Which phone to get my teen son?

[Teaching3bears]

I have no idea which phone to get my teen son.  He has never had a phone at all.  I want this to last for his teen years but I don’t want anything too expensive because I am concerned about it being stolen, lost or getting wet.  I also want a phone that is common among his peers and not big for his pocket.  I asked him to look some up.  He said he is interested in:

samsung galaxy S20 FE 128gb

samsung galaxy S10 128 gb

Are these considered expensive?  Are they common for teen boys?  Are they reliable? Do they work well?  They were both listed as unlocked open box at Best Buy.  Is unlocked open box reliable?  Any other phones you would recommend?  Ugh, I hate buying electronics.

[Lanny]

We have had Samsung cell phones. Not recently, so this is based  on experiences that are dated and possibly has changed. One of the neighbors we are friendly with is an Electronic Engineer for one of the cell phone providers here. He's worked for them for about 20 or 25 years. I asked him, some years ago, "of  the mid-range Android phones, which ones connect best to your network?"  He told me Motorola and Samsung. He said that usually he buys Motorola but occasionally he buys a Samsung.

Samsung phones are a little more difficult to use than a Motorola phone. The Samsung menus are more complicated. Once someone has a Samsung phone that seems "natural" to them.  Motorola phones are closer to a "pure" Android experience.

We have a number of Samsung TV sets in the house and a high-end Samsung washing machine that my wife loves and a Samsung Microwave Oven that died several weeks ago (Keypad error).

I am not familiar with those models. Samsung phones in our experience are not inexpensive, but served us well when we had them.

They are less expensive than iPhones are.

With regard to Open Box at Best Buy. That would depend on how deep the discount is and what the warranty is and whether or not the model is currently being sold on the Best Buy web site and the Samsung web site.

If I was buying a Motorola, as my DD will in a few months (her Motorola Moto G4 will be 5 years old and is running on AT&T which is getting rid of 3G and will have new requirements for the phones on their network) I would try to buy it on the Motorola USA web site.

You are correct about the physical size of the phones. I have a phone that has a smaller display, but a huge battery capacity. It fits into the front pocket of my jeans with my wallet.  Try that  with a phone with a large display. Women have purses, but men don't have those to carry their cell phone in.

IMO if one can get 4 years out of a cell phone battery that is pushing it, so I don't know how many years you are hoping this phone will last.

You need to find out what technology AT&T and T-Mobile and Verizon are requiring as they upgrade their networks  to 5G. That's why I suggested to my DD that she wait until next January, before AT&T cuts off their 3G network in February 2022. (She is on an MVNO and is running on AT&T now with her old Moto G4, but I don't think that will cut it starting next February on  AT&T.

ETA: I would also look at how many of the LTE Bands those phones have. The more the better. Look past the model number and look at the "sub-model". The phones are made for different regions and have different specifications so the "sub-model" is what counts...

Edited August 8, 2021 by Lanny
added ETA

[Ausmumof3]

In terms of durability the phone is probably less important than the case. Otter boxes have been so successful for us - the full defender case not any of the slimline ones.

You can also add them as special risk to your house policy to cover screen replacements etc if you want to - at least you can in Aus.

Also totally understand if you don’t want to share but when you say teen years are you wanting it to last 5 plus years or 2-3 years?  If you want long lifespan you need to buy a bit newer model probably as they become unable to run up to date Apps after a while.  (And I’m not an always have the latest thing kind of person in general).  Unfortunately it’s sometimes cheaper to replace slightly more often though as the price tag can be hefty on the newer ones.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Ausmumof3

[MEmama]

We are generally an iPhone family, but DS has a Samsung S10e. He’s a tech guy so he did his research and knew exactly what he wanted. He loves how customizable it is. 
 

I’d say yes, it’s a popular teen phone if you’re not going with Apple. The price point tends to be very good. You can save quite a bit by buying at certain times (like right before Christmas) or buy a model year older. Phones just don’t last as long as any of would like, unfortunately. You can’t realistically plan to get more than a few years out of it and keep it up to date. 

[Teaching3bears]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Also totally understand if you don’t want to share but when you say teen years are you wanting it to last 5 plus years or 2-3 years?  If you want long lifespan you need to buy a bit newer model probably as they become unable to run up to date Apps after a while.  (And I’m not an always have the latest thing kind of person in general).  Unfortunately it’s sometimes cheaper to replace slightly more often though as the price tag can be hefty on the newer ones.

I was thinking until the end of high school, so three years.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Teaching3bears said:

I was thinking until the end of high school, so three years.

Yep.  I am an iPhone person but I think it’s similar with Samsung.  You wouldn’t need to go for the newest model but you wouldn’t want anything more than three years old and preferably less than two if you’re hoping to get another three years to four years or you will run into trouble. The tech seems to be changing very quickly at the moment. For comparison I have iPhone 8 which was released four years ago and it runs most things but it’s starting to struggle with some apps/connection types and battery life is dying. I may get the battery replaced at some point but this doesn’t always seem to fix the issue.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Ausmumof3

[theelfqueen]

I'm a Samsung girl. DH is an iPhone guy.

My younger two both have Motorola Power on the recommendation of some folks here. They are very happy with these durable phones with long battery life and decent cameras. 

[vonfirmath]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Yep.  I am an iPhone person but I think it’s similar with Samsung.  You wouldn’t need to go for the newest model but you wouldn’t want anything more than three years old and preferably less than two if you’re hoping to get another three years to four years or you will run into trouble. The tech seems to be changing very quickly at the moment. For comparison I have iPhone 8 which was released four years ago and it runs most things but it’s starting to struggle with some apps/connection types and battery life is dying. I may get the battery replaced at some point but this doesn’t always seem to fix the issue.

This makes me concerned because I have an iphone 7 and had not noticed any problems yet.

[Ausmumof3]

22 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

This makes me concerned because I have an iphone 7 and had not noticed any problems yet.

It’s great that yours is still going strong! I got six years out of my first one which was a 5 and it was still functional at the end but the camera had quit working and storage was an issue but that’s because we’d only got the smallest storage space.

It might depend a lot what you’re using it for.  I tend to use mine for a lot of stuff and only use a laptop when I absolutely can’t do it on my phone.  
 

One issue we have a lot here is battery life because reception/signal in this area is poor.  Because the phone’s constantly searching for a new network it runs the battery down a lot faster.

[Innisfree]

Another vote for an Otterbox case and a screen protector, whichever phone you choose.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Innisfree

[catz]

I was just going to add, if you have a phone plan now you might check what would be most economical to add.   We all have moto phones here, teens too. We have apple iPads too so we aren’t anti apple.  We’ve been happy with our androids, I have certainly been using mine at least 3 years.   The phones and the plan we are on is just WAY more affordable when we were looking.  

[theelfqueen]

Also chiming in on an otterbox and a screen protector. I have always used both and think they're a necessity! DH uses otterboxes on his iPad as well as all of us using them on our phones.

Otterbox only makes their themey cases (Marvel, Star Wars etc) for iPhones. Otherwise plain black is generally the order of the day - retailers often only carry the newest model cases but there's a lot on their website and they are super quick to respond to warranty claims if your case gets damaged. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by theelfqueen