1st phone recommendations pls

[Imsosorryalan75]

I'm looking onto phones as my dd1 is heading to secondary in Sept. Internet safety is a key feature as is being able to monitor what she's doing.
I've seen the monqui Tesco phone but it doesn't have great reviews.

Any advice?

you could look at something like the oneplus 6t, and then download the kiddoware app on it which allows you to manage what they are looking at, what apps they can download etc

You say internet safety is key.
Do you want her to have internet access on her phone?

My DD2, 14, has a smart phone (her sister's old iphone5s I think) on a PAYG basis, but we don't pay for data and DH has 'blocked' something or other with the provider.

Actually I would now be happy to open stuff up a bit more, but DD2 hasn't asked. None of her friends use SM much (all young for their age, with risk averse parents I think). Social media and 11-14 yos is ripe for inviting issues.

I would also suggest you think what rules you want before she gets the phone. Much easier to start with 'no phones after 8pm and must be downstairs overnight' than to put the rule in later.

Get a dumb phone rather than a smart phone?

If you do want a smartphone, google family link is good as parental control software. It requires some set up but it's free and has a lot of the features of the paid ones except it's better integrated.

I’d actually go for a cheap iPhone - secondhand if necessary, if you have a Cex store near you it’s a good place to start, they all come with a warranty. iPhones have good parental controls and to be really honest most of the dc at secondary school have them and use the apps and games on them so she won’t be left out. Giffgaff is a great cheap pay as you go network.

I didn’t pay for data either. He was already in another planet and I didn’t fancy walking, crossing streets while reading stuff on his phone. It was an accident waiting to happen.

Having said that, telephones are forbidden at school, I even had to write to school explains he needed a phone for him to contact me about medical issues.

Not having much data on his phone kept him away from Facebook and other social media until he was about 14. By then he was perfectly mature to deal with Internet nasty comments,etc

As someone that works in tech - it depends what he will be using it for. If he wants good games on it, get something with 2GB RAM min for example. You could just ask him what he wants? He probably has an idea of what he wants