![]() ![]() The Gadgets icon, for example, includes a compass, a stopwatch, and a timer, while the Activity icon features a jumping game and a step counter. Swiping in the other direction takes you to a series of tappable icons. The LG GizmoGadget boasts plenty of games and activities, as well as basic text messaging. ![]() The GizmoGadget’s touch-and-swipe interface is easy to navigate, particularly for digital natives like my kindergartner.īesides the main watch face, you can swipe in one direction for “Fun Sounds,” a feature that plays fun clips like zippy space noises, walkie-talkie lingo, or underwater effects, depending on the setting. Last but not least, your kid can also quickly send her location by swiping up on the screen and tapping a confirmation prompt. The GizmoGadget also comes with some basic text-messaging features, including the ability to send stickies, brief voice messages, and short pre-written messages (everything from “I’m home” and “I love you” to “Where are you?” and “When are you picking me up?”) to designated “caregivers” on her contact list. ![]() If you’re concerned about your child calling strangers, don’t worry: The GizmoGadget’s call functions work only for the contacts you’ve programmed into the watch. My eager six-year-old, delighted that she could call me whenever and wherever she wanted, figured out the process within a split second. Making calls from the GizmoGadget is a simple matter of pressing the Call button and then tapping the name of a contact. If you like, you can also flag a contact as a “caregiver,” which lets them locate and send messages to your child via GizmoHub. You can create up to 10 contacts on the GizmoGadget, including yourself, using the GizmoHub mobile app. If you tried tracking the GizmoGadget’s every move, its watch-sized battery wouldn’t last past lunchtime. Presumably, the restrictions on Place Alerts and Location Checks are to preserve battery life. As with Place Alerts, you can set up only so many Location Checks at a time, although you get up to ten Location Checks versus only five Place Alerts. For example, you could set up a Location Check that pings your kid’s GizmoGadget every weekday at noon, or each Tuesday at 2 in the afternoon. ![]() In addition to Place Alerts, the GizmoGadget also offers Location Checks, which automatically fetch the watch’s location at predetermined times. You can check the location of the LG GizmoGadget manually by tapping the Find button, or you can create up to five Place Alerts or ten Location Checks. The only way to track your child’s comings and goings at school continuously would be to program a series of two-hour Place Alerts that cover the entire school day. Place Alerts trigger notifications when your GizmoGadget-wearing child arrives at or departs a designated location, such as “School” or “Home.” They have a couple of annoying limitations: You can set up only five Place Alerts at a time, and each Place Alert can be active for only two hours at a time. Getting started with the GizmoGadget is a relatively simply process (and, incidentally, identical to the setup process of the cheaper GizmoPal 2). If you’d prefer a GPS tracking watch that looked more like a toy, consider the cheaper LG GizmoPal 2, also available through Verizon. Then again, if you’re going to strap a $150 gadget on your kindergartner’s wrist, some unwanted attention comes with the territory. All the envious looks at my kid’s watch made me a bit nervous. It should also be said that the GizmoGadget’s bulky, somewhat striking look draws a certain amount of attention from nearby kids and adults alike, with a surprising number of people asking me if my daughter was wearing an Apple Watch. Strapping the GizmoGadget over the cuff of a long-sleeved shirt certainly helped, and older kids with larger wrists might have an easier time finding a good fit. Keeping the GizmoGadget on a young wrist can be a bit of an issue, with my six-year-old complaining that the watchband started to hurt within a half-day of use. The LG GizmoGadget is a bit bulky for smaller wrists. A micro-USB charging port sits on the back of the watch, covered by a protective flap. The waterproof, slightly rubbery body of the watch feels light but reassuringly tough, meaning it should survive roughhousing on the playground or even a splash from the water fountain. While the face of the GizmoGadget measures about two inches diagonally, the actual 1.3-inch touch display looks considerably smaller, with Call and End buttons sitting below the touchscreen. ![]()
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