The latest on kid phones

Regular cellphones and young children don't mix, many parents find, for security reasons (another way to talk to strangers) and financial ones (still more uncontrolled minutes!). "No, if you're going to issue your child a cellphone, it had better be ultra-simple, ultra-limited, ultra-rugged and ultra-parent-controlled," writes New York Times tech writer David Pogue in his review of Verizon's LG Migo, The Firefly, and the Enfora TicTalk. Fortunately for parents, they look pretty much like "real cellphones," so kids who like electronic toy that mimic grownup ones will probably like them. But they're all about parental control, so no one over the age of around 9 or 10 is going to want one. They connect with only a handful of pre-programmed phone numbers, and "they're designed exclusively for voice calls; they can't download ringers, send text messages, do email, take pictures, check voice mail or get on the Web," David says. One divorced mom emailed me because she wanted a phone for her daughter to go with the child on weekends she was with her dad - a phone no one at the dad's house would want to use. I told her these phones were pretty perfect for that, but there would be limited appeal for her daughter beyond a certain age!