Created: 11 October 2019 · Last edited: 24 September 2026

Docomo had previously released a couple of models for senior citizens but in their Winter 2019/2020 collection they have added a kids' mobile phone, the SH-03M.

As expected, this is a very plain device with barely any of the features that sell today's flagships or even mid-range phones.

The SH-03M comes with a 3.4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 960 × 540 pixels. It's not an IGZO display although in my personal opinion one would have helped increase battery life even more, which is very important in this case.

Indeed, this kids' phone has a very small battery, just 1200 mAh capacity, and while there's hardly anything installed on it that would hog the power, it still manages about 350 hours of standby time. The SH-03M doesn't even have a web browser. No, it doesn't have a camera – although I would personally think it's important as it would allow parents to see their kid while talking to him or her. Maybe in the next model.

The hardware is equally modest, with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of onboard storage. There is no memory-card slot, and the phone uses an eSIM rather than a removable SIM card. It measures approximately 101 × 54 × 12.2 mm and weighs just 94 grams.

Let's see what it has:

Equipped with a full range of monitoring functions, e.g. "return notifications" where parents are automatically notified when the child is coming home, and "Mimamori alerts" will alert both the parent and the child when the child gets too far away from the parent.

The SH-03M body is scratch-resistant – using the same colour for the body as for the display bezels ensures that, even if scratched, it won't stand out. Meanwhile, beside being water- and dust-proof, the phone is also shock-resistant according to MIL-STD-810G, making it difficult to damage. Sharp also claim that the phone can be washed with foaming hand-soap.

The SH-03M will auto-convert characters to kanji in accordance with the grade the kid is in, the feature conforming to the “Kanji Divisioning Table by School Year” elementary-school-learning guidelines.

On the home screen is a "quick call key" that will dial out or send a message to the three people the kid talks to most often. The device is also equipped with useful functions such as awakening, schedule, and timer.

Communication-wise, the Kids' Mobile SH-03M will of course work on the Docomo mobile network and it also has Wi-Fi (b/g/n at 2.4 GHz) and Bluetooth 4.2. It also supports VoLTE with EVS-WB for clearer voice calls.

Under the bonnet is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 210 (MSM8909), accompanied by 1 GB of RAM. The operating system is Android 8.1, although the software is so heavily customised that you wouldn't mistake this for an ordinary Android phone.

The SH-03M has no conventional camera, NFC, FeliCa, or headphone jack. Charging and data transfer are handled through a Micro-B USB port.

The phone is available in yellow, pink, and blue.

The SH-03M launches on 17 January 2020.