iPhones for numpties
Author
Discussion

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
Looking for a bit of guidance here please.
I'm an iPhone numptie, in fact I have a dislike of anything Apple but 13 year old son is pestering for a (second hand) S6 (or S6S whatever the difference is.
.
Is it a good idea, are they any good, what should we be looking for and paying?

(taking into account that he broke the screens on a Nexus 7, his Nokia phone and most recently a Windows phone he was given).

He insists the iPhone is better and has Apps that he can't get anywhere else (and his mate has one).....

thanks in advance

Boney2728

89 posts

209 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
I just upgraded from a 6S, 128 gb and Apple offered me £165 for it. It was in good condition and I was happy with this price. I do not know what the price is on the street for one but it may be worth looking in CEX or something similar.

Tony1963

5,808 posts

193 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
I’d say a 6S is an ideal purchase for a 13 year old, as by the time the thing doesn’t receive updates to iOS, or iOS updates slow it down, the teen will have wrecked it anyway. If it looks like he gets on well with it, maybe consider a roughy toughy case.

Shuvi McTupya

24,460 posts

278 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
You can get a case with toughened screen protector for about £3 on ebay, if he breaks the screen with that on it he probably did it on purpose..

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
Just spoken to the seller: it's 3 year old, no charger cable and locked to Tesco.
A cable looks cheap enough on fleabay and unlocking about £10 at the local shop?

No idea how he breaks things ("it's not my fault")

1) the dog did it
2) it was just broke when I took it out my bag
3) I picked it up off my desk and the screen was cracked

Anubis

1,029 posts

210 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
iPhone 6S was released in September 2015. It's an upgrade to the iPhone 6. The phone that followed the iPhone 6S was the iPhone 7 (released in September 2016).

Tesco and Giffgaff use the O2 network so if you want to get a sim-only (i.e. pay as you go, no long term contract) from any of these 3 network providers there won't be any need to unlock it.

Unlocking it can be done by simply following this guide - so no need to pay anything (it's perfectly legal).

Cables can be found on Amazon and are pretty cheap. I recommend this one.

The phones themselves are really well made - just ask to see picture for any scratches and make sure all buttons work as expected. I would ask the seller to also provide you with what the battery health percentage is ( click here to see how the seller can do this via the settings on the phone).

Any battery health under say roughly 65-70% and you may want to consider a different phone with better battery or you can pay to get a new one from Apple, which currently costs £45. Under typical use (i.e. not constant gaming - just occasional checking, emailing, pictures, etc) a healthy battery should last all day - if your son will be running things on it constantly then expect it to last only a few hours before each recharge.

I don't really use them but the CEX stores in town (if you have one) buy and sell used iPhones so you can have a play with some. Depending on the quality of the device will alter the price but should be roughly the same as eBay ones.

The phones themselves come with varying amounts of available storage (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB). I would recommend 64GB and above (ideally 128GB) so he has enough space to download and install his games, apps, pictures, videos, etc otherwise you'll be hearing "dad I need a new phone. This one has run out of space and i don't want to delete anything". The storage cannot be upgraded - it's physically built into the phone itself so unlike other phones you cannot just add a new memory card into it - you're stuck with what you got. Obviously the more storage equals higher cost.

Edited by Anubis on Saturday 6th April 17:54

Turn7

25,779 posts

252 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
Cheap cheap cable dont work for some reason. Need to spend 6/7 quid IIRC.

To life proof an iPhone, get it into an Otterbox defender......will last forever then.

anonymous-user

85 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
What apps would they be ?
Facetime and .....?

The_Jackal

4,854 posts

228 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
He want's one because his mates have them.
Maybe take half the money out of his pocket money, he might take better care of it then. Probably not though, if he has broken all those phones and you just replace them for him.

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
The_Jackal said:
He want's one because his mates have them.
Maybe take half the money out of his pocket money, he might take better care of it then. Probably not though, if he has broken all those phones and you just replace them for him.
Nexus7 his Mums
First phone Mums hand me down
Second phone a friends hand me down
This new one will be part funded by us and the rest by him

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
Anubis said:
iPhone 6S was released in September 2015. It's an upgrade to the iPhone 6. The phone that followed the iPhone 6S was the iPhone 7 (released in September 2016).

Tesco and Giffgaff use the O2 network so if you want to get a sim-only (i.e. pay as you go, no long term contract) from any of these 3 network providers there won't be any need to unlock it.

Unlocking it can be done by simply following this guide - so no need to pay anything (it's perfectly legal).

Cables can be found on Amazon and are pretty cheap. I recommend this one.

The phones themselves are really well made - just ask to see picture for any scratches and make sure all buttons work as expected. I would ask the seller to also provide you with what the battery health percentage is ( click here to see how the seller can do this via the settings on the phone).

Any battery health under say roughly 65-70% and you may want to consider a different phone with better battery or you can pay to get a new one from Apple, which currently costs £45. Under typical use (i.e. not constant gaming - just occasional checking, emailing, pictures, etc) a healthy battery should last all day - if your son will be running things on it constantly then expect it to last only a few hours before each recharge.

