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With these new GSM smartwatches, wouldn’t it make sense to give a kid a watch rather than a phone? He can initiate and receive calls from there (I’d switch off

With these new GSM smartwatches, wouldn’t it make sense to give a kid a watch rather than a phone? He can initiate and receive calls from there (I’d switch off GPS tracking) but the display is too small to do much else I’m thinking. Sure, there’s a bunch of distracting apps installed, but so did we have on the old Casio calculator watches and that wore off quickly. Has anyone tried this here?

frou_dh 8y ago
Where there's a will there's a way. For a time when I did not have a home internet connection, I was browsing the web on an ancient eInk non-touchscreen Kindle. This was using its absolutely dire 'experimental' browser and the free 3G it had to communicate with Amazon. Embryonic browsing is already here on Apple Watch: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/browse-the-internet-watchos-5/ https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/browse-the-internet-watchos...
- danielbln 8y ago
  And thinking back of my school years, there is absolutely a will. Hard constraints just make it all the more juicy.
  - m_mueller 8y ago
    Yes, and I have absolutely nothing against my son pushing against constraints with creativity. I just don't want him to serve the snapchats (or whatever kids are using these days) on a silver platter, no understanding of technology required.
- DontHack 8y ago
  This reminds me of those glorious days using the Original Nintendo DS, complete with Internet Browser, which you could only use via a cartridge no less! I expect I still had a better experience...
- vegardx 8y ago
  I spent plenty of time programming my calculator at school. Had to spend quite some time convincing my mom that I needed the TI-84 Plus over the TI-83 Plus, which came with more memory and processing power, as they were the only accepted "advanced" calculators at my school.
hocuspocus 8y ago
A low-end but decent Android smartphone, like a Nokia 5, is still a lot cheaper than any connected smartwatch. Plus, good luck making a kid agree with the idea in the first place :) Being able to make and receive phone calls is not really the reason they want a smartphone you know.

frou_dh 8y ago

Where there's a will there's a way. For a time when I did not have a home internet connection, I was browsing the web on an ancient eInk non-touchscreen Kindle. This was using its absolutely dire 'experimental' browser and the free 3G it had to communicate with Amazon. Embryonic browsing is already here on Apple Watch: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/browse-the-internet-watchos-5/ https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/browse-the-internet-watchos...

danielbln 8y ago
And thinking back of my school years, there is absolutely a will. Hard constraints just make it all the more juicy.
- m_mueller 8y ago
  Yes, and I have absolutely nothing against my son pushing against constraints with creativity. I just don't want him to serve the snapchats (or whatever kids are using these days) on a silver platter, no understanding of technology required.
DontHack 8y ago
This reminds me of those glorious days using the Original Nintendo DS, complete with Internet Browser, which you could only use via a cartridge no less! I expect I still had a better experience...
vegardx 8y ago
I spent plenty of time programming my calculator at school. Had to spend quite some time convincing my mom that I needed the TI-84 Plus over the TI-83 Plus, which came with more memory and processing power, as they were the only accepted "advanced" calculators at my school.

hocuspocus 8y ago

A low-end but decent Android smartphone, like a Nokia 5, is still a lot cheaper than any connected smartwatch. Plus, good luck making a kid agree with the idea in the first place :) Being able to make and receive phone calls is not really the reason they want a smartphone you know.