Which smart phone for my 10-year old daughter?

[Dario]

My daughters Huawei smart phone has done its time. We want to buy her a new phone, but not an iPhone as Apple controls the device, slows it down and blocks updates. I as her father have experienced this first hand. Amy is playing tennis but hangs too much at her phone instead ofv improving her tennis game. So, we told her to improve and then she would get a nice phone. She use it only to play Roblox and cruise on youtube.

I know the Chinese are improving a lot now and are on the way to beat Apple, Samsung & Co. Maybe a very good Oppo? Who has some experience or ideas to put forward? 

After I published the thread, Amy just told me between two (tennis) shots that she would like to have an iPhone.  So be it then. Is the iPhone 11 any good?

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Dario
have to add something

[otherstuff1957]

I would stick with Huawei.  Mine is the most reliable phone I have ever had, with good battery life, and, after 3 years, it is just as fast as when it was new.  I do not think I will every buy another brand.

[guzzi850m2]

For a 10 year old? Anything below 200$.

 

My 10 year old son uses our old phone but only at the house.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

And you don't think Huawei would slow down a device and block updates etc?

 

Apple offer probably the best solution for parents wanting to keep tabs on what their kid are doing on their phone. 

 

They have a feature called Family Sharing. I use it on my daughter's phone. 

 

My daughter is a bit younger than yours but from my iPhone I am able to control exactly what she is watching or playing on her phone. I have to approve all the apps and games she downloads and she only has the kids version of YouTube etc. I'm able to set up time limits on how long she uses the phone. She can't use the phone after 7.30pm for example.

 

I only set up Family Sharing feature a few months ago but it has completely improved my daughter's relationship with the phone. She is no longer glued to it for hours, and because she understands there are time limits in place, we no longer have to deal with the tantrums trying to get her off the phone. 

[Dario]

20 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

I would stick with Huawei.  Mine is the most reliable phone I have ever had, with good battery life, and, after 3 years, it is just as fast as when it was new.  I do not think I will every buy another brand.

Isn't Huawei on a war path with Donald Trump or vice versa? I thought Huawei has to develop its own OS or am I wrong? If a Huawei,  which newer model would you suggest, now that we are in 2020?

Edited January 20, 2020 by Dario

[Number 6]

Low end Motorola.

[kekalot]

would agree, Motorola Moto G used to be cheap and quite good, not sure how much nowadays

 

I switched recently from Motorola to Xiaomi phones, namely the Redmi Note 7 (and a Note 8 Pro after) and the 7 can be had for 4000 and 5000 baht on Lazada (depending if she needs storage or not)

great phones, does everything I want and more.

 

only two "issues" i had was getting a screen protector and case could not be sourced locally .. and when i first got it, it was showing ads but there was always an option in all the 3-4 apps that did show ads to disable them in settings and then they are not seen again.

 

my friend had a huawei and wanted me to dump files on it but when you connected it to USB on the computer it just asks you to install an app.. vs my Xiaomi i got asked if it was to transfer files and then had full access to it.

Edited January 20, 2020 by kekalot

[Swiss1960]

Are u crazy wanting to buy a high end expensive iPhone 11 for a 10y old? My 15y old got a Samsung A30, add an SD card, all for less than 10'000 and plenty of memory. More important will be the phone contract for speed. 

[Stocky]

What smartphone for a 10yr old?

 

None.

[Dario]

8 minutes ago, Stocky said:

What smartphone for a 10yr old?

 

None.

You're probably right. Once the kids have one, it's hard to get them off the phone. And this is across our planet. And everything (education, whatever) and every one suffers from their addiction ...

Edited January 20, 2020 by Dario

[peterb0576]

Pop into 7/11 my wife got a good phone in there for just over 500bht for my 13 year old son, he can't take it to school, uses it for about 1 hr in the evening and on the weekend. Why pay more they are only going to drop the damm thing ????????

[gimo]

12 hours ago, Dario said:

You're probably right. Once the kids have one, it's hard to get them off the phone. And this is across our planet. And everything (education, whatever) and every one suffers from their addiction ...

   I don't want to give my son ( now 8 y.o. ) a phone , for the above reasons , at least until he's a teenager . Any suggestions on how to deal with the peer pressure he'll have , to get one , like all his school friends ? I'm worried he'll be treated differently to other students . He already has to deal with being a 'look krung'.

[OneMoreFarang]

13 hours ago, Dario said:

she would like to have an iPhone.  So be it then. Is the iPhone 11 any good?

Are you aware what they cost? And how much they cost to repair?

If she drops it one time the repair cost as much as 5 decent Android phones.

And if she dropped her iPhone I can't imagine papa telling her that now she will get a cheap(er) Android.

 

Personally I think shopping by budget makes sense. I.e. have a look at YouTube videos like this - depending on your budget.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

Have a look what a top apple expert has to say. He has lot's of great videos.

