The quirky and colourful MoveTime Family MT30 3G wearables have finally landed in South Africa, meaning that parents in SA can now keep track of their children’s whereabouts using some wristwear.
Global mobile and tablet brand TCL, designed the MT30 smartwatch specifically for children, incorporating a smaller wristband and providing access to a limited number of apps and functionality. The main idea behind the MT30 is for parents to be able to keep track of their smartwatch-bearing children via GPS and geo-fencing.
While the watch is designed mostly as a tool for parents, it is still intended as a “connected, rich and fun experience for kids”. This would probably only be applicable on very young kids, as older children would probably get bored with the limited features of these watches
When we say limited, we mean limited
The smartwatch runs on a Snapdragon Qualcomm 8909W which is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 and gives the device a fair amount of computing power while resulting in a longer-lasting and robust device.
The face of the watch is a 1.3” Colour IPS display which at 240×240 pixels is just large enough to display simple messages and very basic games. As the main function of the watch is to keep parents informed a massive display isn’t needed; but it is just big enough for children to want to wear it.
Children will be able to connect with other children who have a MT30 watch via ‘friend requests’ after which they will be able to send each other emoji-messages over Bluetooth. Wonder what that’s going to do to the battery life…
Fun, quirky and durable
The MT30 is available in a variety of colours and screen faces to suit every tiny person’s personal preferences. Your little girl can have a blue wristband and a watch face with butterflies, and if the little dude likes pink, just give him a pink wristband.
To keep up with the day-to-day lifestyle of every type of child, the MT30 is a robust water- and dust-proof (IP67: up to one meter of static water). With a 450mAh battery this smartwatch is capable of up to two days of uptime on a single charge.
Keep them on a virtual leash
On to the tracking portion of our show. This kiddies smartwatch features integrated GPS capabilities using the Snapdragon Wear 2100 platform. This includes a variety of location features such as indoor and outdoor positioning, two-way calling and geo-fencing.
The SOS button on the watch enables the device to call for help in an emergency while the geo-fence feature can send alerts when kids exit a pre-set zone (as set up by the parent). Through the dedicated MoveTime Track & Talk app, parents can view their child’s whereabouts or contact the device.
The MT30 also provides children with a to-do list and reminder function to help teach time management. It helps make parents’ everyday lives easier, acting as an easy way to flag important dates and appointments. Better get to those chores, junior!
The MT30 is available now from Vodacom for R2700 on a prepaid package and only R149 per month on a 24 month contract.
