Palm Phone Review

You’ve decided your kid is ready for a phone, but there’s no way a bulky iPhone will fit in their pocket—not to mention their hand. The credit-card-sized Palm phone solves that problem. It works with all of our favorite parental control apps for some extra safety precautions, but since it does connect to the internet, we recommend it for teens, not youngsters.

An unlocked Palm phone retails for around $235 on Amazon.

You can pay for the phone in 24- or 30-month installments by purchasing it through Verizon, but you’ll have to visit one of their retail locations to complete the purchase.

Unlocked phones work with Verizon and T-Mobile, but not with Sprint or AT&T.

The Palm Phone isn’t strictly for kids. It’s also marketed toward adults who want a smaller phone, so it has full smartphone functionality. Expect a high-definition display, two cameras, dual speakers, and facial recognition.

Unless you download a parental control app, your kid will have full access to the Google Play store and the internet. It’s a regular smartphone in a kid-sized package.

If that makes you hit the brakes, check out our favorite phones with zero internet access:

• Gabb Phone 
• Pinwheel Phone

• 8 x 1.99 x 0.29 inches
• 3 inch LCD display (1280 x 720 pixels)
• 12 MP back camera
• 8 MP selfie camera
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chip with 3GB RAM
• 8-core processor
• 32 GB storage
• microSD card compatible
• IP68 water resistance
• Android OS

Based on customer testimonials featured on the Palm site, we expected this phone to have integrated parental controls. As it turns out, Palm’s parental control setup process involves downloading Google Family Link. It’s a free app, so that’s a plus.

Google Family Link includes GPS tracking, screen-time management, and app management. It’s better than nothing, but with a bonafide smartphone like Palm, you’ll want a content filter and site blocker too.

Palm recommends Bark, which costs $99 per year. We’re also big fans of Bark and consider it the best parental control app on the market. It has all the features lacking in Google Family Link, including social media monitoring, web filtering, and email monitoring.

By giving your kid a smartphone like the Palm, you can gradually lift parental control restrictions as your kid gets older. Keep an open dialogue about what you’re doing and why so that your soon-to-be-adult knows how to stay safe on their own.

Because it’s a small phone, the Palm’s battery doesn’t last nearly as long as behemoths like the iPhone. But that might be a blessing for a kid’s phone—they’ll have to limit their phone time to preserve battery life.

For example, the 800 mAh battery lasts a little over three hours when talking on the phone and up to six hours when streaming music over Wi-Fi.

If your kid demands a lot of their phone by listening to music, using the GPS fitness tracker, and browsing the internet, they’re unlikely to get more than three hours out of it.

The Palm phone is a good smartphone for kids because it’s more affordable than its cumbersome competitors. Adults won’t appreciate its poor battery life or limited storage, but we consider this a perk for kids since it helps regulate their phone use.

Read our full review of the best phones for kids to explore other options.

For our Palm phone review, we read the Palm phone’s specifications and paid close attention to kid-friendly features, like durability and parental controls. We compared its offerings to other phones on the market. To learn more, visit the SafeWise methodology page.

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