Mobile phone for teenagers?

[Lu Lu]

Please can I ask if anyone has any advice about phones for teenage boys? My son, currently 12 (13 in March) has my old Samsung Galaxy S6 at the moment and has been using that for about 18 months. He wants a new phone for Xmas but contracts nowadays are so expensive and I am not sure what the best phone for him is.

He likes Samsung phones and is used to them and I think he likes the 'prestige' that comes with having a Galaxy range one. Lots of his friends have the latest iphones etc and he is starting to become aware of keeping up with the Jones' (although he is very grateful for what he has got I think we're trying to avoid downgrading the phone too much.)

Like most teenage boys (I guess), he uses the phone to WhatsApp, message, (occasionally) telephone people and play silly games on (currently flavour of the month is Pacybits). I guess in the future he will get facebook, instagram and whatever it is that young people have these days.

Anyway, he is due an upgrade and looking at costs the monthly figure may go up. I had a galaxy S8 and I don't think he will like that so looking at an S9 but they're pricey. Also been looking at the A70 as they're a bit more reasonable and wondering if this is probably good enough for what he needs.

Does anyone know how the A and S series Samsung phones compare to each other at all?

Hoping Black Friday might bring some better offers than the ones out there at the moment!

[Cez]

Hey! I have the S8 and my husband has the S9 and both are great. I would say both these phones have what your son wants in a phone.

[Leggibone]

Basically he will want something that will keep the lastest version Of android for a while...
Have a look at the google pixel 3a - it’s a fab phone, looks nice, takes a cracking picture! And best of all the phones isn’t nearly a grand for the contract cost for them isn’t too bad. (Check mobiles.co.uk for the upgrade deals!)
I don’t use android- my limited knowledge comes from my siblings, but the pixels are very similar to Samsung’s, they just have less rubbish added to the firmware. (I also disowned an s2 cause I disliked it that much!)

[HappyPanda]

My daughter is 12 (also 13 in March) - she's been using an iphone 6s for the last year but I have just upgraded her to a Pixel 3a - it's an amazing phone and does everything she needs and has great parental controls too. We pay £29 for her contract which includes 9GB of data - more than she should ever need.

[nampam]

I would also recommend the google pixel 3a. My 15 year old son has this , we went to car phone warehouse and got the pixel , we pay £24 a month for 10gb of data and unlimited texts with 02. He absolutely loves it

[Lisa123wm]

The A range is the lower end.
I’d stick with the S range if that’s what he has now.
I would let him go with you and have a look at some. Tell him he can choose within a certain budget maybe?

[Lu Lu]

Originally Posted by Lisa123wm

The A range is the lower end.
I’d stick with the S range if that’s what he has now.
I would let him go with you and have a look at some. Tell him he can choose within a certain budget maybe?

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We want it to be a surprise for Xmas ideally as we've said already we can't afford to replace it at the moment.

Thanks all, have looked at Google phone but it's expensive too and if so different to samsung am tempted to stick to what he knows.

[Guest]

My husband is very tech minded and has an A90 because the specs were pretty similar and in some cases better than the S10 he was also considering. The main areas where the A90 fell short were things like pixels per inch which he admitted most people including him wouldn’t be able to tell.

I don’t if this is the same for the A70 you’d need to do or watch a spec comparison, or wether the A90 is within your budget but thought it was worth a mention!

[400ixl]

What sort of budget are you thinking of?

Take a look at the one OnePlus range. This is where people who want a premium phone without the price go. The 7T is the newest with the 7 having only been out for 6 months are already on the latest Android version. Even the 6T will have the latest version this month and is a much better phone than the Samsung S8 or S9.

Samsung are slow to keep up with Android and the phones are full of bloatware. Really not with the money. The Pixel range or OnePlus are much better choices.

Huewai is currently one to be careful of as they are falling foul of the US government and their latest phones are blocked from the latest version of Android services. It may change soon busy best avoided for now.

[Floridatilly]

We won’t pay more than £20 per month on a two year contract for our teenagers. As long as it has unlimited text and decent data they are happy.
Last year we got a great deal over Black Friday, I phone 7 £19 per month 👍🏻 That was for my 13 year old son (he was 12 at the time)
My daughter is due an upgrade this Christmas so we will wait and see what the best deals are over Black Friday