 

[Salerno]

I'd be a horrible parent; no way in hell would I be paying around 25,000 Bht for an iPhone for a 10 year old. Cheap Android at best. 

[soalbundy]

13 hours ago, guzzi850m2 said:

For a 10 year old? Anything below 200$.

 

My 10 year old son uses our old phone but only at the house.

same here but now at 12 years old he is addicted to it, getting him that was a big mistake.

[Deli]

A 10 year old should grow up as a child and a smart phone definitely doesn't help doing this.

 

[featography]

13 hours ago, Dario said:

You're probably right. Once the kids have one, it's hard to get them off the phone. And this is across our planet. And everything (education, whatever) and every one suffers from their addiction ...

theres living proof in my house of that. 

 

[featography]

34 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

same here but now at 12 years old he is addicted to it, getting him that was a big mistake.

A friend gave my daughter (9) an old notebook. Worse thing I could have ever allowed to date. 

chores down

homework down

complaining up

suffering from 'I'm equal to an adult' syndrome. 

 

[Damrongsak]

I never had a smart phone until a relative gave me an iPhone 6 plus last year.  It's neat and useful on occasion, but I really don't like it.  I'm much more used to IBM PCs and DOS/Windows.  The little silly pastel icons don't tell me what I have to press to get it to do what I want to do.  And with my fingers, I always have to press halfway over to the key to the left on the touchscreen to get the correct character. 

[andygrr]

The worst thing if you want smart kids is a smart phone. Get them a basic phone so you can get hold of them and them you in case of emergency. Get them a laptop to use at home where they can be supervised.

[Ventenio]

Iphone 11 max plus if you want her to love you

If under 20,000 baht, love turns into "strong like"

and if under 10,000 baht, expect to be hated for life

 

Kids are super expensive.  30,000,000 baht for their lifetime if you really provide for them (school, everything.)

 

Money is nothing when compared to the smile you kid gets when you give him an iPhone 11 max plus.

 

lol

 

hand him/her two cups with a string.  

[Vascoda]

I took my daugther and GF to the mall and asked her to pick whatever she wants but the price must be 6k or less. My GF persuaded her to pick a 5K phone (I think Oppo), and the GF kept the one thousand ???? I prefer to give choice with a budget. 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Vascoda

[nikmar]

my 12 year old boy got a second hand Oppo for 3000 last year. he doesnt need to do fancy stuff - a couple of games and You tube.

 

As stated above, worst thing we ever let him have, but we do make an effort to keep him occupied - muay thai classes, learning to cook with his Mum etc. but if he s been on it a while it can be a battle to seperate him from it. 

 

"No phone for a week" does work well as a deterent / punishment though!

[Skallywag]

I like my Xiaomi Redmi 6,  Paid around 3000 baht on Lazada, had it for over a year, dropped many times no problem, only had to replace screen cover that cracked, for 150 baht.   Old model now, would have to upgrade to a Redme 8 64.  https://www.lazada.co.th/products/xiaomi-redmi-8-621-ram4rom64gb-i526910733-s944832734.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.13.3d625303Zmy6pL&search=1

[LukKrueng]

2 hours ago, gimo said:

   I don't want to give my son ( now 8 y.o. ) a phone , for the above reasons , at least until he's a teenager . Any suggestions on how to deal with the peer pressure he'll have , to get one , like all his school friends ? I'm worried he'll be treated differently to other students . He already has to deal with being a 'look krung'.

That goes few years back, but I refused giving my kids a phone while in primary school even though most of their friends had phones. We always sent them to / picked them up from school and if they had to call us there were public phones at school or sometimes they's borrow a friend's phone.

At matayom they got a bit more freedom - we still sent them to school, but allowed them to go out of school with friends so at that point they got the simplest 500 THB phone so they can call us and we could call them when needed. After graduating from high school they got their first good quality Samsung smartphones. 

But talking to friends with young kids now, they say that most if not every class have line or facebook groups for the kids and many times the teachers also use this medium to send information and not being able to join these groups will leave the kids disconnected and isolated so it's a tough call. I wouldn't do anything due to peer pressure and always told my kids not to give in to such pressure, so I'd say you have to consider the actual necessity of having a phone. If it's just "because everybody have them" I'd say no. If it's a practical tool then yes, but probably no need to go for the top of the line - just the phone that will answer to their actual needs.

 

BTW - it worked well for us. None of my kids are glued to their phones 24/7. They use it as a tool and not live their life through it. When they are working / studying / socializing with friends they put the phone away.

[SoonOh]

Let kids be kids. Does 10 years old need smartphone? Just for security https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXHZL94/ref=psdc_7939901011_t3_B07T63MRMJ

[Anders W Ferslev]

go for the new Nokia ... even the cheap phones they promis android update for 2 years... and they come with Android one, so they are not full of <deleted> apps you cant delete ... try to look on youtube why to choose android one

[ujayujay]

No Smartphone is the best Smartphone!

[CM Dad]

None.  A ten-year old child does not need a phone.  Buy her some books instead.