It's a problem my parents never had to deal with, but as a parent of a pre-teen growing up in 2024, one has to carefully consider what device allows kids to stay safe and in touch with parents without allowing unbridled access to social media and all the distractions that ensue. Kids these days don’t want to be seen carrying a dumb ‘feature phone’ and would rather strap on a watch phone, like the imoo Watch Phone Z7 the kid and I have been testing over the past few weeks.
Out of its large, blocky box, the Z7 has a bit of a chunky but durable aesthetic to it, which at once inspires some degree of confidence for the watch surviving rough use while being used during playtime, but it may not be to everyone’s tastes. The IPX8 waterproof rating means it is safe for use at the pool as well. It straps on snugly with the highquality strap, but at 65 g, could be a slight bit heavy for younger wrists. Slip in the SIM, connect it to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network to pair the Z7 to the imoo app on the parent’s phone, and it’s ready to go.
Now, having used kids connected watch offerings from Noise previously, the imoo Z7 ticked off many of the expected functions — voice calls, text and audio chats, location monitoring (via GPS) with 14-day history, contact management and setting restrictions on who can call your child on the watch. The interface is easy to use and sans lags and hiccups that could potentially frustrate a digital-first progeny, and when used moderately, lasts a little over two full days on a single charge.
Where the imoo Z7 differentiates itself is via a nifty little design element — a swiveling case that lifts up from the frame, allowing the 2-megapixel front camera to directly face your kid during a video call over the imoo app. There’s even a 5-megapixel rear camera that the child can use to take photos or show you what they’re seeing when the watch case is lifted up. The photo quality is usable at best, but it allows the child to take decent photos in good light. When not in use, the case is locked in place and the lock is disengaged by pressing a large button on the top edge.
And while most kids watches inaccurately track step count at best, the Z7 has a bevy of sensors which can monitor heart rate, blood oxygen, body temperature and even mood, syncing data back to the app on the parent. Running and swimming modes track play/ workout time as well. It’s an impressive feature list on a kids watch, which inevitably would have an effect of driving up the price to a level where it would give prospective buyers pause. Viewed as a ‘first phone’ instead of a kids watch though, the imoo Z7 may start to make a lot more sense to parents wanting to stay connected to their kids when they’re out and about.
