Mobile Watch for Children

Review: Xplora X6 Pro - Smart Watch for Kids with Camera and Video Calls

Norwegian Xplora has found a niche with its mobile watches for children, but the real improvement with Xplora X6 Pro is yet to come.

Published 11 February 2025 - 16:18

The watches from the Norwegian company Xplora target a narrow but interesting niche: Children who are old enough to, for example, go to and from school by themselves, but not so old that you are willing to entrust them with a smartphone worth many thousands of kronor. Xplora's watches are therefore simpler mobiles, but in a wristband format so that a child does not risk losing or forgetting it.

Xplora X6 Pro is the latest and most expensive model. The base price for the watch itself is 2790 kronor, but you buy it with a pre-activated subscription. Xplora X6 Pro is the first of the company's watches with esim, but it probably matters more for Xplora themselves than for the user who still buys a pre-activated subscription. The subscription costs 109 kronor per month, or 139 kronor for a premium subscription, which we will return to.

Data allowance is nothing you need to worry about with this watch. You can use it as much as you want within the EU/EEA, and it's certainly difficult to use up any large amounts of data anyway.

The watch is very limited in its functions. This is entirely reasonable since this is a product with a clear purpose to facilitate contact between a child and their parents while ensuring the watch is not a distraction for the child. Mainly, you can make calls to and from the watch, see the watch's location, and the watch can count steps. No music, no video, no browsing. Even the existing functions are limited compared to a regular mobile phone.

The parents (and perhaps other relatives) have an app on their mobile, where they add contacts. The contacts are the only ones you can call with the watch, but anyone who has the watch's number can call it.

Speakerphone

Calls are made via the watch's microphone and speaker, and even with the volume turned up to max, both I and the person I'm speaking with find the sound a bit quiet. If it's a noisy environment, like a schoolyard, you practically have to hold the watch to your ear and mouth to talk, which is uncomfortable and impractical. You can actually connect a Bluetooth headset to the watch, but it seems to defeat the purpose of reducing distractions, and when I try, the sound over Bluetooth isn't particularly good anyway.

Messages are sent by the parent or relative from Xplora's app, and that's also where messages from the child appear. The child can only send messages to and receive messages from contacts that have been added. To the watch, you can naturally write any message you want, but if the child sends a message from the watch, there's no keyboard, so the child can choose from a number of pre-written messages, send emojis, or record a sound or take a picture with the front-facing camera and send it. The pre-set messages are reasonable for the intended use, but I still think you should be able to edit the available messages in the parent's app.

The watch's GPS is mainly used so that the parent can see where the child is located. You can also add so-called safety zones, for example at home and around the school, and receive an alert if the child leaves the zones.

There is a 5-megapixel camera in the watch. It is located next to the screen, making it difficult to take anything other than selfies, but it is of course also entirely reasonable that the camera is focused on communication and does not become too much of a toy. The most important new feature that the Xplora X6 Pro is supposed to contribute compared to the company's other watches is video calls, which of course can be a useful feature, but it is not yet activated and is promised as an upcoming feature in 2025.

Play with steps

The pedometer is simple in the watch. It simply shows the number of steps you have taken during the day. In the parent's mobile app, however, it is linked to a gamification element that is supposed to encourage children to move more. The steps earn points that can be used to unlock arcade games and to bid on items in an online auction. If you have a premium subscription, the child can also participate in various challenges to earn extra points. I think this game element in Xplora's system is not particularly well explained, and it makes it a bit difficult to assess whether the premium subscription is worth the money or not.

Other functions are few and simple. The watch shows the time (but the screen does not automatically light up when you lift the watch, you have to press the button), you can get a weather forecast, it has a simpler calculator, and a calendar that only shows which date different weekdays fall on.

It is wise of Xplora not to try to add functions that easily become the focus of children's play, but at the same time, it is a bit of a problem for Xplora's sales department. Why should you choose Xplora X6 Pro when the cheaper XGo 3 costs 900 kronor less and has essentially the same functions?

Xplora X6 Pro has a faster processor which gives a bit more smoothness in the system, but there are otherwise no functions that directly require performance or quick response. The screen is of the OLED type which provides clearer colors and slightly better brightness, but it is still a bit difficult to read in direct sunlight and there is not much in the watch that requires a good screen. The screen is, by the way, round in an otherwise square watch. A design choice that, well, I don't know, perhaps adds a bit of character?

The design of the watch is relatively sleek while still feeling robust, and the dimensions are comparable to the other models. It comes with both a rubber strap and an elastic strap, and you can change the strap loops in different colors. For that matter, you can use regular watch straps with the right measurements.

The battery life is also roughly the same as in other watches, Xplora states it as 72 hours of standby time. In practice, you get about 2 days with normal use. Since there is no reason to wear this watch while sleeping, the battery life feels completely sufficient. You can charge it overnight, and it can handle being forgotten now and then. However, it would have been nice if it used a regular USB-C charger instead of a special charging pad.

That Xplora has found its niche so well that they have difficulty creating a premium model cannot be seen as criticism. Xplora X6 Pro also has more modern technology under the hood, which means it has the potential to last longer. Admittedly, it is a type of product you need for a shorter period in life, but it doesn't hurt if the watch can be passed down to younger siblings.