After months or years of impassioned arguments, your tween or teen has managed to convince you that he or she needs a smartphone. While you are not super excited to hand your 12-year-old a breakable mobile phone that is worth hundreds of dollars, you do recognize that your kiddo needs an easy and reliable way to reach you.
Image credit: PictureYouth.comHowever, agreeing to buy your teen or tween a phone does not mean you have to break the bank. The following makes and models are great starter smartphones for youthful first-time owners:
Galaxy S7 Edge
If your tween tends to be a bit on the careless side, a Galaxy S7 Edge phone is a great option. The smartphone is water- and dust-resistant, which means that a brief dunk in H2O won’t ruin the phone. It also boasts the advanced technology that kids love, including a high-end camera that is perfect for selfies and VR technology. The battery offers 36 hours of talk time, so you can reach your teen when needed.
Kurio Phone
Digital Trends lists the Kurio Phone as one of the best cellphones for kids, and for good reason. The smartphone features a GPS monitoring system that helps you know where your tween is, and it has a kid-friendly web surfing feature so you don’t have to worry about your youngin’ stumbling across adult websites on the internet. The phone costs an affordable $90 and comes with 25 pre-installed apps. If your child tends to lose things more than you would like or you are worried about him or her breaking an expensive smartphone, a Kurio is a modern-day smartphone that comes at a cost that won’t break the bank.
Moto E 2
The Android Moto E 2 phone from Motorola is another starter phone for tweens and teens. Like the Kurio, it has a price point that is friendly to the wallet (around $75). It lets your kid take pictures, stream video, download apps and access the internet. The phone is available from well-known retailers like Amazon and, as a bonus, you don’t have to commit to a contract to buy it.
TracFone
The TracFone company is the nation’s top no-contract wireless service provider. It doesn’t have daily or monthly fees and the company sells a wide variety of brand-name phones from top companies like LG and Samsung. TracFone also sells refurbished models like a reconditioned LG L22C Power Android phone that has a 4.5-inch touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera and unlimited carryover of unused data, talking and texting. If you want your kiddo to contribute part of his or her allowance to the cellphone costs, a TracFone makes it easy to do that since you can find models for around $50. You can purchase additional talking and texting minutes at tens of thousands of retailers around the country.
