Haltian’s Snowfox Offers Screenless GPS Child Safety ‘Phone’

This article was about a new tracker phone for young children. Rather than handing out a smartphone to their 7-year-old, parents can now purchase a sleek and simple Snowfox. Snowfox was developed by Finland-based company Haltian; the company's main focus is to offer a simple communication device and also allow parents to track their children's movements through an app on their phone. (In fact, up to five family members can be approved to be able to track the student's movements.) It also sends automatic geofenced notifications when the child enters or exits their school, or when the child is entering an area that they aren't supposed to be in. There are no screens to break on the Snowfox, and a single charge can last up to a week before running out of battery.
While the innovation and safety features of the Snowfox are commendable, the most important thing to me about this new device is the simple fact that it's an alternative to a smart phone. One really good quote stuck with me from the article, "“I see way too many young kids with smartphones these days. Simply looking around, you can see kids playing with their devices and not doing stuff kids should be doing, like playing with friends outside, being in social situations and also interacting with the world around you...There have been multiple articles on kids suffering from delayed speech development, neck pains and posture development, which have been related to excessive smartphone usage at a very young age.” I think that the Snowfox will be an excellent alternative to smart phones, and that kids will get to still be kids without having a handheld device chuck-full of apps for them to play. 
This is a device that when I have children some day, I would highly consider purchasing this Snowfox phone for my kids. Right now the Snowfox costs roughly $160 with a monthly connectivity subscription of about $11. It's only available in Finland right now, but Haltian hopes to expand to the States in the near future.

http://www.educationnews.org/technology/haltians-snowfox-offers-screenless-gps-child-safety-phone/