First mobile phone for a child

moorejane731

Advice needed!
The mobile phone conversations have developed and the time has finally come to make the first steps ready for yr11.  I am new to all this and am a bit worried about it all to be honest.
Any tips on the kind of phone to go for and what to watch out for etc?

paula_pieandmash

We got parentshield sim cards https://parentshield.co.uk and also set up family link https://families.google.com/familylink/. 
I hope that helps

Farway

One thing to watch for is do not get it on a contract, there are countless threads on here on lines of "My child has run up a five hundred pound bill" etc, either get a PAYG or guaranteed cut off once money / data etc runs out

I say guaranteed because there have been instances where the cut off parent relied on failed and big bill followed

And sad to say, get a cheap phone not top of range because someone may nick it otherwise

JJ_Egan

As above but be aware child wants IPhone top of the range bling bling model .

[Deleted User]

Farway said:

One thing to watch for is do not get it on a contract, there are countless threads on here on lines of "My child has run up a five hundred pound bill" etc, either get a PAYG or guaranteed cut off once money / data etc runs out

I say guaranteed because there have been instances where the cut off parent relied on failed and big bill followed

And sad to say, get a cheap phone not top of range because someone may nick it otherwise

I now have 4 contract phones in my name for my children, one child caught me out with a £500 bill once so I have been stung the hard way so your advice is spot on but I did subsequently find that I could add a spending cap with all of them - that can be £0 if required to keep to the bundle as is. Currently set at about £10 to give some emergency flex if needed.

That same 'problem' child that run up the big bill has also lost / broken countless phones over that period but thankfully the others have only lost 1 on a bus in the last 6 years and that was recovered. One was water damaged though.

moorejane731 said:

Advice needed!
The mobile phone conversations have developed and the time has finally come to make the first steps ready for yr11.  I am new to all this and am a bit worried about it all to be honest.
Any tips on the kind of phone to go for and what to watch out for etc?

I started all my kids off on mobile phones from 10/11 years old as well with the cheapest Android phone I could find - it was a Samsung Galaxy Y (Young) which came with the promise of upgrades if they could look after it responsibly for a year - I think something like a Moto G8 would be a good equivalent starter nowadays.

I started with PAYG SIM only and purchased the phone separately but moved to contracts soon afterwards as they helped spread the cost (apart from above £500 sting) and made it easier than topping up etc.

Later the kids insisted on iPhones because all the kids at school had one so they just got the cheapest iPhone available on contract to tick the box. I did 2 year contracts that always renew about Christmas time so they get a new phone for Christmas every 2 years. They have moved through iPhone 5s, SE(old version) to iPhone 7 through their teens.

Currently they are all on iPhone 7's which are perfectly usable despite being 5 year old model at this point but they are due an upgrade this Christmas.



Other advice:

1. Kids use data more than calls and texts, look for bundles with big data packs, mine are on 30GB per month packs, some hardly use it, others get through all of it - pandemic changed things a bit because they were are home more often.

2. Case and screen protector - accidents WILL happen at that age and that will reduce the risk.

3. Price up insurance for damage / loss. Sometimes this looks pricey, for my son that breaks / lost his phones it actually works out cheaper to replace with a second hand refurb than pay insurance so I do that instead and that is part of the deal - if something happens I will replace but you get a 2nd hand refurb.

4. Safety advice - I was strict about them not having their phone out in public to reduce risk of theft / loss / distraction / damage - always to be kept in pockets and bags.

5. Headphones - all mine use their phones as music devices so a set of headphones if not bundled was essential and also allows them to make calls without getting phone out of pocket - but again strictly enforced no headphones on when out in public for situational awareness eg crossing roads etc.

6. App store / payment details - inevitably they want to purchase an app - never enter your card details ever, buy them Google Play / iTunes vouchers instead to avoid and mishaps until they have their own bank account (all mine had debit cards from 11 anyway so wasn't an issue)

7. In return for following the above rules I've given them full privacy, never asked to look at the contents of their phone and don't know their security details - every parent is different though and you may vary that as per your choice.

8. Long battery life - kids hammer their phones all day but don't always have access to charging at school, when they really need at the end of the school day to call you and get a lift home, you want them to still have charge. Or provide them with a small battery USB charger to carry for emergency. The Moto G8 I mentioned above has exceptionally long battery life.

RumRat

Buy SIM Free Nokia 1.3 16GB Mobile Phone - Charcoal | SIM free phones | Argos

Then find a sim that suits... Previously suggested Parentshield a good initial idea. Whichever one you get make sure that there is plenty of data.

[Deleted User]

RumRat said:

Buy SIM Free Nokia 1.3 16GB Mobile Phone - Charcoal | SIM free phones | Argos

The performance of that phone is probably a little slow for all the common apps and games kids use.

I'd consider some of the better performing phones in that price range for example:

Moto G8 Power £109 John Lewis

An extra £29 could get a big improvement in graphics performance which might be important for an 11 year old.

Nokia 1.3 - 5 fps graphics benchmark Review source
Moto G8 Power 18 fps Review source
iPhone SE for comparison 58 fps

Also the G8 gets:

• Double the battery life of the Nokia (14th best of all phones in a 2021 review)
• Rain proof
• 1080p screen vs 720p on the Nokia
• 4GB ram vs 1GB on the Nokia
• 8 core 2Ghz vs 4 core 1.3Ghz
• 16MP front camera vs 5MP on the Nokia for those important selfies and video chats

But then again, if internet browsing, social media, video streaming, gaming, photos, selfies and video chat isn't needed then the Nokia 1.3 may be the perfect choice of phone.

[Deleted User]

iPhone 7 Plus from Amazon renewed at around £140 each are ideal. If you can stretch more the iPhone 8plus at around £185 is even better. 

Get a wallet case and screen protector and they will be fine. 

RumRat

[Deleted User] said:

RumRat said:

Buy SIM Free Nokia 1.3 16GB Mobile Phone - Charcoal | SIM free phones | Argos

Picking a kids phone is a bit of a different ball game and you need to look a bit deeper, I didn't just pick the Moto G8 at random from the Argos catalogue.

TLDR...It was probably possible to have said whatever with less verbosity....I take it you were justifying your recommendation, I'm sure you could have done that without the dig at the end....Shame on you...

RumRat

Self recommendation is no recommendation....Shame you still feel the need to launch a personal attack. If it makes you feel worthy, crack on....

matelodave

c'mon girls, lets be civilised and stop sniping. It doesn't add anything sensible to the thread