Best low-budget Smartphone? Motorola Moto, Microsoft Lumina, or any others? Or no Smartphone for teen?

[provenance61]

We're looking for a low-cost phone for our 14 year old -- first phone.  We want to keep cost low (under $100 or even lower) in case of possible loss/breakage.  I have mixed emotions about a Smartphone, but we do like the features that might help with keeping him on track and on time.  I know my iPhone has been great this way, it's just too expensive an option for him now.

 

I found a couple of what I call basic Smartphones, quite inexpensive and reasonable ($100 or under) -- the Motorola Moto and the Microsoft Lumina 435 (different versions out there too).  The Lumina also seems to have the new Cortana assistant available (as in Windows 10).  Does anyone have experience with these or other low cost Smartphones?

[provenance61]

Sorry, I was cut off before finishing -- wanted to add that security is a biggie for us, but our carrier (Verizon) has great tracking/security for teen usage that we'd be able to use.  And the overall cost of adding to our plan would be less, probably, than Tracphone.

 

ANY suggestions/thoughts/comments welcome.  I am utterly at a loss looking at all the different options here. 

[Arcadia]

My hubby is happy with his Microsoft Lumia which is a AT&T prepaid. He paid less than $50 and use it as a GPS as well without data plan.

[LindaOz]

Two of my girls have the Microsoft Lumina 532 and are really happy with it. One of them was purchased on sale so only paid about $35 for it. They have a fairly low cost data plan but can also be operated as a prepaid. Good phone for teens.

[provenance61]

Thank you both!  What do you think of the apps available on the Lumina, if you are using?   Helpful? 

[Cindyz]

My husband just got a Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime at MetroPCS for $29.  The rebates were instant if purchased in the store.  He got $50 off for porting his existing number.  Unlimited talk and text and 1gb of data is $30/month.  The Galaxy Prime is almost exactly like my son's Galaxy S4.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Cindyz

[Carol in Cal.]

I've been really happy with my Moto X.

 

OTOH, DD's iphone, only a year and a half old, is losing its battery power already.  It's ridiculous.

 

You can get a basic phone instead of a smart phone and still have unlimited texting and calls, just no internet.  You would be amazed at how fast teenagers can use up data, and I don't think Verizon has an unlimited plan available, so smart phones get pretty expensive.  You can purchase their family protection package, I think it's $5/month, and then track and limit your child's usage, but to me that kind of negates the safety value of having the smart phone features in the first place.

[Tree Frog]

My dd loves her Moto X so much that when she had to replace it (due to leaving it on top of her car when she drove off and it being run over), she wouldn't look at anything else, including newer models of phones. She uses AT&T; we had to spin her off our Verizon acct because she wanted to have a smart phone to use with wi-fi, but not be charged with data. (Verizon doesn't offer that.) She pays about $30/month and can add data monthly for $5 if she needs it.

[Dmmetler]

I have a higher end Lumia, and while I love it, there are few apps that aren't directly business/productivity. For me, it's awesome because it syncs with Microsoft office and my calendar, but when I got DD a smartphone, I went with an android because I figured she'd want the ability to play games, and the Lumia just doesn't have that.

[Julie of KY]

I bought my teen a used iphone for less than $100.

 

[Peaceful Isle]

My girl has a BLU phone we got her online for $63 dollars. It's an android phone that you can buy outright and then use on your plan. We are with T-Mobile so that might make a difference. Anyways, she loves it. It has plenty of storage for games as well. :)

Edited January 6, 2016 by peaceful isle

[Lanny]

I'm not sure if Huawei has models in your price range, but if they do, I'd take a long and very hard look at Huawei. One of my wife's friends loves her Huawei more than she did the Samsungs she previously had.  GL with your choice!

[Kuovonne]

My kids each have an iPhone 4. They were $50 each on eBay.

I have them on a TracFone family plan, so service for *both* phones is a total of $16 per month, with no contract.

 

You mention that you have an iPhone, so you should consider an iPhone

because you are already be familiar with the interface.

It will be easier for you to setup and troubleshoot his phone.

Before my kids got iPhones, they had Android phones, and I hated having

to figure out how to do things on their phones.

