Children’s smartwatches are particularly popular with a younger target group. They offer the opportunity for children to communicate with parents and grandparents and, thanks to GPS tracking, provide guardians with a sense of security when children are out and about on their own. With the myFirst Fone S3 and myFirst Fone R2, the manufacturer has two models on offer that we took a closer look at in our test.
myFirst Fone S3 and myFirst Fone R2 test: design and workmanship
The myFirst Fone S3 has been specially tailored to the needs of children aged 3 to 12 years. Visually, the smartwatch impresses with its slim, modern and functional design. The case is made of robust plastic, which has a certain drop resistance, which is particularly important in everyday life with children. The watch is equipped with a 1.4-inch square TFT IPS touchscreen, which is pleasantly bright and has a good resolution so that it can also be read by children.
The size is ideally chosen to be easy for children to use and to provide a good overview of functions and notifications. With a weight of 55g, the smartwatch is also not too heavy.
The strap is made of flexible silicone and is pleasantly elastic to fit both small and larger children’s wrists well without constricting or slipping. The material is also skin-friendly and easy to clean. The workmanship is fine, all connections and controls are neatly enclosed, the power button and speaker are easy to reach without being pressed accidentally.
The myFirst Fone R2, on the other hand, has a slim and light, round design with a thickness of just 13.6 mm and a weight of 48 grams, which is very comfortable for children’s hands. The case looks robust and child-friendly, the new elastic wristbands ensure a comfortable fit and are available in 13 different colors, including silicone and knitted variants.
The 1.3-inch AMOLED display offers a high resolution of 360 x 360 pixels with automatic brightness adjustment, allowing text and images to be displayed clearly and vividly both indoors and outdoors. The large side button serves a dual purpose: instant photo capture and long press SOS alert.
Features
Technically, the myFirst Fone S3 offers a versatile and comprehensive range of features that is very well positioned for a children’s smartwatch. At its heart is the built-in 4G/LTE mobile connection, which enables video and voice calls to be made independently via a SIM card without the need for a smartphone to be nearby. A SIM card including one month’s free use is already included in the scope of delivery and has already been inserted at the factory.
The integrated 2-megapixel front camera is intended for video calls and delivers decent image quality for this price range. This is of course particularly practical for kids to communicate with parents or family on the go.
Tracking is carried out via GPS, A-GPS and WLAN localization, which supports precise location determination even indoors. As with many other children’s smartwatches, a safety zone can be defined via the myFirst Circle companion app. If this is exceeded, the app issues a notification.
Parents can define the safety zones (geofences) in the accompanying app to receive notifications if they are exceeded – an important feature for monitoring and keeping children safe.
The FoneOS operating system was specially developed for children to enable clear and safe operation. The MyFirst Circle app allows parents to control not only contact management, but also class mode, which prevents distractions during school hours by restricting phone function and apps.
There are also practical health functions such as a pedometer or heart rate measurement. The latter in particular is a rarity in children’s smartwatches. To motivate the next generation, these metrics are integrated in a playful way and provide motivation with fitness badges and awards.
There is also a music player that can be used to play music internally. In the case of the Fone S3, around 8 GB of memory is available for this purpose.
The features of the myFirst Fone R2 are comprehensive and specially tailored to children. The smartwatch functions as a stand-alone cell phone with 4G eSIM, which makes carrying physical SIM cards unnecessary. The GPS tracking function with Smart Location Tracking provides location tracking and allows safe zones to be set up (geofencing) to give parents peace of mind.
Other features include video and voice calls, a camera, music player with up to 10 hours of playback time, heart rate monitoring and sports tracking. With the customizable Magic Button, functions such as camera or music playback can be accessed quickly.
Battery life and software
The battery of the myFirst Fone S3 has a capacity of 650 mAh, while that of the myFirst Fone R2 has 605 mAh. In practice, both smartwatches last up to 6 hours of pure talk time, which is sufficient for everyday use.
Standby times and normal everyday use with GPS tracking and occasional video calls are around one day, theoretically even up to 40 hours of standby time are possible. Charging takes place via a USB port with 5 volts and 1 ampere, which enables a full charge in approx. 2 to 3 hours.
The FoneOS software is an operating system specially adapted for children’s watches with intuitive menus and large, clear icons. The interface is child-friendly and reduces potential operating errors. Parental control is via the MyFirst Circle app, which allows extensive settings, from contact sharing to activity monitoring and emergency functions.
