Sponsored
Have you heard of the Spacetalk Smartwatch? It’s an Australian designed kids’ smartwatch packed with features to keep kids safe and families connected. If you’re thinking about a first phone for your child but you’re worried about potential misuse, or your child is getting a little more adventurous but you still want to keep an eye on them, then this is the device for you. And if your child loves high-tech devices with lots of functionality, then it will definitely be a hit with them too! Read on to find out all about this clever little product.
The watch we are reviewing is the Spacetalk Adventurer, which is the new model with a 4G mobile phone and GPS locator included. My daughter is getting close to high school age, so we were starting to think about how to tackle the issue of safety as she starts to become more independent. We wanted to balance that extra freedom with peace of mind for both her and us as parents. This watch does that, and this version has so many other great features too, which makes it fun for kids too.
What’s in the box?
For a watch with so many capabilities, it comes with surprisingly few set-up components. There’s a charging dock and cable, screen wipes and screen protector, Warranty Card, Quickstart Guide and of course the watch itself.
What functions does it feature?
> Watch
The Spacetalk Smartwatch has all the features you’d expect from a modern watch, like the date and time, as well as a calendar and a stopwatch. You can also set up alarms and customise when they repeat to suit your child’s schedule.
> 4G Phone
The built-in 4G mobile phone allows kids to make and receive calls, but only from a safe contact list controlled by parents, for extra peace of mind. This means your child cannot receive calls from anyone except people who are approved by you the parent.
> Chat and SMS
The smartwatch allows you and your child can stay in touch via instant chat or SMS messaging, through which you can send either audio or text messages. Again, the contact list is set by parents, so you control who your child can be in touch with. Parents also have the control of being able to set pre-set messages, and can enable or disable free-text entry.
> SOS Button
You can set up emergency contacts for your child, and if your child hits their SOS button, the watch will automatically start calling these contacts in order until someone answers, to ensure your child gets through to a trusted emergency contact whenever they need help.
> GPS Location
One of the best things about this smartwatch is that it allows you to know where your child is at any time by checking their map location and receiving location updates at your preferred interval. Kids can also see their own location and send their location to you, which is great for if you’re picking them up and need to know exactly where they are. Just be aware, that checking the GPS location does drain the battery power, so keep that in mind when setting up this function.
> Safe Zone
Parents can also set up safe zones for their child, with alerts for when they arrive there safely or if they leave the safe zone. These are all customisable for different days and times, allowing you to make sure your child is always where they’re meant to be.
> 5MP Camera
This device has an impressive in-built 5MP camera, which kids love, and an album for storing their photos. This feature can also be disabled during school time.
> Fitness
The watch comes with bonus fitness trackers, such as a step counter and heartrate monitor, and shows fitness data over the last week, month and year.
> Reward Stars
You can also use the Spacetalk Smartwatch to set up awards for you children, to motivate them to do chores or to reward good behaviour. You can set what the award is, how many stars they need to receive to achieve their award, and what they need to do to receive stars.
> School Mode
Devices can be a distraction at school, and many schools have rules governing what students can use during school hours. To adhere to school rules, you can enable or disable the various features your child can access during the times set by you.
> Weather
Kids can even use their watch to see the latest weather information, which is especially useful when making wet weather pick-up plans and keeping in touch about any changes to what they might be doing or where they’re going.
> Battery life
The battery life is typically between 12 and 24 hours, however, like all devices, how much it is used and the way it is used will impact battery life. A tip for extending battery life is to change the location update from every 5 minutes to 60 minutes. Because this watch has many different setting options for parents, there is a bit of trial and error to work out what sort of settings work best for your family’s needs. For us, the battery lasted the full day and I got a reminder notification on my phone around 8.30pm that it needed charging.
There is heaps of information on the website about functionality and battery life. You can find more tips for battery life on the FAQs on the website.
> Spacetalk app
The Spacetalk app is great because it gives us as parents full control over our child’s device, including who they can contact, who can contact them, what features they can use and when they can use them. It’s basically Ground Control for your child’s safety and it’s really simple and easy to use.
What are the best bits?
The highlights of this smartwatch are the amazing customisable safety functions. All options for optimising your child’s safety seem to have been considered and included in the design of this watch. Being able to know your child’s location and get alerts when they leave a safe zone is priceless. Being able to stay in touch with your child when you need to is also important. And knowing they’re safe from the social media and open Internet which they would be exposed to via a standard smartphone is an extra bonus. From all perspectives, the Spacetalk Smartwatch allows children greater independence while giving parents ultimate peace of mind.
The watch is also very user-friendly for a child’s first smart device. As soon as we set it up, my kids were running around the house counting their steps, taking photos of the dog and intuitively using all the functions. The watch has a touchscreen interface and very clear coloured buttons for the different features. To kids nowadays, swiping and tapping is second nature, so this watch is super easy for them to use, without the need for instructions.
We also loved the cool design of this watch. It comes in some beautiful, bright colours, as well as neutral, smart tones, like the ‘Midnight’ we chose. Plus, the straps are detachable, so you can get as many colours as you want.
What do I need to know before I buy?
As a mobile device, this watch has some ongoing fees associated with it, on top of the purchase price, so please factor these in when you’re budgeting for this product.
Being a mobile phone, you will need to get a SIM from a 4G network provider. The size required for the Spacetalk Adventurer is a nano-SIM. You can join a mobile plan or go pre-paid. We chose a pre-paid SIM from OPTUS, which was on sale at $15, about a third of the value, at the time of our purchase, but do shop around for the best deal you can find.
You will also need to download the Spacetalk app for parental control. The app is free to download, but please be aware that you will need a subscription, starting from $5.99 for up to two watches (at the time of review).
The watch is water resistant but not waterproof, so make sure the children know not to take it in the water or shower with it on.
How do I buy it?
To learn more about Spacetalk Smartwatches and purchase a watch, head to spacetalkwatch.com. For $50 off, you can use the code BEAFUNMUM10.
No Comments