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Yip Yap Debuts Pipsqueak 'Phone' for Young Kids

Oct 23, 2012, 10:52 AM by Eric M. Zeman

Yip Yap recently announced the Pipsqueak, a Bluetooth accessory for young children that lets kids have their own "phone" — even though it isn't really a phone. The Pipsqueak is a kid-friendly device shaped like a flip phone that is durable, colorful, and customizable with interchangeable covers. It uses Bluetooth to pair with any regular cell phone and can then be used to make/receive phone calls through the real cell phone. The product is being pitched as a safer way to let kids make phone calls without putting the parents' expensive devices at risk, as well as to reduce the amount of radiation to which the kids are exposed (Bluetooth radiation is less powerful than cell phone radiation). According to Yip Yap, it is developing iOS and Android apps that will allow parents to control what numbers can/cannot be passed through to the Pipsqueak. In addition to the phone call functionality, Pipsqueak is a media player, has a voice recorder, can be used as a soundboard, and also serves as a "wander alert" of sorts (the mobile app alerts the host device when the Bluetooth connection is lost). Yip Yap has lined up manufacturing facilities to produce the first run of Pipqueaks, but the company is looking for more funding through KickStarter. Pricing and availability have not been announced.

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Comments

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Magnagarde

Oct 24, 2012, 2:22 PM

Neat

But radiation?

Pffhaha.

Michael at Yip Yap

Oct 24, 2012, 11:11 AM

PIPSQUEAK Needs Your Support! - From the Creators

Hi PhoneScoop-ers! 🙂

On behalf of the Yip Yap team we want to say thank you for learning about Pipsqueak. We've worked for nearly two years to take Pipsqueak from an idea Angela dreamed up to a real product that people (including us) can benefit from.

Because production minimums are high and there are upfront tooling and development costs we've posted a campaign on Kickstarter to fund our first production run of the 2,000 unit minimum order.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

If we don't hit our minimum goal on Kickstarter ($188k) then nobody pays anything and Pipsqueak remains in prototype status a bit longer. But the minute we do hit our goal our factory in San Antonio, TX is ready to go.

PLEASE back Pipsqueak on Kickstarter, every ...
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Jarahawk

Oct 23, 2012, 11:56 AM

Waste of Technology

What happened to the bluetooth keyboards we were promised? LG? The problem with touchscreen keyboards and the reason I will be back with Research in Motion as soon as they get an LTE Berry with full Qwerty with Verizon is that it is impossible to text with these phones.

Zpike

I do agree with you that a physical keyboard is better and am still looking for a phone that includes one and doesn't compromise anything else (except maybe size... i'm not nearly as hung up on that as some of the phonescoop writers are). But until su...
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Jayshmay

I feel the same way. Touchscreen keyboards are tough to type on! I'm always, always making errors,having to go back and make correct mistakes.

Personally,I'm waiting for the Stratosphere 2!

Zpike

Oct 23, 2012, 12:38 PM

Interesting

Unlike others that have posted here, my initial thoughts are that this is a well thought out idea. You may not have a use for it yourself, but I think the yip yap at least in theory does a good job of meeting the needs of its target audience. As someone who has both been a technophile for over 20 years and currently has small children, I am always looking for safe ways to introduce my kids to current technology. I want them to be ahead as they grow up, but not at the expense of their physical, mental, or spiritual health. I'm not saying I'd buy this device- that would take a lot more research. But it is certainly intriguing.

Michael at Yip Yap

Hi Zpike!

Thank you for the encouragement, it means a lot to us to have the idea be received well, after nearly two years of development and keeping it a secret!

We just handed the newest prototype with newly improved buttons to our 5-year old...
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johnhr2

Oct 23, 2012, 10:17 PM

A step toward the future

Where ppl will carry a tablet for web browsing and a few text replays but then we will have a Bluetooth phone that will be sync to the tablet to receive all texts and calls.

Jarahawk

If I were carrying a Galaxy Note around I sure wouldn't want to hold that book to my head. Let's hope it happens sooner rather than later...

tzsm98

Oct 23, 2012, 11:09 AM

Is this good for children?

I totally understand the desire of adults to protect their devices from the ravages of little kids. I do not understand providing a cell phone analog to a kid not old enough to handle the real thing.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is no different from the Fisher-Price work bench with plastic tools. Maybe this is no worse than a pedal car, but I suspect it is.

We all know that as adults these children will be using mobile devices and being fluent with them is going to be a key characteristic of successful people. Just as we do not allow the very young to drive their pedal cars in the street because they are unaware of the dangers or unable to compensate for them I have to wonder if we really need to be exposing the younger kids to this.

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Tofuchong

We really don't need to be exposing younger kids to this, but there are lazy parents out there that will look at this as sort of a "wireless leash". You see parents out there with the actual leash on their kids wrists, I've seen it many, many times. ...
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Michael at Yip Yap

Hello tzsm98,

Thank you for commenting and helping to move this dicussion about a new way of thinking forward.

As one of the parents in the household where this idea was born I'm curious whether or not you have young kids in your home currentl...
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