Cellphones for Little Hands

See Dick.

See Jane.

See Dick and Jane on their cellphones.

The elementary school set is the latest target of cellphone companies. So far, two models are on the market: Firefly from Firefly Mobile Inc. and TicTalk from Enfora.

They look like toys but are real cellphones with adult price tags. Each costs $99, and the call rate -- for incoming and outgoing calls -- is 25 cents a minute.

A grade-school student could rack up a huge bill at that rate. To ward off bankruptcy, parents retain a large measure of control over the phones. Neither the Firefly nor TicTalk has a number pad. They are designed to let parents program into them the only phone numbers that can be called.

The child can’t get to the program mode (until some 7-year-old hacker figures it out) without a password or personal identification number. To make a call, Dick or Jane uses buttons on the phone to choose one of the pre-selected numbers.

Firefly spokesman Danny Kraus characterized the cellphone as not geared toward chit-chat about Yu-Gi-Oh.

“It’s a tool to keep families connected,” Kraus said.

Firefly and TicTalk are meant to reassure parents who want to make sure their kids can call them if they miss their rides or are caught in some other unexpected circumstance.

And parents want to know that they can always -- or at least nearly always -- keep an electronic leash on their kids.

But it’s questionable whether a cellphone is practical for children that young.

Firefly and TicTalk are small enough to fit into children’s hands and thus are easy to lose. But at that age, I probably could have misplaced an anchor handcuffed to my wrist. Also, these phones are not waterproof. Unless kids have gotten a lot more responsible since I was in grade school, I would guess that the chance of loss or damage is considerable.

But neither of the cellphone manufacturers offers reduced-price replacement plans or insurance.

If you decide to get one of the phones, your child probably would favor the look of the Firefly, even though the TicTalk offers more features and flexibility.

The Firefly, with its capsule shape and blue translucent case, would be a cool addition to the outside of a book bag (it comes with a clip for attachment to a metal ring).

When a call is made or received, a series of internal lights go off in sequence on the phone, suggesting a firefly in flight.

The Firefly also has two oversize buttons -- one marked with a stick figure of a man and the other of a woman, like the ones on bathroom doors. These are for one-touch calls to Dad or Mom.

Another button, marked with a phone-book icon, puts a list of other permitted calls on Firefly’s minuscule screen that is beyond the focus point of middle-aged eyes.

Even if you can see the tiny type on the screen, programming the phone would be a nightmare.

Firefly’s manual, which gives confusing, out-of-sequence instructions, takes you through an arduous set of tasks that uses the phone’s buttons to pick out numbers and letters for each entry, one number or letter at a time.

It’s slow going. Inputting just one entry in the phone book -- my first name and cellphone number -- required 115 button pushes.

The TicTalk is not as snazzy looking, but it’s a better choice for the money. The TicTalk is the closest gadget to parenting by phone.

Phone numbers are entered at the TicTalk website, using the convenience of a full keyboard.

Numbers can be placed in two categories. The Anytime category, for parents and other important numbers, are for selections that can be called any time of day. The Reward category is for other numbers that can be called only at set times.

From the site, you can send text messages to the phone, giving the child as many as four possible answers to send back.

Example: Have you finished your homework? A: Yes. B: No. Or if you give them the choice, C: Dog ate it again.

The TicTalk includes several educational games produced in conjunction with LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., which makes a popular line of learning products for children.

The games range in difficulty, with the tougher ones far from pablum. In “Fact Attack,” players advance by answering such questions as: How tall is the tallest ocean wave ever measured?

(The answer is 112 feet, and luckily it was multiple choice so I got it on the second try.)

Using the controls on the website, parents can set the times of day when the games can’t be played, such as during school hours.

The phone also has PDA functions. You can set a reminder for a child by typing an event on the website (piano lesson) and setting a time for the phone to let the kid know.

This is probably a good thing, but do we really want our kids to be appointment-driven? There’s plenty of time for that later.

Soon there could be Baby BlackBerrys and Willy Wonka Wi-Fi setups.

But in the meantime, does this entree into the grade-school crowd mark the end of new markets for cellphones in this country?

Maybe not. There is still one more character in our story.

See Spot.

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David Colker can be reached by e-mail at technopolis@latimes.com. Previous columns can be found at latimes.com/technopolis.