This phone is EASILY the safest phone for children, especially those under the age of 12. Why? Simple: it doesn’t really do anything except make calls and send texts!
Giving your child a phone for the first time can be daunting. You can’t supervise them when they’re at school or playing with friends, so there is no way to tell what they’re looking at or who they’re talking to…
And this is a problem when you’re buying a phone for a young child. You have to be extremely careful about what they’re accessing online. And if that wasn’t enough, not setting up the phone properly could cost you thousands of dollars through in-app purchases.
iPhones and Android phones are great, but they give you unbridled access to the internet at all times – both the good and bad side of the internet. And this can be troubling for parents, especially if your child is young.
It’s a tricky predicament to navigate; having a phone means your child is safer because if they get lost, you’re just a phone call away. But no young child should have unfiltered access to the internet for obvious reasons.
I recently became a father, and I’ve been thinking about this issue for a few weeks now: what phone would I allow my son to have when he’s old enough (but still too young for unfiltered access to the web)? I know people that just give their young kids iPhones, but I’m not down with this approach.
For one, iPhones are VERY expensive. Second, I don’t really want my child browsing the web willy-nilly. Not until he’s maturer and old enough. I mulled over this for a week or so, and then it hit me – the perfect phone for kids already exists, I’d just kind of forgotten about it…
Meet The Nokia 3310 – AKA The Safest Phone For Kids
I’m talking about the Nokia 3310, of course! The phone that made phones popular amongst youngsters in the late-90s. I had one and about 90% of the people I went to school did too. The Nokia 3310 was a brick. It had Snake, made calls and sent texts and, once fully charged, would last about a month at a time.
This classic phone was one of the driving forces behind the mass adoption of mobile phones in the 1990s, cementing Nokia has a household brand name across the globe. And a couple of years ago, Nokia revived the 3310 for today’s market, adding new features, a new design, and a better camera.
Why Is The Nokia 3310 The Best Phone For Young Kids?
For starters, it’s NOT a smartphone. It does have internet connectivity, but it’s 2G – so very slow. This means media-rich sites will not load or, if they do, they will look terrible on the Nokia 3310’s 2.4in QVGA display. It doesn’t run apps, so no surprise in-app purchase bills on your credit card, and it has outstanding battery life, just like its predecessor, the original Nokia 3310.
And best of all? The Nokia 3310 only costs around $50!
From a design perspective, the Nokia 3310 is available in a range of colors and features a 2MP camera on the rear. The display, as previously mentioned, is small and low quality. The Nokia 3310 does a few things, basically – calls, texts, and music (if you fork out for an SD card). It is as basic as basic can be. But it’s a phone and it works just like the phone you had in the 1990s.
The chassis is extremely durable and the phone itself is relatively compact, measuring in at 116 x 51 x 12.8mm. The battery is removable and, unlike the latest iPhones, it features a headphone jack. Basically, the Nokia 3310 is about as spartan as a phone can be – but that’s the entire point!
- There’s No App Store, So No In-App Purchases
- There’s No Facebook
- There’s No WhatsApp
- There’s No YouTube
- And The Internet Connection is Too Slow To Use
If you want your child to have a phone, but you’re worried about what they will be exposed to online, then a phone like the Nokia 3310 is essentially the perfect phone – all it can do is make calls and send texts. That’s literally it. And this means you can rest easy knowing that your child isn’t doing anything they shouldn’t be.
The Nokia 3310 won’t run Facebook or WhatsApp. Browsing the internet will be a painful affair, thanks to the handset’s low-grade display and 2G internet connectivity. All your child will be able to do is play Snake, make calls, and send text messages.
Will your kid appreciate this when all their friends have iPhones and Android phones?
Probably not. But that’s not your problem; their safety is.
And best of all, the Nokia 3310 is dirt cheap; you can pick up from Amazon, in a range of colors, for around 50 bucks!
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