There is a moment like this for almost every parent when you simply realize that the big question can no longer be postponed: When do you buy your child their first smartphone.
For us, it came after countless requests, social pressure from the class, school WhatsApp groups, and the feeling that it is no longer truly possible to remain without a device. On the other hand, like many other parents, I was also afraid. Not of the device itself, but of everything that comes with it: Endless scrolling through silly TikTok videos, endless YouTube, hours upon hours of games, messages in the middle of the night, and additional content that a 10–year–old girl is not necessarily supposed to see or know.
Therefore, when the opportunity came to me to test Samsung's new Galaxy, the A26, in its children's version, I was curious. Not because it is a groundbreaking device, but because of the big promise: A smartphone for children that grants parents almost full control and supervision.
After several weeks at home with my daughter and the new device, I returned with quite a few insights. Some of them are very positive, others a bit less so.
First of all: It is simply a good phone
Even before the supervision tools, it is important to understand what you get here in terms of hardware. The Galaxy A26 is actually a standard mid–range device from Samsung, definitely not a toy phone for children.
It arrives with an impressive 6.7–inch AMOLED screen and a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling very smooth and pleasant. It has a 50–megapixel main camera with an image stabilizer, a relatively good selfie camera, a large battery, and water and dust resistance under the IP67 standard.
In practice, my daughter was thrilled with it from the first moment. The screen is large and colorful, YouTube looks excellent, the photos came out very well relative to the price, and the battery truly lasts a whole day without pressure.
In terms of performance as well, we did not encounter any glitches or particular slowness. It is not a luxury gaming device, but for children and teenagers, it is more than enough.
But the real story is actually the parents
The magic of the children's version begins the moment you set up the device.
Samsung and the importer, Suny, build the entire experience here around the Google Family Link supervision tools along with the Samsung Kids system. In practice, this means that the daughter's phone is completely connected to the parent's phone.
And here comes the part that truly surprised me.
I could see how much time she spends in each application, approve or block new downloads, set an automatic shutdown time at night, limit YouTube usage, and even remotely lock the device with the press of a button.
One of the most useful things was the option to set a daily time limit for each application separately. Thus, for example, TikTok was limited for us to 40 minutes a day. YouTube to an hour. WhatsApp we left open without limitation. When the time runs out, the application simply locks.
And it is amazing how much this reduces arguments. Instead of me being "the bad cop", the device itself becomes the new boundary regulator.
The feature that reassured me most as a parent
But the function that appealed to me most was actually the location. At any given moment, I could see where my daughter was via GPS, including her battery status.
When she left for her after–school activity, I received a notification that she had arrived. When she was on her way back, I saw that she was already approaching home. This might sound exaggerated to anyone who does not have children, but for parents of children who are beginning to move around alone, it grants true peace of mind.
Samsung also adds an option to define permanent zones such as school, home, or after–school activities, and receive alerts when the child enters or leaves them. In practice, it feels a bit like a combination between a smartphone and a tracking system.
<br>And then I discovered the big problem
But here comes the twist. After a few days, I realized that these excellent supervision tools are not unique to the Galaxy A26 Kids Edition at all.
In fact, most of them are based on Google Family Link, a free service that is available for almost any Android device, even older ones.
Meaning, even if you were to buy your child a regular Android phone, or even a used one, you could get almost the same supervision capabilities. And this takes a bit of the wind out of the sails of the promise of a "special phone for children".
So what is special here? Mainly the packaging. You receive a silicone case, emoji stickers, two months of free access to the Nick Academy application, and a benefit for a first screen repair for NIS 99. It is nice, but not truly a revolution.
For whom is this model suitable?
After my daughter spent several weeks with the device, I reached a pretty clear conclusion. The Galaxy A26 Kids Edition is not truly a "special phone for children". It is simply a good Android phone with an excellent parental control suite and a relatively accessible price – between NIS 720 and NIS 999, depending on the storage capacity (128GB or 256GB).
But the truth? This is perhaps enough. Because in the end, most parents are not looking for crazy technical specifications. They want to know that the child is safer, that they will not spend all night on screens, and that they can set boundaries without the need to argue every single time anew with the child.
In this aspect, this device definitely does a good job. Is it mandatory to get specifically the children's version? Not certain. But can these supervision tools completely change the experience of the first smartphone in the house? Absolutely yes.