I may be the technology reporter in the family, but my daughters are the ones who figure out how the devices work.

Cailyn, 3, showed me how to turn the Disney mobile phone on. (By counterintuitively pushing the end call button).

Margaret, 11, gave the phone a trial run. She loved the red color of this particular handset and the convenient size - noting the phone easily fits into a pocket.

She quickly selected "to be King" from The Lion King for her free ringtone and installed a Disney background. She also immediately figured out how to text message one of her best friends.

Margaret's only complaints: The lag time in taking a photo (she was going for an action shot of a car driving by), and the expense to download a ringtone ($2.49) or a game ($6.49).

My wife was impressed by the "family friendly" features, especially one that enables parents to restrict the telephone numbers their child may call from the phone. Moms, by the way, seem to be Disney Mobile's target market.

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to e-mail some of the pictures taken by my family. In the process, I accidentally deleted half the pictures in the gallery.

But for me that's progress, or an indication the Disney Mobile menu is quite easy to use, even without a manual.

"Since you're the technology reporter, it's good you figure those things out," my wife said when I boasted I had successfully e-mailed her one of the photos. "Have you figured out how to turn on your computer yet?" She's such a wit.

There is a variety of plans to choose from, starting at $59.99 a month for 450 minutes and unlimited use of the parental control features.

But the Yankee Group, a research group, noted in a recent report that Disney Mobile's family calling plans tend to be about 30 percent higher than competing plans. Cellular Sensationz on Sheridan Boulevard used to carry Disney Mobile, but when I called last week, an employee said: "Why would you want to buy Disney Mobile?" in reference to the high cost.