XPLORAXGO 3 - Watch Phone for Children (4G) - Calls, Messages, Kids School Mode, SOS Function, GPS Location, Camera and Pedometer – (Subscription Required) (Blue)

My original comment I will leave below, but I'd like to update that after posting my comment on our experience will the xplora Go 3 watch, the company contacted me within 24 hours to resolve the issue. They offered my daughter the latest model (xplora go 6) free of charge, as well as 3 months free subscription & 3 months of the subscription refunded for the issues we dealt with with the watch we originally purchased. They were kind, committed to fixing the issue & prompt. We reviewed both the new watch and a new SIM card within a week of each other and the company was even able to let me daughter keep her old number for the watch. They got it set up and working almost immediately after we received the SIM card and we are already very happy with how the new watch works. Doest drop calls, connects to the wifi, magnetic charger, etc. Thank you for being committed to customer satisfaction and allowing us another opportunity to give XPLORA a chance!I wanted to give the product a few months before deciding how we liked it. My kid has had the watch for 4 months now. For GPS tracking, it does pretty well. For calls, it's terrible. Cuts out quite a bit during a call and the call feature works when it wants to. Most days, it won't let me call the watch, just immediately drops the call after you hit the CALL button. Also does not let my kid make outgoing calls all the time. It works when it wants to. When making updates on the app to the watch or changing watch settings on the app, it takes DAYS for the watch to register the changes you've made. Will definitely be looking into a different product.

Quick background: we're a very tech-savvy household; my husband is a software programmer and developer, and we use multiple Android and iOS devices.Quick synopsis: after experiencing hardware malfunctions that are still not resolved after 5 days of back and forth, and then negligent actions on behalf of Xplora, we are starting the return process. Bottom line: IT'S UNACCEPTABLE THAT A COMPANY IN THE BUSINESS OF SELLING COMMUNICATION DEVICES WOULD NOT HAVE ANY DIRECT PHONE SUPPORT OR 24/7 SUPPORT, AND 24HR DELAYS IN RESPONSE TIME. I'll keep the pros/ cons up front, followed by additional details regarding the problems that have led to us throwing in the towel; it's too stressful to keep supporting and dealing with a company that has terrible customer support for a device that is continuing to experience problems. Glad we purchased this on Amazon and signed up for the monthly Connect plan (without a contract) to test this out, after seeing other reviews mention difficulties with the watch, customer service, and getting refunded when things went south. Amazon processed the return quickly (I was also able to return and get refunded for the insurance plan), and it was also easy to cancythe Connect plan; I was just barely within the 30 day window, so the only silver lining here is that we experienced so many issues and such a terrible support experience from the beginning that we were able to quickly determine this wasn't the right fit for us.PROS:- Sleek design with smooth edges and not too chunky; a good fit for 10yo and easy to keep clean- Crystal clear voice calling- Parent-managed contacts only- Can call directly from my phone/ contact list- School Mode = clock only (all other features are disabled except the SOS calling). You can also set up multiple "school modes" which is helpful in limiting "after hours" use of the watch.- SOS call goes straight to me (the primary contact), instead of 911 which I prefer at this age.- Optional Asurion protection plan to cover damage + theft- Camera (I don't particularly care about the image quality, but I like that there's the option for my child to take and text photos)- Backed by Amazon's return policy- Good battery life (we haven't drained it yet, averaging 7-10K steps/ day, but haven't used it a lot for calls yet)- Uses T-Mobile network (could also be a con if you're in a bad service area or do a lot of traveling)CONS:- Ongoing hardware malfunctions (see below details)- Customer/ tech support is only available by email on business days (UTC+1), and takes at least 24hrs to respond to US customers.- Can only text via the Xplora app- Watch can only text photos or Xplora-programmed messages/ emojis (though watch can also send a voice message text for anything specific)AMBIVALENT:- Must remove any dashes or parentheses from contact phone numbers after copying into the app (you won't find these details anywhere else; it took 1wk for customer support to identify this simple problem which they should have seen from the beginning)- Unclear if you can keep/ transfer the phone number to a phone when the time comes- The app notifies you of any calls to/ from the watch; this is annoying in the sense that even when I call or the child calls me, I get a notification from the app, and since all the contacts are managed by me anyway and I can't disable this notification, it's slightly annoying. I can imagine it would quickly become a con if my child was doing a lot more communicating from the watch than currently.Unresolved hardware issues: malfunctioning GPS (pinging locations several miles away from our child's actual location while on the bus), freezing in school mode, unable to restart or power off, and network + internal server errors. Xplora offered to factory reset the watch and asked when would be a good time, indicating I should be with the watch since I would have to re-pair it with the app. I responded on a Monday asking them to reset the watch after 12:30pm UTC+1; they took 48hrs to respond and then said "We unfortunately are operating at UTC plus one therefore it is very hard to match the right time unfortunately." Not sure why it's hard to match UTC+1 time with UTC+1, but this illustrates the level of customer support you're dealing with. So I followed up asking them to perform the reset between the hours of 8am-12:30pm (UTC+1), and instead they reset the watch immediately (at 4:01pm UTC+1). This is on day 5 of back and forth about this, so now my child is at school and I'm unable to access the watch at all or put it back in school mode, and is really unacceptable.Decided to go with the Verizon Gizmo after returning this; the size and look is similar, though the Gizmo has more in-watch features, and you can set up your own activities and rewards instead of in-app-only Xplora coins. Plus, Verizon's support/ customer service is a dream compared to Xplora's.

Update: The company sent me a new watch with a SIM that they promised would work. Indeed, it did work! I really like this watch for my 7 year old son. The GPS seems to be accurate, it has an alarm that he uses every morning to wakeup with, I put it on school mode, and he's able to receive texts from me through the app, and phone calls from anyone I put on the contacts list. The only thing I have not tried out yet is adding the app to my husbands' phone so he can also text. Assuming that will work but we'll see. Otherwise, great connection, you can hear the person on the call easily without having to hold the watch up to his face (some other watches we tried had that issue). Overall, great watch once you get one with the SIM working properly!Could never get the watch to work properly. Set it up and couldn't make calls. Did a few adjustments and restarts and it made a call and seemed to work for about a day and then started giving a "No SIM" error. Worked with customer service back and forth for 10 days (they only have email so it would take a day before I would hear from them and be able to try what they suggest to fix it) and finally got it working again. It worked for 1 day and then started giving a different error and wouldn't make calls again. I gave up and returned.

I really was surprised by how well the call qualities are. The GPS works on and off and when my kids isnl not in school, it keeps saying phone is out of area and I can track him. The 2 times he went on fields trips GPS did not work. My kid doesn't like he can't text or send msgs to friends and complains there are no games and apps to play. For a 10yo I didn't think this was the best options and very limited features for the price although for quality call was great if that is all you are wanting

Update: customer service was able to resolve the issue and is giving us 6mo of free service for the trouble. Now that we're up and running, the watch is working great. Very good call clarity.I don't have much to say about how the watch itself works because I can't get the app to work correctly. I've been messaging back and forth with customer service and their responses are always nonsensical. Most recent response was in German. I'll update this if I get it up and running, but so far this has been a terrible experience and I would not recommend it.