I also have apps that sync between my iPhone and my kid's iPhone

so I can set / view alarms on her phone from my phone. I also have

her planner app synced to my iPhone so that I can see her progress

and monitor how she schedules her assignments without intruding in her space.

 

You also mention that adding a line to your plan would be cheaper than TracFone.

Did you know that TracFone has smartphone plans that start at $10 per month?

They are not unlimited anything, but a teen who currently doesn't have a phone

doesn't need unlimited anything.

 

Having a child on his own limited plan also has its own benefits.

Having him on his own line / plan ensures that he can't eat up your data.

(My daughter had a friend over and said friend ate up almost all of her family's data in one night.)

Also, if a kid runs out of talk/text/data, he can always buy more on his own,

thus forcing him to be more responsible. For example, if he runs out of text

messages, he can buy a thousand more for $10. If he doesn't use all of them,

they rest roll over to the next month.

 

If my kids had bigger budgets, they would have gone with an iPhone 4s, instead of an iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 is limited to iOS 7, so they won't run some newer apps.

The iPhone 4s is the cheapest phone that can run iOS 9 (the current iOS).

You can currently get an iPhone 4s for a little less than $100 on eBay.

[Kuovonne]

P.S.

 

I also wouldn't worry about having limited data on a teen's first phone.

 

(1) He isn't used to having a smartphone, so he won't be acustomed to using lots of data.

 

(2) If he is in wifi most of the day (e.g. at home), he won't need data much anyway.

 

(3) You can teach him from day 1 how data usage works.

In the example of my daughter's friend, the girl was used to unlimited internet access on her

phone via wifi and didn't even think how she was using data (vs. wifi) on her phone when she was over.

It is a common mistake many kids make. They don't use up massive amounts of data most of the time --

they use it up when they are away from wifi and streaming videos like they do at home.

 

(4) On the iPhone it is easy to turn on and off data usage for individual apps on the fly. You can also see how much data each app takes. On my girls' phones, I turned data off for the vast majority of apps (except the executive function apps!).

If they want to access the internet away from home, they have to consciously turn on data.

 

(5) If you use Tracfone, you can go to a website to quickly see how much data you have left. When you're done, you're cut off with no extra fees.

[pehp]

I like my Motorola Moto E.  My apps work great on it and it's cheap (TracFone service!). 

[provenance61]

Wow, this is all very helpful.

 

A couple of questions to you all -- for those of you who use Tracphone, does it offer monitoring (so you can see what apps are used, how much time is spent different ways, etc.)?  My DH likes this feature.

 

Kuovonne, you mentioned executive function apps -- could you please share what these are?  I think they would be SO helpful.  I'd like to work out what phones they are available on (just iphone?  or Android/Windows?).

 

And are the new phones that are branded Windows (like the Lumia) they're Android, right?  Or something else?

 

 

[Kuovonne]

A couple of questions to you all -- for those of you who use Tracphone, does it offer monitoring (so you can see what apps are used, how much time is spent different ways, etc.)? My DH likes this feature.

Tracfone does not offer monitoring. However, you can find apps that do monitor usage.

Overall, Android phones have more apps for monitoring andd controlling usage.

I used to have monitoring apps on my kids's phones (both iPhone and their old android phones.)

I found that they weren't worth the time and effort. I rarely checked them, and when I did,

it took too much of my time to sift through the drivel that I let them do.

 

I still use parental controls on the kids' iPhones. (For example, they can't purchase anything

or even browse the app store from their phones without my password. I also block certain websites.)

 

Kuovonne, you mentioned executive function apps -- could you please share what these are? I think they would be SO helpful. I'd like to work out what phones they are available on (just iphone? or Android/Windows?).

 

It's mostly things like the calendar and alarms.

Data on the calendars is important so that my girls can put their dance rehearsal schedules in their calendars while still at the studio. Their calendars sync to my phone.

We have crazy schedules where each day of the week is different, and every week is always at least slightly different from the week before.

For a while DD needed a lot of alarms for things like "stop what you are doing and get ready for ..."

 

My kids use online planners (the iOS app "MyHomework") to track their schoolwork.

I also use the sister app "Teachers.io" to create their assignments and sync with "MyHomework."

