Xplora is one of the few companies that has managed to survive as far as smartwatches for kids are concerned. It has come up with the second-generation smartwatch for children, Xplora 3S.The Xplora 3S is completely water-resistant. It has a camera as well in addition to functionalities such as messaging, calls, and geo-location.It is compatible with both iOS and Android phones. You can read our verdict on Xplora 3S here to know more about it.

Design

The Xplora 3S looks like a typical smartwatch for kids. It is colourful and is made of rubbery material. Somewhat big, this smartwatch comes in gender stereotyping colours, blue and pink.The touchscreen is 1.33 inches. Considering the fact that it is for children, it is not really a premium watch and is crack free. It can be strapped tight on to childrens wrist but it can be removed by them. There is a slot for a SIM card as well as micro USB at the back of the watch dial. It is covered well with rubber so that Xplora remains totally waterproof.The camera with VGA resolution is definitely an attraction for children and it sits on the strap. Altogether, it can be said that it is designed well.

Calling

The Xplora app on parents phones allows them to set the schedule and times of the day or week for the watch to work for calls. Also, your child will be able to call or message only those numbers that you permit through the app.This facility is highly helpful for parents to get in touch with children. But it is highly likely that the novelty will ward off eventually.

App (for parents)

The Xplora app does a decent job, but in terms of GUI, it is just basic. The functionalities are just fine. More than one watch or phone can be added to the Xplora 3S. Calls, text messages, voice messages and even picture messages can be sent to the watch.As mentioned earlier, there is a School Schedule Mode with which the communication functionalities like calls, camera and messages can be disabled during school time.Once this mode is enabled, the watch will only tell you time and count your steps. But the live update on step count has access issues and to fix them, calendar days have to be switched sometimes. The new announcement for Xplora is that if the child achieves a specific step goal, the PS4-Aces of The Multiverse will be unlocked as a reward.This feature encourages children to be more physically active. Another helpful function available on the app is an alarm.It can be set to remind children to stick to their routine. The geo-location is another useful functionality found on the app. Its tracking ability along with the settings in the Safety Zone is quite helpful to keep a tab on the childs movement.

Child Tracking

The Xplora 3S uses GPS, GSM and Wi-Fi for location tracking, a smartwatch for kids would be better without trackers. The GPS is not really good indoors and can give patchy live tracking.Since these are worn by kids, the possibility of it getting lost or someone else taking it cannot be ignored. Therefore, kids smartwatches are highly unreliable as a tracker for safety. In addition to these concerns, the performance of location tracker is poor. The error in location measurement by the watch varies from 30m to 2km.The performance of geo-location may disappoint us, but Xplora is very clear from the beginning that 3S is your childs smartwatch and not a spying device.

Call quality and battery life

Xplora has been cautious enough not to put high performing and strong antennas in kids smartwatches. It has affected the quality of the call function. The calls are not really clear.This might be to save the battery life of the 520mAh battery as well. On basic use, life is five days. It can go on for 7 to 8 hours of non-stop calls. For a bit more than basic use, the battery stays only for two days on a single charge.

Cameras and costs

The watch needs a SIM card to access calls and messages, which will cost extra money. The Xplora 3S is only 2G and even though MMS can be sent at a high cost, something like WhatsApp would have been helpful. The Xplora 3S is enabled with Wi-Fi, which can, in fact, reduce the cost.But unfortunately, the app does not support this. The VGA camera does not offer high-quality pictures but it is sufficient enough for the tiny smartwatch screen. With 160MB storage, the watch can save up to a thousand pictures. These pictures can be used to customise the home screen as well. The device costs 18,000 INR with an additional cost of the SIM card from your choice of the service provider.For the parents who feel children are not ready for a smartphone but at the same time wish to track them, the Xplora 3S smartwatch is a good option. Also, this is a considerably cheaper option than buying a smartphone for the child. However, there is a lot of room for improvement.

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