mobile phone for an 11 year old
Discussion
There are no health issues. We've had mobile phones for thirty years and now have over seven billion active subscriptions. If there was any discernible effect it would have shown up long ago.
Two things are used by the evil people selling "protection" against phones.
1. There was a government report about 10 years ago which said "We can't find any danger but if there is, children would be more susceptible than adults"
2. A list of many hundreds of things a reputable cancer organisation said it would look at as possibly be carcinogenic and which included mobile phones.
These get re-interpreted as "Government says Children more susceptible to the dangers of mobile phones" and "Leading cancer organisation is researching phone dangers".
I can dig out the sources if I must. It's impossible to prove a negative. You can't prove aliens don't exist but find one and you can prove they do. So no-one with an ounce of scientific grounding will be as bold as I have and say "there are no health issues", they will say "As far as we can tell there are no health issues". But then they usually go on to say "give us some more funding and we'll look some more".
Declared interest. I used to own What Mobile magazine, I've worked for mobile phone makers and the mobile phone operators association. I write about mobes and fondleslabs.
And to answer the question...
An eleven year old is way more phone savvy than you are. It's playground status. I'm of an age where there were internecine fountain pen wars between those that wrote with Sheaffers and the right-thinking Parker clan. Today schools is like that, and having the right phone is paramount. An eleven year old will know the difference between a MediaTek X10 and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810.
There is a new iPhone out on September 9th. That is probably the right answer. You might want to wait until then and get a price drop iPhone 6. Do not buy a 5c. You know how, given this is a car forum, it's said that the biggest problem with the Boxster is that everyone thinks you wanted but couldn't afford a 911? Well the 5c is like that.
If you want to go Android you pay for the name with a Galaxy S (note, no-one buys "A Samsung", they buy a "Galaxy S"). The S6 is big (it's lovely I've an S6 edge on loan at the moment and will be sorry when it goes back). But expensive. The Sony Xperia range is good, massively under-rated and the compacts are excellent. The new Z5 premium announced this week is a leap ahead of the market with a 5.2" 4k screen. Expect it to be amazingly expensive so not an option here.
If budget matters go for a Motorola G. They punch well above their weight for value and playground status. Particularly if you get a wooden case.
Or go left-field and buy a Lumia. They are really nice phones, very, very cheap for the performance and you can buy a cheap one because no-one can tell the difference between a 930 and a 630. It won't however have the apps you want. The forthcoming Windows 10 upgrade is promised to run Android apps. I'm hanging onto my 930 in the hope that it will run Strava, if it doesn't I'll be off to a 'droid.
Two things are used by the evil people selling "protection" against phones.
1. There was a government report about 10 years ago which said "We can't find any danger but if there is, children would be more susceptible than adults"
2. A list of many hundreds of things a reputable cancer organisation said it would look at as possibly be carcinogenic and which included mobile phones.
These get re-interpreted as "Government says Children more susceptible to the dangers of mobile phones" and "Leading cancer organisation is researching phone dangers".
I can dig out the sources if I must. It's impossible to prove a negative. You can't prove aliens don't exist but find one and you can prove they do. So no-one with an ounce of scientific grounding will be as bold as I have and say "there are no health issues", they will say "As far as we can tell there are no health issues". But then they usually go on to say "give us some more funding and we'll look some more".
Declared interest. I used to own What Mobile magazine, I've worked for mobile phone makers and the mobile phone operators association. I write about mobes and fondleslabs.
And to answer the question...
An eleven year old is way more phone savvy than you are. It's playground status. I'm of an age where there were internecine fountain pen wars between those that wrote with Sheaffers and the right-thinking Parker clan. Today schools is like that, and having the right phone is paramount. An eleven year old will know the difference between a MediaTek X10 and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810.
There is a new iPhone out on September 9th. That is probably the right answer. You might want to wait until then and get a price drop iPhone 6. Do not buy a 5c. You know how, given this is a car forum, it's said that the biggest problem with the Boxster is that everyone thinks you wanted but couldn't afford a 911? Well the 5c is like that.
If you want to go Android you pay for the name with a Galaxy S (note, no-one buys "A Samsung", they buy a "Galaxy S"). The S6 is big (it's lovely I've an S6 edge on loan at the moment and will be sorry when it goes back). But expensive. The Sony Xperia range is good, massively under-rated and the compacts are excellent. The new Z5 premium announced this week is a leap ahead of the market with a 5.2" 4k screen. Expect it to be amazingly expensive so not an option here.
If budget matters go for a Motorola G. They punch well above their weight for value and playground status. Particularly if you get a wooden case.
Or go left-field and buy a Lumia. They are really nice phones, very, very cheap for the performance and you can buy a cheap one because no-one can tell the difference between a 930 and a 630. It won't however have the apps you want. The forthcoming Windows 10 upgrade is promised to run Android apps. I'm hanging onto my 930 in the hope that it will run Strava, if it doesn't I'll be off to a 'droid.
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