In case it wasn't already obvious that kids under the age of eight should be using cellphones strictly for emergencies, here's another reason: Toronto's public health department says so. In what might be a first in all of Canada, the agency is officially laying down recommendations that tykes be restricted to emergency calls and teens talk on their phones for no more than ten minutes at a time (good luck with that one) due to growing evidence that prolonged use could lead to brain tumors and other health-related unpleasantness later in life. Moving up the governmental food chain, Health Canada still officially recommends no restrictions, so the endless confusion over cellphone safety continues as usual.

[Thanks, Thierry]

NTT DoCoMo is launching a new mobile phone / bracelet combo aimed at helping youngsters stay safe on the mean streets of Japan. The two-part system combines the FOMA F801i phone, which adds safety features like a 100-decibel alarm, high intensity flashing LEDs, and the ability to automatically notify family in the event of an emergency, and a bracelet remote control which communicates with the device. The phone can be set to provide its location to registered parties, and will turn itself on if it has been switched off. Coupled with the phone is the "amulet style" bracelet, which can be used to locate a misplaced phone, lock the handset, or send a message to another phone (if the device and bracelet are out of range for over five minutes). We suspect that for worried and / or nosey parents, this is a dream come true.

AT&T's Smart Limits parental control package has been temporarily taken offline after the carrier discovered a little catch-22 with the service: if a user of a Smart Limits-controlled phone dials 911 and gets disconnected, the emergency operator is blocked from calling back. Obviously, this is a case of Smart Limits being just a little too smart (or too dumb, depending on how you look at it) for the user's own good -- we don't think parents are too concerned about their young 'uns spending hours racking up anytime minutes on the line with a chatty 911 operator -- and AT&T clearly did the right thing by pulling the service until it gets sorted out. Shouldn't take too long, we imagine.

[Via mocoNews]

Okay, we figure we don't have too many regular readers in the 5 to 8 year old category (by all means, give us a shout out in comments if you fall in that range), so we're looking straight at the parents in the crowd with this one. As we found out a few days ago, Firefly Mobile's upcoming glowPhone is targeted at a very young demographic, and it's got the feature set to match; like the original Firefly, it lacks a traditional numeric keypad, instead offering dedicated Mom and Dad keys plus navigational and send / end controls. There are some games and wallpapers built in, too -- though they aren't detailed in the user's manual -- and a "Flashlight" feature glows all the keys simultaneously (hence the "glowPhone" name, we suppose). It's a dualband GSM set and it'll likely be offered through a prepaid service of some sort when it launches next month for $50, though it's unknown whether Firefly will again be partnering with AT&T for the offering.

Never been a better time to be a parent looking to equip their tykes with kid-safe phones and services, it seems. AT&T recently launched its Smart Limits service, a $4.99 monthly add-on that gives moms and dads a pretty unprecedented level of control over their little ones' mobile usage, including voice, text, and purchase allowances, daily usage schedules, allowed / blocked contact lists and internet usage restrictions. That's all well and good, but check this: the same Wall Street Journal article also sheds some light on a couple new Firefly models, one of which we'd seen not long ago up in the FCC's business. The glowPhone (pictured) seems to be the simpler of the two, targeted at ages 5 through 8 with a nice, low $49.99 price point when it drops in October. The more interesting of the two is the flyPhone, designed with ages 9 to 12 in mind with support for downloadable goodies and that crazy dynamic keypad we'd mentioned before. That one's gonna run $129.99 and will be available with a prepaid service of some sort, though there's no word whether Firefly's relationship with AT&T is going to continue when these hit the street.

[Via mocoNews]

Read - AT&T Smart Limits
Read - Wall Street Journal, "Keeping Junior on a Wireless Leash"

We look at this thing, and frankly, the term "phone" just never crosses our minds. Handsets designed specifically with children in mind typically look nothing like traditional cellphones, but Omego's self-titled debut may just take the cake. Looking like a table coaster with an LCD display, the 83 gram device runs on T-Mobile MVNO Toucan Mobile in the UK, offering "educational games," an organizer, a 40-number phone book, an obligatory lack of numeric keypad (although Firefly might be looking to change all that), and the obvious full suite of parental control. It runs £15 a month (about $30) on an 18-month contract plus £5 per megabyte (ouch!) over the handset's GPRS modem. Then again, what are 8 year olds consuming data for?

