The Firefly glowPhone is to be released in the UK by the end of the year. The child friendly handset which has become a big hit in Ireland (7,000 units sold) aims to tap in to the ever increasing children’s mobile phone market – over half of all under 10s in the UK own a mobile phone.

The phone has a fairly basic setup – perfect for younger children. It has just five buttons and two of these are dedicated for mum and dad. There is a 1.5-inch colour screen with 128×128 resolution that kids will be able to customise with their own wallpapers. Other features include built in games, customisable ringtones and a flashlight.

The phone has capacity to store up to 50 contacts although everything is pin protected so as parents can control all in and outgoing calls. Blocking texts is also a function on some models.

Not surprisingly there is some criticism for the phone. Not surprisingly a lot of this criticism is via The Daily Mail.

I think the phone is a great idea. It comes as SIM-free so parents can stick a PAYG SIM in it, put £5 credit on and restrict the calls to only allow ones to/from themselves and selected others. It’s just another expensive toy for kids to play with. I know my youngest nephew would love one.

The glowPhone will cost around £85 and should be available from Firefly direct.

(via ITProPortal)