First phone

[Kate3003]

The only thing my dd (nearly 10) wants for christmas is a phone. I have a lot of reservations about it but have reluctantly agreed... Her 2 best friends had i phones which she is also desperate to have but am not sure my budget will stretch to that... What are the best first phones for that age group and is it best to get on a contract? Someone mentioned giff gaff to me but not sure if that is the way to go....Thank you

Motorola moto g is a good phone. My DB was more than happy with his and he is 14. He has a htc now because my dad decided to pull the moto g off the charger instead of unplugging the charger from the phone and broke it, or he'd have still had it.
I had one until I got a new contract too. It's now just a spare phone.

Will have a look, thanks.

We got DS1 a Microsoft Lumia for his first phone for Christmas last year. It's pretty basic - some Apps don't work on it (Snap chat for instance) but for his needs its been fine. £7.50 a month contract and you can cap it so they don't accidentally use more than their plan allows.
shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/mobile-phones/microsoft/lumia+550?sku=36584

DS has the Motorola G on a £5 a month sim which works well. It came from a John Lewis and had a 2 year warranty.

Yes to the moto g phone. My nephew got it for big school and it's the one ill prob get my daughter when she moves next year. Mobile phones direct had a great offer 1000 mins, maybe unlimited texts and 2mb of data for £10 a month. Possible cash back too.

My 9 year old is desperate for a phone for Christmas, no way is he getting one. Imo 9 is to young!

I managed to miss the age and agree the Motorola G not reallly suitable for that age group . DS did have a phone at nearly 10 as had just started Middle school and it was useful for when clubs were cancelled or something went wrong with walking home as they do round here. We found a basic one on a PAYG did the job then .

If you are getting the moto g, make sure you get the 16g one as although they are fab phones, the 8g memory that we bought our ds is definitely too small.

We got a sim only from carphone warehouse online which is called Id and pay £7.50 per month for 250 mins, 2000 texts and 2gig of data. No contract, just one month at a time.

I agree, I have doubts about her getting a smart phone as well... Would want something that I could restrict things on and she would be extremely closely monitored! The main thing she wants to do is text her friends and it would mainly be kept in the house where she would be supervised. However, she also does a few activities where times are changed at short notice so it would be useful for that... However, in that instance, I wouldn't want her taking her phone out and using it for something other than texting me....

You can get her an iPhone for a decent price. Have a look on eBay or second hand shops such as CeX. It doesn't have to be the latest - you could get her an iPhone 4 or iPhone 5 for reasonable price.