Two and a half year old grandson loves to play on the phone apps that have pictures of animals and their associated sounds + some of the games like Angry Birds.

Like any child of this age, his attention to the phone doesn't last more than a few minutes at a time. He seems to get more fun playing with other things pretending to use them like a phone.

My neice's new baby, a little girl of 4 months, has been photographed so many times [is that 'p' word still in use?],by dozens of different 'smart' phones by different friends and relations ... poor little girl, that I think she, (the baby), has already developed an extra thick skin / mantle regarding smart phones ... and social networking, and who could blame her.

With a secondary school a short walk away I see the kids using them all the time on their way to and from it. These phones cost more than the clothes they wear!

Of all the kids that I know through fixing their laptops or family computers I would say that the vast majority of 11+ year olds have a mobile phone of some description. By the time they are 13/14 they have smartphones.

The takeup of tablets however is much less pronounced. To a kid the smartphone is top priority and then, those more fortunate might have a larger tablet but because of the poor integration with MS Office, which they use in school, most parents prefer them to have a more traditional device for homework. (After all - they are the footing the bill in most cases.)

My grandson in 12 and he would like a phone but doesn't have one. His mother thinks he is too young and I agree. There is no need for a young kid to have all these expensive smartphones etc. What do they have to look forward to.