Hello! I’m a mom in the US & bought Ringo for my 11 YO son. I’m not very clever at this stuff & nor is he, so we ought to have an exciting time. 
(Fortunately, his older brother is amazing about these things [UNfortunately, he’ll hafta help us long distance].)
Anyway…I apologize for asking such a basic question–should’ve confirmed before buying, if I care so much–but am I correct in understanding that Ringo has no wifi/data capabilities? I hope the answer’s YES (as in, yes, no wifi/data). I’m not ready for my 11 YO to have a smartphone!
Thank you
has wifi and data, but they are virtually useless, calls for data and app and firmware updates for wifi
Thank you for your reply!
What with remote learning and other activities limitations, due to C-19, my son really has no need for a “cell phone”–which, of course, hasn’t stopped him from asking for one. I have no problem saying, “no,” when I think it’s appropriate. At the same time, my son calls his friends on our “home phone,” so I think it’s okay for him to call from another phone (e.g., Ringo). I very much like the idea of tying STEM to the privilege of my son having “his own cell phone,” but I wanted to confirm that I’d not misunderstood what I’m offering him.
Thanks, again!
it does come with a few retro games and if he learns Arduino, he can code his own, but it still is far from being a smart phone
Thank you! I’m not worried about the games and I would be happy for him to learn to code his own! (His older brother did–then went on to creating [simple] games on his TI calculator. 
) My 11 YO has a tablet that’s connected to WiFi; I’m not totally against him being online. I just don’t want to send him off w/ability to get online w/o at least some supervision, & wanted to be sure I’d not misunderstood Ringo’s capacities.
I appreciate your help!
your welcome, i like helping people
Hello, just chiming in on the conversation 
If you decide to get your son a Ringo, it can also be programmed with our CircuitBlocks application, which lets him program the device and getting to know programming by connecting lego-like blocks. Then, when he feel comfortable enough with that, he can progress into real programming with the Arduino IDE, which CircuitBlocks automatically installs so you don’t have to bother with endless installations.
Let me know if I can be of any more assistance
Filip
Thank you for this info! Actually, I bought the phone before I asked my question! But then thought I’d better be sure I understood its capabilities/limitations before presented it to him. Thank you for the CircuitBlocks info; he does like LEGO’s!
I appreciate the continued support.