Hands-On Review: Disney Mobile Phones

When Disney entered the cell phone market this year, not surprisingly the company did it with a theme: family.

Unlike other cell phone carriers, which offer services such as text messaging and GPS locator technology ala carte, Disney Mobile's plans are fairly all-inclusive. What also sets Disney's service apart from others are the parental controls, which are built into a Family Center feature. A parent can set monthly spending allowances for each child phone for specific uses—voice calls, text messaging, picture messaging, and downloading ring tones and games. Parents can even limit whom their children talk to and when they talk to them.

Much to my cell phone-less kids' delight, two Disney Mobile LG DM L-200 handsets arrived in the mail for review this week. Within minutes, they each knew their way around the flip-phone with the bright red cover. It is easy to figure out and definitely passes muster with my tweens and teen.

Parents can access the "Family Center" from the handset or on disneymobile.com, which is what I did. There, after entering an ID and a password, it's easy to block out certain times of the day for using the phone, and set allowances for voice minutes, text messages, picture messages, and a dollar limit on downloads. When my daughter tried to download a song, she got this message:  "Purchase not allowed. This item exceeds your allowance."

You can also prohibit specific phone numbers from being called and make sure others, like mom's and dad's, are always "on." 911 is never prohibited.

There's also a "Family Alert" feature with pre-written text messages, including the ever-popular "When should I pick you up?," Running late - be there soon," and, my favorite, "Can U get a ride?"

The GPS locator tool is cool, I have to admit. Service includes five locations a month, and 49 cents for each additional location. When my girls were a few blocks away running a lemonade stand with friends, I tried it and found them right where they were supposed to be, though the service warned it was accurate within 20 yards.

Still, I can't see using this feature a whole lot right now. At 13, 11, and 9, my kids are never too far and when they are, I know where they are. But I work from home, and I can see this feature bringing peace of mind to parents who are at work while their kids scatter to sports activities and after-school programs when the school bell rings.

Disney Mobile offers two kinds of phones with its two-year service packages—an LG DM L-200 and Pantech DM-P100. And you'll need to pay for them, though Disney offers deals at different times. Now, you can buy one Pantech phone for $60 and get a second free. The LG phone, which we are testing this week, is 25 percent off $110 through the end of September.

Individual service plans start at $39.99 a month for 400 daytime minutes. Two-line service starts at $59.99 a month for 450 daytime minutes up to $249.99 a month for 4,500 minutes. Nighttime and weekend minutes are free. Disney operates on the Sprint network, so you need to know if Sprint's coverage is good in your area.

For parents looking for a cell phone service that allows them to easily set limits and avoid surprise big bills, with phones that pass the cool test with kids, Disney Mobile is worth a look.