A good phone for a child is an age-appropriate phone
What should be a good phone for a child? As it turns out, the answer is not at all clear-cut. Some of our younger kids are given a phone basically just to stay in touch with them. Let’s ask ourselves how many times a child calls to say “what’s going on at school” or that he/she will stay at a friend’s place for a while after school. We ourselves probably also call our child to find out if everything is alright.
However, as kids get older, their expectations increase. They want a phone for games, a good smartphone for photos, and they expect to be able to interact with their peers on Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp or Snapchat. In other words, younger kids are fine with a phone with the ability to run simple games and a basic camera, but as they start to enter their teenage years they have much higher expectations for communication, photo quality, and online services.
We are not going to tell you from which age you should give your child a phone. It is up to you to decide when and if you want to do it at all. However, if you do make this decision, it is worth spending money on a good, proven smartphone that will not ruin you financially but will meet the expectations of your child.
Best phones for kids. Here are the recommended models:
- Nokia 230 – phone without internet for a child
- Alcatel 1 – the first smartphone for a child
- Hammer Blade 3 4/64GB – the indestructible phone for your child
- Motorola Moto g31 – phone for teenagers
- Redmi Note 10 Pro – a good smartphone for your child
- iPhone 13 mini – the best smartphone for kids
First of all, the first phone for a child should not be expensive. In principle, we can recommend you our list of good cheap phones up to 500 zł, but this amount does not always guarantee that your child (especially a bit older) will be fully satisfied. That’s why in this list we also recommend you phones up to 1000 zł and smartphones up to 1500 zł. Why it’s rather not worth spending more money on a phone for a child? Because children are more likely to drop their phone. There are special phones resistant to falls, but not every child wants to have such an invention in his pocket.
Another thing to consider is the size of the phone, which depends on the size of the display. The idea is, of course, that children have small hands and it is easier for them to handle relatively small phones. It is of course necessary to keep a certain moderation because a screen that is too small can perform worse in games. You should ask your child what kind of phone he prefers – bigger or smaller. At the same time it is impossible not to refer here to the market standards, currently smartphones with large screens reign supreme, there are very few compact and cheap phones.
It’s good to know how your child is using the phone
Some people decide to buy a phone for a 10-year-old or even a slightly younger child. In such cases, it is a good idea to configure the device after the purchase and to think about parental controls. Installing an appropriate program activating a parental blockade for some applications/functions should not be perceived as a violation of child’s freedom (you do not have to do it behind his/her back, you can do it after a conversation and explaining the whole situation), but as a protection against excessive or bad use of the phone and the Internet.
Whether it’s a girl’s phone or a boy’s phone, parental control programs allow you, for example, to block the installation of certain applications, set filters in the web browser but also in the Google search engine, as well as to control the time your child spends with the smartphone in his hand and which applications or games he uses the most. There is a reason why some people say that a safe phone for a child is a greater value than a durable phone for a child. Additionally, the developers of such software include the option of locating the child’s phone paired with the parent’s phone. And that’s an option that can sometimes save a lot of stress.
What else? Traditionally, let’s pay attention to the memory capacity and battery capacity (the more the better). When it comes to the camera, it’s not the number of megapixels (Mpix) that counts, so when choosing individual models, let’s suggest the real quality of photos presented in smartphone reviews. Even a basic phone for children should also have LTE connectivity nowadays. Dual SIM in a phone for a child is rather not required.
Nokia 230 – phone without internet for a child
A phone for those who want to protect their child from the evil that lurks in the nooks and crannies of the Internet, because although theoretically, this model has access to the network, using it for this purpose is like a severe punishment. This is a device that will mainly serve to keep in touch with your child, and after all, that is the most important thing.
It has a small but colourful 2.8-inch display, Bluetooth, radio, and front and rear cameras, but be warned that you can’t expect miracles with the latter two. Most noteworthy of all is the battery, whose standby life is about 22 days!
It’s also worth mentioning that the phone is extremely easy to use, but I wouldn’t worry about that in the case of children. This is definitely a proposal for the youngest.
The best phone for your child
The best smartphone on our list is the iPhone 13 mini. You have to pay a lot for it, but if it doesn’t break it will surely serve for many years. By the way, we suggest that it is worth getting a case that will protect the phone from mechanical damage. If you have a lower budget remains smartphones with Android, depending on the amount you want to spend all the models proposed here will be good.
