My 2 children (ages 2 and 11 months) love this phone! My daughter (the 2 year old) loves that it says different things like, "I love you", "Bye bye", etc...! My son loves the music and lights (of course) and will dance with it as it plays!!
As far as the volume goes - there is not a 'volume control' switch. It is not 'loud' if you aren't holding it up to your ear. I know that younger children will probably not hold the phone up to their ear and play with it like that (they would probably prefer to push buttons, listen to the music and watch the screen light up... like my 11 month old at this point), however, my 2 year old does use this phone like a 'real phone'. She will hold it up to her ear and talk and act like she is talking to 'mommy' or 'daddy' or 'grandpa/grandma'. When I held this phone up to my ear I noticed that it IS loud! So, when it's not used as a phone it really isn't loud (although, my son does still enjoy playing with it) - but when actually used as a phone the volume is plenty loud!!!
I like the different 'settings'... such as you press the "ABC" button and then when you push the buttons (1-9) it will say the letters on the button that was pushed. If you push the "123" button then push a 1-9 button it will say the number of the button pushed. Then if you press the music button it will play music when a 1-9 button is pushed! The bottom button (and my daughters favorite... the 0) says different 'cute phrases' when pushed!
One other thing that I really like about this phone is how PERFECTLY it goes with the laugh and learn learning home! How adorable!!!! It sits perfectly in the 'holder' by the 'phonebook' on the 'inside' of the home :) Brilliant!!!!