However, setting up the watch and app is a little complicated. It took me a few attempts to be able to connect the smartwatch in the app.
There is also a second app that needs to be installed: myFirstFone, which requires registration, which I was unable to complete during the test. Despite entering all the data, the button for registration did not work.
Practical test
In the everyday test, the myFirst Fone S3 impressed above all with its clear user guidance, child-friendly usability and the solid combination of communication and security features. Children quickly find their way around the menu navigation, can make video and voice calls independently and are eager to use the fitness functions. The option to only communicate with approved contacts gives parents a reassuring sense of security.
The GPS tracking works properly, geofences trigger notifications as desired, which in practice means valuable support for parents. The class mode completely switches off notifications and sounds during the adjustable school hours.
However, there are a few problems with the mobile phone connection for both models, i.e. the myFirst Fone S3 and R2. This is probably mainly due to the weak antennas, as the connection is often interrupted, especially in areas with poorer coverage.
I also noticed that neither the app for parents nor the operation on the smartwatches is really smooth and fast. The loading times to retrieve notifications or track the location in the app are sometimes very long – most competitors, such as the XPLORA X6 Play, which my son has been using for six months, manage this much better.
However, the myFirst Fone S3 and myFirst Fone R2 are a safe and technically modern alternative for families who do not yet want to give their children a real smartphone.
In the practical test, the myFirst Fone R2 impressed above all with its child-friendly and parent-oriented operation. However, the GPS accuracy of the Fone R2 and Fone S3 with Smart Location Tracking is rather average, with the exact position often differing from the real position by several meters.
Parents can set up safety zones and receive notifications when they leave these zones. The communication functions – voice calls, video calls and messaging – work smoothly and enable quick contact. The camera delivers decent snapshots, which are mainly used to show where the child is at the moment.
The noticeably more expensive R2 is of course far ahead from a technical point of view. Especially when it comes to the display and performance.
Pretty basic and non-functional
However, both models have few customization options:
Although I can configure Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or the network within the settings on the watches, it is not possible, for example, to set when the display switches off automatically (in my opinion, this happens far too quickly), nor what information is shown on the watch face. However, there are many colorful watch faces to choose from.
Both smartwatches are also weak when it comes to push notifications to parents’ smartphones. On the one hand, it takes a comparatively long time for the notifications to land on the smartphone after the smartwatches have sent a message.
On the other hand, the corresponding chat window on the smartphone does not open immediately in the event of an SOS alert, for example, and you have to navigate there manually. I do like the fact that the SOS alarm is indicated on the smartphone by a loud siren sound.
The two additional buttons on the R2 (the Magic Button at the top) and the SOS button on the right offer a good range of functions. If you press and hold the SOS button for five seconds, the smartwatch records a voice message lasting up to 30 seconds and takes a photo so that you can react quickly.
The Magic Button at the top offers three options: single click, double click or press and hold. To find out, however, I had to watch the manufacturer’s YouTube video – because the configuration is not described in the instructions.
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The German translations of the functions are also very poorly done. Or who knows what is behind functions such as “Make a…” or “Claim”? I certainly don’t.
So you have to try things out. Then it all works quite well with the myFirst Fone S3 and myFirst Fone R2, but the competition offers noticeably better, faster and more intuitive operation.
myFirst Fone S3 and R2 test: Conclusion
With the myFirst Fone S3 and R2, the manufacturer delivers quite decent children’s smartwatches that stand out from many competitors, especially thanks to the SIM card slot and eSIM functionality. The range of functions is okay and offers the most important features such as GPS tracking, camera, voice and video chat or text notifications.
Compared to many of its competitors, however, the GPS is rather inaccurate, while the mobile phone connection can sometimes break down, especially in rural areas. The battery life is also rather below average and only lasts for around a day with normal use.
There are also other problems such as the slow interface, few customization options and the myFirst Circle parent app, which is anything but intuitive to use. This places the myFirst Fone S3 and R2 in the mid-range of typical children’s smartwatches, all of which have their own problems. That’s fine if you can live with the limitations.
- Attractive design
- Good workmanship
- SIM / eSIM
- Good range of functions
- Disconnections
- GPS inaccurate
- Slow interface
- Unintuitive app
- Poor translations
- Poor battery life
myFirst Fone S3 and R2
Workmanship
Hardware
Features
Functions
Battery
Vaslue For Money
78/100
With the myFirst Fone S3 and R2, the manufacturer is launching two visually appealing children's smartwatches that offer a good range of functions but are weak in terms of accuracy and battery life.
