screen time, track real-time location and detect inappropriate content on kids' devices.

Get Started Get Started

Conclusion

As important as it has become to give your children their smartphones, it is equally important to provide them with phones that don’t have unnecessary features and through which you can keep an eye on their activities. It is a necessity in today’s age to have constant contact with your child for your peace of mind.