Hi, my daughter is coming up to age 11 and has started going out for short periods of time to park and high street with friends. I've always said that when she is going out unsupervised will be when I get her a mobile phone.

OK - which one! She wants a Blackberry Curve or Touch ideally. For safety reasons as well as cost I think this is unnecessary - I'm sure she'd be no match for a 17 year old hoodie if he took a fancy to it!

She also likes the Samsung Chat, which we dont really know anything about. We like the sound of the X10 mini pro but, again its a minefield.

Can anyone recommend something suitable for her, the only thing she asks is does it come in purple!

Thank You

this phone is cheap and good it works very well with msn facebook and all other chats it has android http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mob...learance=false or this http://www.mobiles.co.uk/t-mobile-al...wilxq&istBid=t

You should get her a phone thats suits your needs, give her your old phone from about 5 years ago. It will enable you to keep intouch with her.

Galaxy Apollo £79 or Europa for £49.

Both little androids that she can download wee games to play with for free over your home wifi, it will make her want to carry the phone and have it turned on!

Inexpensive so no big loss should the *almost* enevitable happen and still a nice handset that she won't be embarrassed to be seen with.

You can pick up covers in all sorts of colours on ebay for a quid or two.

edit: spelling etc.

A cheap phone will do the job.

Something like the vodafone 547 is ideal....cheap and doesnt look too bad either! no always-on data so stops unwanted charges...but has internet for facebook/basic browsing

Thanks, I was actually planning on a contract rather than pay as you go.

Bad idea, really.

A family deal will allow her to phone you and other relatives for free (as you'd be paying for the service via your bill) but if she wants to phone her friends or buy ringtones etc then she'd need to acquire top ups... you then have to opportunity to teach the value of money rather than handing the big responsibility of a contract that she's not paying for to her.

Here's the o2 bolt on http://yourfamily.o2.co.uk/familybolton but other networks do pretty much the same.... here's vodafone's: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/p...y-and-friends/

Why is that may I ask?

One that I would think of would be the Motorola Defy as it is designed to be durable. If its in the right price range it may be suited to an 11 year old.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mob...MOTOROLA-DEFY/

A demo of its durability:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvAAp0_fJ4w

Find out what her friends have. If they are all into blackberry messaging then thats the way to go, as its cheaper than texting. If not you could probably get away with something like a HTC Wildfire. Both can be gotten on contract for less than £15 a month.

I thought if I spend approx £20 per month on a contract it would be the equivalent of £5 a week PAYG. She's far more likely to exceed the £5 a week if im topping it up. And I would top it up more cos I wouldn't want her being out with no credit.

I have looked around for Blackberry deals - as a purple curve is the one she really wants. I havent seen one that cheap though - and I would have to get it insured.

What puts me off her having a Blackberry is the safety issue. I think its far more likely to get stolen. I was thinking of a BB maybe in a couple of years.

To be honest, if she was in the situation where her phone was going to get stolen then any phone would go.
It is important at that age to check what all her friends have. To you it may be just a quick emergency device. To her, it's a status symbol and social device.
Have you talked to her and asked her? Ask her friends parents and see what they did....
I would also always go PAYG for kids. They have to learn how to budget sometime eh? Most of their stuff will be texting or messaging of some description. Plenty of good PAYG packages out there to cover all that.

Everyone I know who has given someone under 18 a mobile phone contract has, at least once, ended up with a stupidly high bill. Sometimes it's deliberate, sometimes it's accidental but it's happened every single time.

I'd really suggest that payg is a better route to take, and I'd suggest looking at giffgaff and their goody bags as an option http://giffgaff.com. They're pretty good value and allow you to keep a lot tighter control. A good point from another poster is that it's probably a good mechanism for teaching the value of money too.

I guess the question you need to ask yourself about what phone to get her is what you want her to be doing with it. For instance if you keep an eye on what she's doing on the computer (and you probably are), do you really want a phone where she can completely bypass all the protection you've put in place?

I recommend you go with 3, they have some really good deals designed for kids/teens and you can "Cap" there usage so no worries about large bills, works gr8 for my teenagers.

I think a 11 yr. old girl doesn't need a mobile phone with text, so you may get a second hand mobile to be in contact with her.

No, bad, my sister in law did that and got a £750 bill. The girl is 11, install some reality and go for a budget phone. A giff gaff sim card and £10 a month (called a Goodie bag) gives you unlimited texts and 250 mins of calls to any network and unlimited internet should the phone have that capability. If she uses up her 250 minutes then top up another £10.

I don't think I know any 11 year old girls who don't have one.....Time to move into the 21st century, no matter how unpalatable it is!!

As a matter of interest...What phone doesn't text, new or second hand??

Never, ever give a youngster a contract phone, especially someone as young as 11! You are simply asking for a rod for your own back when she inevitably goes over the contract minutes.

Get HER to pay for the top ups out of her pocket money, not you. She will then learn the value of money and will not get used to Mummy & Daddy topping up whenever she demands. And by demands, I mean when she runs out of credit after 3hrs and 10mins!

Kids that young rarely have a concept of expense. They think all they need to do is ask Mummy and Mummy will topup.

Don't get her an expensive top of the range phone, that's asking for trouble. She'll either get mugged, break it, or sell it to her friend for £20 and never get the money of said friend.

Good luck.

i would concur with this 11 is too young for the responsibility of a contract and expensive phone, i know 2 people with the Galaxy Apollo and its no worse than more expensive androids. There are so many pay as you go offers for £10 to £15 for a months worth of calls, texts and internet.
you need to find out what network and brand of phone her friends have? there is whatsapp that is multi platform too.

Go for either the Samsung Apollo or Europa. Good, cheap phones that do all the important stuff.

But, buy a PAYG handset. If your daughter can afford £15 a month from pocket money etc, she can get unlimited data, 300 mins +3000 texts from 3.

How about getting her a phone around the £100 mark then getting her a giffgaff sim which you pay for monthly and not tied into a long contract?

O2 text and web, top up a minimum of £10 per month..... free internet, 300 free texts ...call charges start at 25p for the first two minutes then reduce down (O2 guess you will just use the actual "phoning someone" part as an emergency

....works for me (but then again, allegedly, I am an adult

information is on the O2 webbie

Giffgaff sim is the way to got. £10 for unlimited texts, unlimited data and 250 mins of calls to all UK networks and landlines for £10 a month and thats payg. Then all you need is a second hand phone thats either unlocked or locked to O2.