There are a great deal of wearables in the marketplace for teenagers, however sadly, a lot of the ones you will discover on Amazon are both glorified toys or offered by some shady reseller. One model that’s neither of these issues is Gabb.
I’ve had the prospect to evaluation just a few units from the corporate, and the newest, Gabb Watch 3, is an efficient improve over earlier fashions. It retains the nice, revises issues that may very well be higher, and provides some new options like voice typing and a full-fledged health monitoring app. After a few month of testing with my eight-year-old son, it is secure to say that Gabb has one other stable product.
Easy however not empty
From technology to technology, Gabb has stayed with a fairly constant design language for its kid-focused wearables. From the primary Gabb Watch to the brand new Gabb Watch 3, the design has developed from a small sq. gadget to a barely thicker and extra rectangular model. This 12 months, you may decide up the watch in both black on black or black on silver, with a coordinating rubbery 20mm watch band.
In any other case, the two-button setup stays on the fitting facet of the look ahead to going again residence or again within the UI and one for turning off the show. As for the show, it is a 1.41-inch, full-color touchscreen panel coated by sturdy Gorilla Glass 3. Serving to out with the sturdiness is a water and dirt resistance score of IP68, which my son did his finest to check. I’m glad to say the watch survived.
The Gabb Watch 3 shouldn’t be a flashy-looking gadget, however it’s practical and simple for teenagers to make use of.
Within the watch is a 500mAh battery that, in testing, has lasted a full day of use. It isn’t 24 hours, however an excellent 12-14 hours, relying on the place we’re and the mobile protection. Extra on the mobile service a bit later. One thing that I used to be very shocked to see within the field when setting the watch up was a wi-fi charger and never the POGO pin model that each Gabb and practically each different high children smartwatch has been utilizing. This can be a true wi-fi charger such as you’d discover for the high-end Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. completely different tech as a result of I examined it on my watch, however similar thought.
I do know this may increasingly not appear to be an enormous deal to some, however when you’re a father or mother or an grownup who spends time taking part in outside, these contact factors on the bottom of the watch can get fairly gross and have to be cleaned to ensure that the charger really to cost the watch. By getting rid of that charging methodology, the Gabb Watch 3 has no points charging — irrespective of how laborious your child performs.
Transferring onto the watch’s interface and what children will really work together with, it’s a easy method that solely wants just a few swipes and faucets on giant icons to get what your little one wants achieved. My son had no bother discerning what every icon was for in order that he may rapidly ship a message, verify in along with his location, or see what number of steps he had taken.
One thing new to the Gabb Watch 3 that was lacking from earlier fashions is a full keyboard. Truly, there are two keyboards, T9 and a grid of letters, after which the addition to associate with these choices, and the voice message is voice-to-text. Allow to make use of this, you will need to arrange a Gabb ID in your little one that’s tied to your account. As soon as achieved, your little one can faucet on the microphone within the message app, communicate the message, faucet the mic once more, after which faucet ship. I used to be very impressed with the velocity, accuracy, and auto-punctuation of the function.
Whereas I am glad there’s a keyboard to kind customized messages with, the voice-to-text function is unbelievable.
Along with customized messages with the keyboard(s) or voice-to-text, there are additionally preset messages that your little one can merely faucet to ship. These choices may be modified or added too by way of the parental companion app.
It is on this companion app that you just, the father or mother, can set as much as 100 contacts in your kid’s watch. In the event you do not add the contact to the watch by way of the myGabb app, your little one cannot contact the individual, and vice versa. The myGabb app can be the place you may create reminders in your little one, set quiet occasions when the watch is silent and apps are disabled, monitor your kid’s location, and extra.Â
Protected Zones is one in all my favourite options as a result of it means that you can create a geofence round a spot or college, for instance, and when your little one enters or leaves that zone, you will be notified. That is additionally useful for occasions when your little one is at a buddy’s home or strolling residence from college. As a result of you may set a number of zones, you may make one for your home, too.
Comparatively minor complaints
One thing that had been lacking in earlier Gabb watches was Wi-Fi, so that could be a function that I am very glad to see within the Gabb Watch 3. Although it is a cellular-connected gadget, when you occur to be in an space like mine that has poor mobile protection, Wi-Fi might help out fairly a bit. Except for enabling higher messaging capabilities, it additionally helps lengthen battery life because the watch will not be straining a lot to remain linked.
Sadly, the watch solely works on the Gabb Wi-fi community, which is a Verizon Wi-fi MVNO. For a lot of, this may not be a problem, however when you do not reside the place Verizon has good protection, that can restrict the watch’s utilization and battery life. This isn’t a brand new factor for the Gabb Watch 3, and in lots of cases, it really works high-quality, however it’s value being conscious of.
The opposite small factor that is not nice is the general battery life. Whereas a traditional day of use must be no drawback. If that day occurs to be an extended one which has extra messaging or location pings, that battery won’t make it. Then, as straightforward as it’s, children can nonetheless neglect to cost the watch. For this reason all units, particularly ones made for kids, have to have at the least a full 24 hours of use between fees with regular utilization. Dad and mom have to know that in most conditions, ought to a baby neglect to cost up their Gabb Watch 3, it should nonetheless be obtainable the following day.
Must you purchase the Gabb Watch 3?
Getting a linked gadget for a kid generally is a very troublesome activity. Between there not being many dependable choices and security considerations, so much goes into making a selection. Gabb has been a pacesetter in children’ tech for a few years now. From the Gabb Watch 3 to providing a few of the finest telephones for teenagers, Gabb is aware of what it is doing.
Whereas the Gabb Watch 3 does not supply as many bells and whistles because the TickTalk 4, it’s aimed toward a youthful viewers. Positive, there are occasions when a video name may be useful, but it surely’s yet another factor for teenagers to mess with and get distracted. Talking of that, there are some small video games, like caring for a digital pet, and fitness-focused video games, the Gabb Watch 3 is a good way for teenagers and oldsters to remain linked and have peace of thoughts.
Battery life may very well be higher, and extra flexibility in what mobile provider for the gadget could be nice, however these are fairly minor points. Location monitoring, geofencing, a number of communication strategies, scheduled quiet time, and extra all add as much as a high quality and secure expertise for all concerned.
Splendidly easy
Whereas it could lack the bells and whistles of another choices, the Gabb Watch 3 is a unbelievable selection for folks of youthful children. Older children could take pleasure in it as properly, however the lack of apps and a digicam could also be a bummer for them. However for youthful children, it’s a nice mixture of enjoyable and performance. Dad and mom can preserve tabs on children, and the youngsters can really feel extra unbiased.