I have "MyHomework" on my phone as well so that I can check on the kids' progress.

I tell the kids to mark off and sync. Then I sync to see what's done. The kids know exactly

what they need to do, and I know what they've done. It's also easy to adjust assignments on the fly. The kids also schedule their assignments from their online classes in their planners. (Adding new assigments is usualy done on their iPads, which also sync.)

 

When the kids had paper planners, DD constantly lost hers. They hardly ever loose their

phones, so they don't loose their planners. If they do misplace their phones, I can just call them.

Once DD left her phone at dance. I was able to use the "Find my iPhone" app to confirm

that it was still at the dance studio. Everything sync'ed to her iPad and my iPhone, so that

she could still get work done without it for two days.

 

My kids take online classes with online learning systems. I have the app for those systems set to use data so that they can look up and post their assignments from anywhere.

 

One big advantage of us all having smartphones is that they all tell the same time.

All of the house clocks are slighty off from each other. If I say we're going to do something

at 3:00, it is 3:00 according to the phones. No more arguments about having 5 more minutes

because the kid is looking at a different clock that is slower than the clock I'm using.

 

Some other apps set to use data:

- anki (flashcards)

- dictionary

- maps

- library app (to renew books before leaving the library)

 

The kids also have list making apps for executive function, but I keep data turned off for them.

For example, if they want me to buy something, they put it on the list on their phone, and I see it on mine.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Kuovonne

[angela in ohio]

Both of my girls have a Droid Mini, and they like them. They need to have small phones to fit int their pockets. The bonus is that they are much cheaper than larger smartphones.

[Pen]

subbing

[Dmmetler]

The Windows phones like the Lumia run Windows. 8.1 currently, upgrading to Windows 10 eventually (it seems to keep getting rolled back for my model). They cannot run Android apps, only what is available for Windows. But they're a dream to sync with Office. My DD actually presented her conference talk from my phone, just as though it was from a Windows tablet or laptop.

[Alessandra]

My kids each have an iPhone 4. They were $50 each on eBay.

I have them on a TracFone family plan, so service for *both* phones is a total of $16 per month, with no contract.

 

You mention that you have an iPhone, so you should consider an iPhone

because you are already be familiar with the interface.

It will be easier for you to setup and troubleshoot his phone.

Before my kids got iPhones, they had Android phones, and I hated having

to figure out how to do things on their phones.

I also have apps that sync between my iPhone and my kid's iPhone

so I can set / view alarms on her phone from my phone. I also have

her planner app synced to my iPhone so that I can see her progress

and monitor how she schedules her assignments without intruding in her space.

 

You also mention that adding a line to your plan would be cheaper than TracFone.

Did you know that TracFone has smartphone plans that start at $10 per month?

They are not unlimited anything, but a teen who currently doesn't have a phone

doesn't need unlimited anything.

 

Having a child on his own limited plan also has its own benefits.

Having him on his own line / plan ensures that he can't eat up your data.

(My daughter had a friend over and said friend ate up almost all of her family's data in one night.)

Also, if a kid runs out of talk/text/data, he can always buy more on his own,

thus forcing him to be more responsible. For example, if he runs out of text

messages, he can buy a thousand more for $10. If he doesn't use all of them,

they rest roll over to the next month.

 

If my kids had bigger budgets, they would have gone with an iPhone 4s, instead of an iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 is limited to iOS 7, so they won't run some newer apps.

The iPhone 4s is the cheapest phone that can run iOS 9 (the current iOS).

You can currently get an iPhone 4s for a little less than $100 on eBay.

Well put.

I Ran the numbers on adding kids to my plan and decided not to.

Ds has his own pay by the month plan with limited data. No way will I "share" data with him. He would use it all. Ds has to pay for part of his pla. No payment, no renewal that month.

Dd is on her own pay by the month plan with no data.

 

Ds has my old iPhone 4s. Dd tried a Moto from AT&T. It was so awful that they even waived the restocking fee when we returned it. So I got her a used iPhone 4s on Gazelle, not the cheapest place, but very, very good quality. Someone here recommended it and I am so grateful.

 

Having one operating system to learn and one set of apps to research and buy is a big plus.