Republic Wireless today made its Relay, a screen-less speakerphone meant to help young children communicate with family members, available for sale.
The device was first announced in December 2017. The Relay is small, puck-like speaker with a single large button. Pressing the button lets kids automatically speak and send a short voice message to their parents. Parents receive the message in SMS form and can respond via SMS.
The Relay will play the parent’s response message over the speaker. Using two Relays, kids can converse directly with a trusted adult or one another using walkie-talkie style communication. The associated phone app lets parents check the child’s GPS whereabouts, and advanced geofencing supports alerts and other notifications or controls with respect to location.
The Relay can be put into assistant mode so it can interact with the Google Assistant. Kids can ask Assistant standard queries or even play their favorite playlists trough the Relay’s speaker.
The Relay is water-resistant and semi-rugged for protection against typical use by children. It is available in five colors. A single Relay costs $99, two cost $149, and three cost $199. Service runs $6.99 per month, but Republic Wireless does not require a contract for the Relay.
Orders placed via Republic’s web site will ship in four to six weeks.
