Announced last October, the Filip smartwatch is about to go on sale with AT&T. This isn’t a Pebble or Galaxy Gear challenger though. Instead, it has one specific task in mind: keeping your kids safe. The Filip is a great idea, and incorporates features that will appeal to parents more than little ones, all wrapped up in a chunky, funky design that’s suitable for smaller wrists.
Rather than connecting permanently to a smartphone, the Filip acts as a standalone device once it has been setup. Your child can make two-way calls to five stored numbers, which are accessed through a contact list. This also works the other way around; only those five numbers can place a call to the watch. If a call isn’t really necessary, then a short message can be sent using the Filip app.
The app also includes a location finder, which tracks and pinpoint’s the watch’s whereabouts. Not only that, it’ll show where they’ve been, and for how long. The days of hearing little white lies like “But I’ve been home for ages!” or “I was at school, honest!” are long gone. You’ll be able to prove when they were and where. Ah, the wonder of technology.
Using the Filip to expose your child’s lies is only one aspect of its feature set. On the side of the watch is a large red emergency use button, which automatically calls the primary number stored in the contact list when pressed. Once the call goes through, the watch will record what’s going on around it. If the primary number doesn’t answer the watch will cycle through its stored numbers until someone answers the call.
The Filip smartwatch is available now on AT&T’s website and nationwide in its stores, where it costs $200 with a $10 per month bill for the two-way calling and data connection. The Filip module can be plugged into wristbands of varying colors, including a fetching red, a sensible blue, a girly pink, and a shocking green.
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