I don't really use them but the CEX stores in town (if you have one) buy and sell used iPhones so you can have a play with some. Depending on the quality of the device will alter the price but should be roughly the same as eBay ones.

The phones themselves come with varying amounts of available storage (16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB). I would recommend 64GB and above (ideally 128GB) so he has enough space to download and install his games, apps, pictures, videos, etc otherwise you'll be hearing "dad I need a new phone. This one has run out of space and i don't want to delete anything". The storage cannot be upgraded - it's physically built into the phone itself so unlike other phones you cannot just add a new memory card into it - you're stuck with what you got. Obviously the more storage equals higher cost.

Edited by Anubis on Saturday 6th April 17:54
Thanks very much for that, most helpful.
think the one for sale locally is 16GB so maybe wait?
It's 3 years old and £170 which seems expensive, there was a 32GB recently for £80 which seems cheap when comparing with others on ebay/gumtree.

Shuvi McTupya

24,460 posts

278 months

Saturday 6th April 2019
quotequote all
Skyedriver said:
Thanks very much for that, most helpful.
think the one for sale locally is 16GB so maybe wait?
It's 3 years old and £170 which seems expensive, there was a 32GB recently for £80 which seems cheap when comparing with others on ebay/gumtree.
If you come across an unusually cheap phone advertised locally to you on gumtree and in conversation the seller says he has moved out of the area since placing the advert, walk away. It is a popular scam to try and get you to send some money to pay him to ship the great bargain phone to you. The phone doesn't exist.


Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Sunday 7th April 2019
quotequote all
FFS he's whined on all day about a new phone! First world problems of a 13 year old.

Anyway going looking at a local phone shop tomorrow and I've put feelers out with another contact.

I still don't know why an iPhone (other than a couple of mates have just got one and they have Apps on that he used to use at his last school on an ipad).

He's into making videos and stuff (mainly the two dogs we have, before you ask). Knowing the sometime compatability issues of Apple stuff, can you download stuff from an iPhone to a Microsoft PC or has it got to be an applemac thing?

Shuvi McTupya

24,460 posts

278 months

Sunday 7th April 2019
quotequote all
Getting pictures and videos from the phone to a PC is as simple as plugging it in with a USB cable and dragging and dropping files from it.

Moving stuff the other way requires iTunes or some other software.


Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Sunday 7th April 2019
quotequote all
Thanks for that. But oh no not bloody iTunes. I am supposed to use that to put music on my wife's ipod and it's a pain that always seems to go wrong.

Shuvi McTupya

24,460 posts

278 months

Sunday 7th April 2019
quotequote all
Skyedriver said:
Thanks for that. But oh no not bloody iTunes. I am supposed to use that to put music on my wife's ipod and it's a pain that always seems to go wrong.
Agreed. I have a pc, an iPhone and an iPad. I never use iTunes for anything!

I use software called mobimover to put stuff on my Idevices.

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Monday 8th April 2019
quotequote all
Shuvi McTupya said:
Skyedriver said:
Thanks for that. But oh no not bloody iTunes. I am supposed to use that to put music on my wife's ipod and it's a pain that always seems to go wrong.
Agreed. I have a pc, an iPhone and an iPad. I never use iTunes for anything!

I use software called mobimover to put stuff on my Idevices.
A new one on me but thank heavens there's a way around iTunes.
(Drag n drop for all my stuff, PC, lap top, android phone, Cowon for music etc)

Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Tuesday 9th April 2019
quotequote all
Update:
Bought an iPhone 7 off the bay this morning, good description, photos etc.

Tomo1971

1,177 posts

188 months

Tuesday 9th April 2019
quotequote all
Skyedriver said:
Update:
Bought an iPhone 7 off the bay this morning, good description, photos etc.
One really good thing on iPhones is the ability to lock them down for kids - block access to app store, in app purchases etc, even down to stop him changing the volume limit or turning data roaming on etc.

You can also set up find my friends (if you have other compatible apple devices) and be able to see his location - you can then also lock out access to that so he cant turn location off to stop you seeing where he is - he would have to turn the phone off to stop it.



Skyedriver

Original Poster:

23,688 posts

313 months

Wednesday 10th April 2019
quotequote all
Tomo1971 said:
One really good thing on iPhones is the ability to lock them down for kids - block access to app store, in app purchases etc, even down to stop him changing the volume limit or turning data roaming on etc.

You can also set up find my friends (if you have other compatible apple devices) and be able to see his location - you can then also lock out access to that so he cant turn location off to stop you seeing where he is - he would have to turn the phone off to stop it.
Interesting, I believe "Location" uses battery quite quickly?
I think other than my Wifes Gen 2 ipod it's the only Apple thing we have.
Think (hope) he's sensible enough with Applestore, he hasn't a credit card but a debit card. There again, he's too tight to spend any money, only free apps!