[Via El Reg]

Update: PC Magazine's Sascha Segan has pointed out that this weird thing is a rebranded Enfora TicTalk from back in the day. No wonder it looks so old school!

Imaginarium's telephony devices for children haven't typically looked like phones -- though we reckon that's by design -- and the trend continues with its latest, the Cam1. The rather beefy looking Cam1 is focused on video calling, giving parents an opportunity to get some visual confirmation that their children are safe and sound (though we're wondering what the toddler in the press shot here is doing far enough away from her parents to require a video call). Other features include 20MB of onboard memory, microSD expansion, and big, colorful buttons that we kinda want to press.

Here's a tip: don't relocate to Japan unless you're entirely down with being monitored practically everywhere you go. Sure, things aren't that serious quite yet, but with RFID tracking going on in schools, prisons, airlines, and now, um, everywhere else, you can pretty much rest assured that big brother is indeed taking notes. The next step in mass monitoring involves GPS, RFID, and cellphones, and the service is intended to track kids' whereabouts and alert parents whenever they enter potentially "dangerous areas." Reportedly, RFID readers will be setup in various areas (like school gates and electric polls) and track tags carried by (incredibly obedient) children, or better yet, simply monitor the GPS locator in the youngster's handset. Of course, we've no idea where these "danger zones" could be, nor how long the crime lords of the area will actually let that pole-sitting RFID reader remain in tact, but the system is supposed to be piloted in "20 regions across the country" real soon.

[Via Textually]

While we know there are fanatics out there claiming that cellphones are a tumor's best friend, we're still skeptical of just how dangerous they really are -- but only in that sense. Operating a motor vehicle while keying in an old pal's number certainly isn't a recipe for safe driving, and these acts would probably make protective parents irate if, say, their kid's bus driver was chatting it up while make the rounds. Although we find it quite astounding that cellphone use while operating a school / motor bus isn't already outlawed, it's even more amazing to find that the National Transportation Safety Board is simply "urging" federal and state governments to ban motor coach and school bus drivers from using cell phones except in emergencies. So just as a heads-up, you may want to check with your local school board to make sure John and / or Jane Doe aren't discussing the news while wheeling your offspring around town, as apparently it's still not entirely illegal.

[Via TheWirelessReport]

If you're under the age of 12 -- or at least possess the mentality of a 12 year old, as some of us here at Engadget do -- you've gotta be bummed that Japan seems to get all the cool kiddie phones. Sure, we get the Firefly and Migo in these parts, but we don't have any, you know, frog-themed handsets. Gigabyte's new limited-issue Keroro phone celebrates Japan's Keroro Gunso cartoon, better known around here as "Sgt. Frog," and considering the target demographic, the brightly colored slider doesn't seem to be a half-bad device. Besides sporting a miniSD slot with a bundled 128MB card, camera, and what appears to be a mammoth speakerphone on its back, you get a boatload of Keroro-themed swag. No word on pricing, but only 2000 units are planned, so Sgt. Frog fans best get on the horn with their importers post-haste.

[Via Mobile Mentalism]

With the recent crackdown and enforcement of the school cellphone ban in NY, parents are fighting back with a measure to lift the ban, much to the chagrin of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. A parents group has collected 1200 signatures and a city councilwoman plans to introduce a resolution next week to end the ban. Joel Klein is staunchly opposed, saying kids are text messaging, going on the Internet, cheating on tests and generally having way more fun than they should be having in school (we added that last bit). He's looking into solutions to block phone signals, remove batteries, or check phones in upon arrival to school, but everything proposed so far is too cost prohibitive. Parents would like their kids to have phones so they can track them on the way to and from school, as usual. Sounds like a good time is being had by all, and we're sure all differences will soon be put aside in order to do what's best for the kids.

[Via The Wireless Report]