By Jo Best, 24 November 2005 13:10
NEWS
Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo has launched a new phone designed to fit children's hands and a service to go with it that will report its user's location to his or her parents.
The 3G kid-centric phone – the SA800i – comes with a 100 decibel emergency alarm built-in, as well as the location tracking service. The service emails the child's whereabouts to its parents, using the i-mode enabled phone, at intervals between 15 and 60 minutes apart, even if the phone is switched off.
Parents can also conduct periodic location searches using their PCs and the service, which costs ¥210 or roughly £1 per month, can also be set up to alert them if their child goes into pre-set 'no-go' areas.
The service, called imadoco – Japanese for 'where are you now?' – can't be turned off without a password being entered into the handset. Parents can also use a password to lock all of the phone's security settings.
Attempts to disable the tracking service by taking out the battery are also fruitless as it can only be removed with a 'special tool' DoCoMo said.
As well as containing child-orientated security features, the phone is also designed with children in mind. On screen instructions are written in simplified language and the handset comes with children's i-mode, which prevents a user viewing mobile internet sites with adult content.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Playing on unjustified fears -again
Japan is one of the safest and lowest crime countries in the world; this is just playing on and exaggerating parents' fears and, in the process, moving one step further towards the totally observed society. NTT should be ashamed of themselves for doing this. One can only hope that the service will be a commercial disaster for them. I hope Japanese parents have enough sense to know that teaching children to be responsible, whilst accepting life always has some risk, is a far better approach.
2. anonymous
Presumably though, these security features don't guarantee that the phone and child are in the *same* place? Or, for that matter, that the battery has not run out.
3. Roger Huffadine
"Can't be turned off" - don't the Japanese have cooking foil then? It isn't going to be beyond the whit of children to defeat these phones - obviously the supplier hasn't tested them on kids who have been told to try to defeat them. Anyone abducting a child will simply locate the device and chuck it in the nearest bin.
So what exactly are the Marketing apart from a new revenue stream?
4. Tony Darby
So a bright child who studies physics puts it in a metal can. You need to educate as well as give them challenges such as "it needs a special tool"
5. James Button
So how does it stop kids swapping them, or dropping them in the WC
If it can't - then what's the reliability of the location reporting feature.
All it's gonna indicate is that the childs phone is with 30 others in skule
(The count of 30 is other phones, not children)
Also - will 'Daddy' notice the one in his brief case when he goes on a 'weekend course'
6. Ben Lefroy
So you can leave your mobile where you told your parents you were going, set it to forward calls to your other mobile they don't know about, and go where you please.
All the time your parents will think you are round at your friend's house!
It's the modern day equivalent of the pillows under the duvet…
7. M Poulaud
Great idea, except my kids would lose their own heads if not permanently attached. My eldest has already lost one phone. Can it be attached like those tracking devices to prisoners on release? ;-) Perhaps I'd know it had been abandoned because it was in the same location for more than 15 seconds.
8. Joe Drake
Its not new technology. Two companies in the UK www.traceamobile.co.uk and www.mobilelocators.com have been selling this for over 2 years now.
Jo
9. David
Don't let our Tony know about this, he will want to add the technology to the ID card!
10. Peter E
So, japan is the safest country in the world? Tell that to the parents of 7 year old Airi Kinoshita down in Hiroshima.
She's dead. Found in a box having been strangled on the way home.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200511250180.html
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200511240133.html
As to all the other witterers, you appear British, but don't worry, that can be corrected with surgery these days.
How much is peace of mind (what they are really selling) worth to you? Would you like to know where your kids are, or would you like the police to call you first?
11. Mike Perry
Safest doesn't mean 100% safe.
I don't think anyone claimed that Japan was absolutely safe, just that it is very safe compared to many other countries.
And as for peace of mind, given all the ways that people have spotted so far in which this tracking feature can be negated, I think any parent relying on it would be complacent.