Although Mr Z is still young, it won’t be too long until we have to start thinking about a phone for him. Once he gets a little older and starts to spend more time out of the house in after school clubs or out with friends I would definitely feel more comfortable for him to have a method of staying in touch. I know a lot of parents are quite conflicted about young children & phones and wouldn’t prefer for them to have a phone at a young age, but I think there would be definite positive sides to having a phone. If the child is young, you can always restrict and limit their use!
To find out more about using pay as you go rather than using phone contracts and how this could work well for children, Three mobile sent us a Samsung Galaxy Fame phone on pay as you go (PAYG) to review.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame is a great little phone, like all the Samsung Galaxy products it is an Android touch screen device. As we had a Samsung Galaxy tab before, Mr Z was very confident in how to use this phone and download some of the games he likes on the app store. I did not add any of my credit card details into the store so he is not able to download any in app purchases or expensive games at all, which means its not as worrying if he is browsing the games and I look away for a minute! Although he would be beside himself with joy to have the option of spending 60 or 70 quid for the highest package of tomatoes on Turbo Fast (he likes to tell me that when he is an adult, this is what he is going to spend his money on!) I wouldn’t be very pleased to see that coming out of my bank account.
This is a positive point to the pay as you go on the phone too, I wouldn’t have to worry that he could run up a huge bill as I would know exactly how much money is being put on the phone and be able to keep track of it. I do think that primary school children really only need the phone to stay in touch with parents when outside the house, and not so much for contacting friends so the pay as you go balance should last a pretty long time. Once they are in secondary school I’m sure a lot more texting and spending time chatting on phones is inevitable.
I would prefer not to give the newest or most expensive phone to a young child, however these days children know and enjoy a lot of the apps and games and would like to play them when they see a phone. I think the Samsung Galaxy Fame is a great compromise here as it does have touch screen and all the games that they would enjoy, but is not the most expensive phone available. The price for Samsung Galaxy Fame is quite reasonable at £99.99 on pay a you go.
The Samsung Galaxy Fame comes in a choice of metallic blue or pearl white. We have the white phone as you can see above. Here are some of it’s features and specifications:
- 3.5” HVGA display
- 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash
- Samsung Motion Features (Shake to update, Turn over to mute/pause)
- VGA front camera
- Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System
- S Beam sharing with NFC technology
Physical Specification
- 113.2 x 61.6 x 11.55mm Dimension
- 120.6g Weight
Memory
- 4GB Storage / 512MB RAM*
Battery
- Talk Time: Up to 520 / 370 minutes (2G / 3G)
- 1300mAh Battery Capacity
- USB Chargeble
It’s a very easy to use phone, which is pretty intuitive and self explanatory whatever your age – especially if you have previous experience with Android devices. This type of phone will be ideal for Mr Z as he grows a little older.
What are your thoughts about children and phones? What type of phone would you give them? Let me know in the comments.
*Specs quoted from the Samsung and Three websites. We were sent the phone in order to write this post.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I cannot imagine a day when LP has a phone although I know when she starts going to school by herself it may be a necessity! x
My son is already asking for his own phone, this would be a good compromise when we think he is ready as I don’t want huge bills! I like Samsung phones too as they are very neat.
This looks like a great little phone , my older ones have all had blackberrys .i bought each of them phones when they started at secondary school , i was more confident letting them go knowing they could contact me if they needed to #blogclub
I am firmly in the not giving ‘phones to children camp I’m afraid. I have only just got a smart phone myself and I have only ever been on pay as you go as I don’t use mine that much. I couldn’t afford a contract so if I did feel my kids needed phones they would get the most basic phone possible (def not a smart one) and it would def be pay as you go. My eldest is 9 and I have already let her walk to school by herself – when she is 10 the school will let her walk home (about half a mile) – she will not have a ‘phone. Just because she is out of my sight there is no reason why she needs to have to contact me. I accept when she goes to secondary school I will at some point have to give in but I think we are all far too reliant on instant contact these days – the world is no more dangerous than when we were kids (Jimmy Saville??) and as adults we have to learn to let our kids go, to trust them and their instincts and let them learn to be free. This is probably harder for us than it is for them. I should point out we live in a small village so I appreciate things would be different in a city however I am definitely a #freerangekids supporter. Sorry rambled a bit! #blogclub
I do not want my kids to have a phone! Certainly not one with an internet connection! Sends shivers down my spine. Even if you think you have got all the settings set correctly so they can’t access things kids these days find ways around things. But, by the time my kids go to secondary school I fear that all phones will be smart phones. It is such a shame that everyone has to be contactable at all times…even kids. It is such a burden. Remember the days when you could go off for a week on holiday and not have to contact anyone? I went travelling for 6 months around SE Asia and probably called home about 3 times…nobody worried because I was ‘uncontactable’!! So different these days 🙁
I think there are pros and cons to giving phones to children. I don’t think I will allow mine to have one until high school.
I am always amazed how confident young kids like mr z are with how to use smart phones these days. Any time he has my phone he is on the App Store downloading games onto it – when I first saw him at it I was actually shocked he knew how to do it lol. I do see the benefits in kids having a phone when out and about especially these days as everyone has a phone and its unusual not to, but I would definitely agree on limiting the amount of game time.
What a cute little phone for the little ones. Mine both have phones but are 11 and 14, so I don’t need to get tied up in the debate of ‘how young is to young’ with phones (yay!)
6yo would have a phone now if I let her! I am going to hold off for as long as I possibly can
We have an ’emergency’ 1st Fone which my 5 year old carries when we go to busy places like Volkswagen shows and he could get lost. It won’t go on the internet and it only dials pre-programmed numbers. I don’t think I’d se any need for a child younger than high school age to have anything more really.