It wasn’t that long ago that mobile phones for kids were purely for emergencies, but now they’re pretty much a playground essential. We could, of course, debate the pros and cons of that fact for many hours – but in today’s connected world, the ability to stay in touch is just as important to children as to adults.
That also means they’re not likely to be satisfied with just a basic talk-and-text handset, as social networks play an increasingly significant role in their lives.
There's also the Pokémon issue to contend with – and while the chatter around Pokémon GO may have died down a little, it's still an incredibly popular game. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if Pikachu-pestering has finally caused many parents to cave in and decide it's time to let the kids go mobile!
However, as well as giving them a device with the functionality they need, you’ll also want a degree of control over what your kids can do with their phone – which can make choosing a suitable handset tricky.
For that reason, we asked our Agents to have a look at some of the more affordable phones from a parent’s point of view.
The first thing we looked at was cost: you don’t necessarily want to be paying a lot for a child’s phone, so we’ve capped the budget at £120 for a handset on pay-as-you-go. Size was also a consideration, as larger phones aren’t always suitable for little hands. Finally, we also looked at the parental control options – if any – that the phones had!
The best first smartphones for kids
Alcatel One Touch Pixi 3 (3.5)
RRP £49.99
The Alcatel OneTouch Pixi3 may be small, but it's packed full of great features. The Pixi3’s small size makes it ideal for little hands, but it’s also a surprisingly capable smartphone.
It has a dual-core processor, and its 4 GB of internal storage space gives you a decent amount to work with. You can also add up to 32 GB more storage with an SD card – although while this will increase the space you have for media files, many apps do need to run from the phone’s internal storage. There’s also a 2 megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera, so be aware that this phone can be used for video calls and, albeit low-res, selfies.
If you’re an Android aficionado and want your children to follow suit, Alcatel’s OneTouch Pixi3 is a great starting point. You can set some restrictions regarding purchases and content – check out our guide to Parental Controls in Android for more on this– but there’s a wide choice of more advanced apps available from the Play store if you want to monitor things more closely or place stricter restrictions.
Huawei Y3
RRP £59.99
Another cheap and cheerful handset, the Huawei Ascend Y3 still won’t break the bank. It’s fairly compact, which suits smaller hands, but the 4” screen still gives you a decent amount of space to play on. While it looks small compared to some of the monster phones available, it’s the same sized screen as the iPhone 5s and 5c.
With a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, this phone is a little more capable than the Alcatel when it comes to entertainment – but it’s up to you whether that’s a good thing or not! Unlike like the Pixi3, there’s no front-facing camera, but you do get a more powerful 5-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash.
Huawei use their own 'Emotion' user interface, which is a little simpler to use than most Android variants – and you can also change the home screen to a simpler layout, making things even easier to navigate. With regards to setting restrictions, it’s much the same situation as the Alcatel – so our Parental Controls guide should tell you everything you need.
Microsoft Lumia 550
RRP - £99.99
The Windows Phone operating system is fairly simple to use once you get used to it, and it’s probably easier to get to grips with than most of the Android variants. However given current trends it's important to point out that at present Pokémon GO is NOT available for Windows devices – but whether you see that as a pro or a con is entirely up to you!
It’s also more straightforward with regards to storage, as it will happily use the SD card for apps as well as media files – and its 8 GB of storage can be increased to a whopping 256 GB.
Windows Phone may not have a big market share like those of iOS and Android, but it has been steadily growing in popularity. Recent updates have greatly improved functionality, and the affordable nature and generous hardware specifications of the cheaper Lumia handsets make them excellent value.
Another benefit of a Windows Phone is that there are integrated parental controls when it's linked with a Microsoft account. Content is automatically age-restricted, and you can also restrict app downloads so they require parental approval. There's an added bonus if your child has an Xbox, as the Lumia 550 also integrates neatly with Xbox services and will apply the same content restrictions.
LG G4C
RRP £119.99
The LG G4c is an awful lot of phone for your money with a glorious 5” HD screen, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor and 8 GB of internal storage. The 4G capability is also a great bonus, providing high-speed Internet wherever you might be. That means it’s a great smartphone – but also means that its distraction potential is incredibly high too!
This is very much a grown-up phone, in size as well as performance, so probably isn’t best suited to younger children. However, it would be a great choice for a young teenager, as it'll do everything they could possibly want from a smartphone.
Obviously, with great power comes great responsibility – and while it’s important to place a certain amount of trust in your child, there’s no harm in taking a few precautionary measures. Keeping hold of their Google account password for accessing the Play Store is a sensible move – or even better, don’t save any payment details to your account, and instead use gift cards to ensure you have control over any purchases.
Like the other Android phones in this list, there are little in the way of built-in parental controls – but there are apps available to help you secure the phone if you wish, and our handy guide should point you in the right direction.
so which phone should i buy?
As you can see, there’s a great choice of handsets available for children of all ages – although there is still little to nothing in the way of phones designed specifically for kids. And while security features are improving, it unfortunately tends to be the more expensive handsets that we’re seeing them on – such as the 'Kids mode' on the Samsung Galaxy S7.
However, with the right apps in place and a few pre-emptive measures, you can still ensure that a cheaper phone is going to be safe and secure for your child to use – and any one of the above handsets should do the trick depending on your child’s age and requirements.
Do you have any more questions or queries about buying a kids’ phone? Don’t be afraid to ask in the comments box below and one of our Agents will get back to you as fast as they can. And for more informative articles straight to your inbox each month, why not get your name down below for the Geek Squad newsletter?