First smart phone for a child

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I'm after advice or your experience of buying a phone for a child. My 12-year old is desperate for a phone to contact her mates, now that we are in lockdown. WhatsApp, text and Hangouts will be the order of the day.

A number of her mates use Nokia 1+ as they are cheap as chips in Argos etc. Plus considering a refurbished unit from the likes of Music Magpie.

I don't suppose you have had similar quandaries....
 
Nokia 1 plus will work and do the job - it does have a tiny memory which will fill up quick. At that price, it's probably as good as anything you will find. If you want to step up to £100ish, you will get a surprisingly good phone e.g Moto E6 plus at carphone warehouse is £99 + there are Nokia's at that price. The downside of the E6 plus is it's a quite large phone for a child (6.2 inch screen), and I always feel large screens are more fragile. Second hand is a great way to go if you can find a trusted source, pretty much any Android phone from the last couple of years will be absolutely fine (though battery does degrade over time).
Have a look at Google family link - parental controls (free) that give you some degree of managing the phone. I think the child gets the choice at age 13 to remove the controls.
Last thought - if her mates are happy with Nokia 1 plus, chances are that she will be also
 
Nokia 1 plus will work and do the job - it does have a tiny memory which will fill up quick. At that price, it's probably as good as anything you will find. If you want to step up to £100ish, you will get a surprisingly good phone e.g Moto E6 plus at carphone warehouse is £99 + there are Nokia's at that price. The downside of the E6 plus is it's a quite large phone for a child (6.2 inch screen), and I always feel large screens are more fragile. Second hand is a great way to go if you can find a trusted source, pretty much any Android phone from the last couple of years will be absolutely fine (though battery does degrade over time).
Have a look at Google family link - parental controls (free) that give you some degree of managing the phone. I think the child gets the choice at age 13 to remove the controls.
Last thought - if her mates are happy with Nokia 1 plus, chances are that she will be also
Thank you @Burry - I will check your suggestions out.

I see Honor manufacturer similar price phones. I dont know the brand, but another option.
 
I've had honor phones and they are good value - comparable quality in my view to Moto or Nokia. Their issue is that they are a sub-brand of Huawei, which Trump has stopped American firms trading with. I think new phones from honor will not support Google services, not sure how it will affect existing honor phones and their ability to provide software updates, but it would make think twice about that brand. Shame, as they make good value phones
 
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I'm after advice or your experience of buying a phone for a child. My 12-year old is desperate for a phone to contact her mates, now that we are in lockdown. WhatsApp, text and Hangouts will be the order of the day.

A number of her mates use Nokia 1+ as they are cheap as chips in Argos etc. Plus considering a refurbished unit from the likes of Music Magpie.

I don't suppose you have had similar quandaries....

For a child consider looking closely at the Apple eco system and paying the extra over Android. Less data capture, easy to monitor, solid parental controls - works best if you are already on the Apple eco system. GiffGaff refurbished iPhones are a solid option, a little more than other refurbish deals but has good customer service and returns policy...
 
I've had honor phones and they are good value - comparable quality in my view to Moto or Nokia. Their issue is that they are a sub-brand of Huawei, which Trump has stopped American firms trading with. I think new phones from honor will not support Google services, not sure how it will affect existing honor phones and their ability to provide software updates, but it would make think twice about that brand. Shame, as they make good value phones
Do love my Huawei mate 20 pro
 
Indeed, honor / Huawei phones are as good as anything out there. It's a shame that they can't use Google services for their new phones, it does kill off competition
The older models appear to have access to, and use Google's Android. Will this be turned off at a future date?
 
The older models appear to have access to, and use Google's Android. Will this be turned off at a future date?
I think that older models will continue to get updates for as long as Huawei originally planned to update them - and even after that time (usually around 2 years or so after phone released), and the phone will still work ok after that, so no real change at all for older models. I think it is really for new models going forward that have the issue of no Google services, which make them a difficult buy for anyone in Western markets.
 
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