Review: Spacetalk Watch

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The first in Ireland…..

I initially did a video review of the watches, but realised very quickly that I am not pretty enough and my video skills…. suck.

A while back, I reviewed the Vodafone V-Kids Watch. Since then, and I will get in to it later, I have been looking for a replacement to better serve the needs of me and the misses, as well as our (almost) 9 year old boy / girl twins.

I knew about the Spacetalk watch for some time. I have been following its progress. In Australia, where it was first created, it was seeing massive success and online reviews were excellent. The issue was always that I could not get one unless I was willing to ship one from Australia to Ireland and pay all the import duties. Then, earlier this year, I woke to the news that Spacetalk UK now existed, and Sky UK were going to be selling and providing data / gsm plans for same.

Of course, my first thought was that – of course – Ireland would be left out. Sure enough, Sky Ireland were not providing the watch. Me being me, I promptly got on the twitter machine to hunt down Spacetalk / MGM Wireless / CEO and leader types to give out to 🙂

Then I found Mark:

MGM were on this super quick…….

So, I waited… then in the background the MGM Wireless social media team and I got chatting. From that, I was introduced to the product manager for UK. I tried over and over to order from the UK site, but it was not working for various reasons – tax, shipping, delivery…

I WAS BEING A PAIN

Then Peter, the UK account manager stepped in. He was flying over to Ireland. I bought the devices and got a hand delivered set of two SpaceTalk Watches. Now we get to try them out!

The Unboxing

Inside the box is the watch, a charging cable (USB to Mini USB), the custom charging block. Of note, there is no plug with the cable, but the dock is magnetic, which is a huge improvement on the magnetic cable we tried with the Vodafone V-Kids. There is also a manual, some stickers and some setup instructions (which I of course didn’t follow).

One complaint here. There is a protective cover in the box. I had a disaster both times trying to put that on the phone. SpaceTalk should consider a couple of spares in the box. I am hoping I will be able to get a replacement protective cover from them.

Choosing a SIM / Network
Of course, the first problem we have here in Ireland is that *currently* there isn’t a Network offering the SpaceTalk watch as a plan. Whomever grabs the deal first will be the winner though, because I can already tell (half way though my review of testing) that this watch is excellent.

So, since I am a fan of the Vodafone network for coverage and its far superior network, plus I have an account with them, I chose Vodafone sim’s. You never need really more than 200MB of data a month, and the device needs a 3G/4G/GSM sim. It will not work with a IOT / or “V” Data only SIM – Unlike the Vodafone V-Kids watch, this is essentially a phone and can do full two way calling.

AllMyTribe App
After my experience with the Alcatel TCLMOVE (V-Kids) watch, and its terrible app, I was hoping for a much better experience here. I was not disappointed.

Pairing up is as simple as sending a SMS from the app to the watch SIM, and confirming a code. Once that was done, everything paired up without issue.

Once you have paired up there are some really cool features, such as:

  • Tracking, to the meter. (This seems to be unique to this watch for kids)
  • Tracking History
  • Step Counter on the App, not just the watch.
  • Watch face backgrounds. You can use any picture behind the clock face. The Kids will love this one.
  • Setup one watch, then clone those settings to another watch. Simple but handy idea!
  • Reward 🌟. Who doesn’t like reward stars! You can set the amount of stars and give a list, or simply have one task for all the stars. I LOVE THIS FEATURE!
  • Contacts you trust. Who can call, who can SMS etc. The system also messages you if a number tried to call your child, but wasn’t allowed. Awesome stuff.
  • Custom set messages. You set “Hi Dad, I am waiting outside for you” and they just select it from a list.
  • School Mode. You set the times and disable features you want from a list.
  • Alarms. Nice to remind them of events in their day that you are not necessarily there for. “Go to the after-school music” for instance.
  • Safe Zones – Not something I think is necessary, but its there if you need it. There is also Alerts feature that lets you know if your kid has not left or arrived at the safe zone by a certain time. For me, this is overkill big brother, but hey….

S.O.S

Contacts you choose can also be set as SOS contacts. If they are, then if the child presses the SOS button on their phone, the phone calls those people in order. It ALSO SMS messages those people. This is brilliant compared to the V-Kids which every time I tried out that button, it tended to only alert me on the app 1 out of two times. The AllMyTribe App and SMS made SURE I got that SOS.

Summary

This watch is hands down the best for kids on the market as of right now, and I can only see it getting better in later versions. Get it and pay the extra for the full sim for the kids, its worth it. Or wait for SpaceTalk to do a deal with a network here, like they have with Sky UK.

The Pros

  • It does everything a kid and parent need.
  • It is well built and designed.
  • The app (AllMyTribe) has been very well designed.

The Cons

  • The Battery Life appears to be only just a full day
  • Not Waterproof (hopefully the next one)
  • Its not exactly cheap

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