We made the mistake of giving our oldest a smartphone before we should have. Mistakenly, we believed we could lock it down completely. Kids are smarter than we think, and while our child is a great kid who has exemplary grades, he quickly learned how to bypass time limits and add social media (which we didn’t think was possible with the safety measures we had in place).
Thankfully, we have learned from that mistake. We got the Gabb Watch and the Gabb Z2 (Gabb Phone) for our kids. Both worked pretty well for what we needed at the time, but now we have a teen and tween that are ready for something more. I wanted to give them a phone that would be safe and wouldn’t cause them to become addicted to a screen.
Gabb Wireless recently launched their new Gabb Phone Plus. This Samsung phone is the perfect phone for teens and tweens. While most parents would agree kids shouldn’t have smartphones, an intermediate phone that gives limited apps as well as talk and text is a great training phone to prepare kids for a smartphone.
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Features of Gabb Phone Plus
Unlimited Talk and Text
What kid doesn’t want unlimited talk and text?
Apps
Gabb Phone Plus has capabilities for safe apps only. The apps fall into the following categories:
- Creativity
- Education
- Finance
- Games
- Music
- Organization
- Productivity
- Spirituality
- Team sports
- Maps
Gabb Wireless will be continually adding to the available apps. There is no app store on this phone, meaning kids cannot add apps themselves. Only a parent can add apps.
Music
Gabb just introduced Gabb Music Plus, which is available only on Gabb Phone Plus. This music streaming platform is similar to Spotify; kids can listen to music on demand. What makes this service amazing is that Gabb has directly licensed from major labels to have its own platform. There are no explicit lyrics or inappropriate contextual themes (violence, sex, drugs, etc). You won’t hear any bleeping or deleted words, just clean music you can feel completely comfortable with your child listening to.
When you use our code to buy a new Gabb Phone Plus, it comes with a 3-month free trial of Gabb Music Plus. After the trial period is over, Gabb Music Plus costs $9.99 per month.
Camera
The camera that comes with this Samsung phone for kids takes excellent photos, as you would expect. It also takes much more fluid videos than the regular Gabb Phone Z2 does. Your child will be thrilled with the quality of the camera on this kid safe phone.
Gabb Messenger
This feature allows users to send and receive group messages as well as photos. I really like that there is a filtration system on Gabb Messenger. It alerts parents to any messages containing talk of bullying or self-harm. And parents can always see messages and photos that have been sent or received. Kids cannot delete any messages or photos. While messages can be archived, they cannot be deleted by the child.
Split Screen
Kids love that this phone has split screen capability so they can look at multiple things at once.
GPS
Active GPS tracking makes it easy for parents to know where their child is. Gabb has just updated their GPS capabilities, so you can be sure you are getting the best tracking available.
Gabb Cloud
This is one of my favorite things Gabb has done. They have created their own cloud, which they have their own safety system which eliminates any app back doors or secondary links which could take a child from an app to a web browser or a pornography. This has been a big problem with some competitors, but Gabb is being proactive to make sure it’s not a problem for Gabb customers. I love the peace of mind this gives me as a parent, especially considering the experience we first had with a phone for our child.
The Gabb Cloud also backs up the phone. With 10 GB of storage capacity, it can hold photos, videos and contacts. To get the 10GB of storage you will pay an extra $0.99 per month.
Size
This phone is slightly larger than the Gabb Phone Z2, but it still fits in a jeans pocket. I like that it’s small enough for my child to carry around in a pocket because it means he’s less likely to lose it. He loves that it looks like the Samsung smartphones some of his friends have.
Accessories
You can purchase Gabb ear buds (Gabb Buds) and speakers (Gabb Speaker) separately. They are great quality and kids love using them to listen to Gabb Music Plus. Gabb Buds come in black or white, and the Gabb Speaker comes in three colors: white, gray, or blue.
Service
The Gabb Phone Plus runs only on the Gabb Wireless network. This network is available throughout the U.S. and runs off Verizon towers. The service is excellent. I live in a remote area that often has trouble with cell signals, but Gabb Wireless works perfectly where we are.
Price
The Gabb Phone Plus costs $199.99. Service plans start at $22.99 per month.
Conclusion
This is a great upgrade from the Gabb Phone. It’s a perfect transition phone for a teen or tween before they are ready for an actual smartphone. Parents can rest assured their child will be safe using this phone, as Gabb has taken all the right measures in creating a phone and music system that doesn’t allow inappropriate content.
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