Cell Phone for a 16-year old boy

richiehp

My grandson is turning 16 years old at the end of the month and I would like to offer him a cell phone, but I don't know what they like at this age. I don't even have a cell phone myself. Can you please help me?

richiehp

And I forgot to ask about how much you think it will cost me. Thank you very much.

DCFC79

Well do you have a price in mind ?

we could suggest alot of phones and they could more expensive than what you could afford,

personally id suggest 1 thats about £100, if it gets damaged 1 way or another then its not much lost

why not ask him which 1 he would like

is 1 needed at 16, i never had 1 till i was 19

richiehp

My grandson has been asking for one, maybe because his friends have one. £100 sounds like a fair price to me. I didn't want to ask him because it is a surprise, but really I wanted to see if you knew what brands young people like. There are so many phones in the market.

Tony5101

The SanFrancisco from Orange is a very popular phone at the moment. Good specification and fits your price point perfectly.

Bowling_4_Gold

Maybe he would rather a BlackBerry? A lot of young people these days have BlackBerrys, because they have a service built-in called BlackBerry Messenger. It enables people with a BlackBerry to text each other for free.

Decent BlackBerrys start at around £129

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/BLACKBERRY-CURVE-8520/PPAY&clearance=false

wdw2003

My experience as a father of two teenage girls (now 16 and 19) over the last few years is that if you don't get it right, then the phone will be abused and constantly moaned about until you wish you'd spent more in the first place rather than buying cheap ones more frequently.

To cut a long story short, they both got Blackberry Bold 9700s last year on contract at £25/month (older one paying herself) and they love them. No complaints at all and they don't even hanker after an iphone as their friends' ones all break down. Apparently the BB instant messenger is popular as most of their friends have BBs.

I gather the PAYG BB Curves are socially acceptable and the next best thing, although by the time you (or your grandson or his parents) add in the BB sim, you're not far off the Bold contract price.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Don't make it a surprise gift. Ask him what phone he wants specifically, teens are very picky about their phones and the slightest thing he doesn't like will turn into that gift being the worst ever.

Even better, find out how much the phone he wants costs then give him the money to buy it himself with. He then gets the gift he wants, you've played your part, he cannot grumble when three months down the line it is the wrong phone suddenly.

richiehp

CitySlicker wrote: »

Don't make it a surprise gift. Ask him what phone he wants specifically, teens are very picky about their phones and the slightest thing he doesn't like will turn into that gift being the worst ever.

Even better, find out how much the phone he wants costs then give him the money to buy it himself with. He then gets the gift he wants, you've played your part, he cannot grumble when three months down the line it is the wrong phone suddenly.

I think you are right. I will just ask him. It will be easier than disappointing him if it's not what he was hoping for.

pmduk

Or if he's local why not go shopping with him? It would be a nice trip for you both I suspect.