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My 12 year old son has been bugging me for one for a while. Told him that there was no way I was buying him one or paying for a data plan. Last week, a colleague of mine told me that he had to buy a new iPhone for his wife as the home button on her 3G had stopped working. I offered to buy it as a parts phone, but he gave it to me.
Ordered a new screen with home button and a replacement lcd as the original was having a few issues. $30 later, I've got a 3G that works perfectly.
As my son is having one of his best school years ever, I thought that I would give it to him as a reward. Needless to say, he's ecstatic over a 3 year old phone.
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that damn data plan is the only thing keeping me from getting an iphone
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I hope he continues to have a good academic year. of course, if he doesn't, you'll know a potential problem area!
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Well, I don't think you buy an iPhone for your son is a bad thing, on the contrary, Maybe it can do much thing to improve his study if use correctlly in the right guidance.
Just as this article
http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/should...aptop.html said, what functions can do for his study? And I read that an iPad make a 6 year old can do great animation, and imaginative. So don't worry.
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You traded an iPhone for a teenager ? Great deal !
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I gave my 12 YO an iPhone 2G to use on our TMo plan. I turned off data, so he just uses it as a phone for calling/texting, and he does everything else over WiFi. Oh, and it is an ipod...
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Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I have to question whether it's a good idea to be giving a 12 year-old a cell... at what age do you say it's too young? I would very much worry about what a child this age would be doing with it. Let's be honest; it's doubtful he/she would be using it for studies.
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I refused to give our then 14 year-old son my wife's old iPhone 3g when he lost his T-Mobile prepaid phone. That phone was a hand-me-down from his sister. Part was that he'd lost it, and part was that I want it as a backup if one of our other 3 iPhones gets lost or whacked.
So I lent him a very old Nokia, which he also lost.
So he bought an unlocked Palm Pixi Plus, which he broke by something in his backpack pressing on it about a month later. Luckily we think the credit card will cover it under the 90 day accidental damage coverage.
My two older kids got cellphones at ages 12 and 13 when we were living abroad for a year. They both lost their phones within 3 months.
Our other child hasn't lost a cellphone (at least not permanently) but has gone through a couple of cameras.
And I have kids who are, on the whole, quite responsible.
So my advice is: make him pay for it, and if it gets lost he'll learn a good lesson. Give him a discount on the typical eBay price if you want, but make him pay for it.
Also, if you are going to use the phone on AT&T they WILL start charging you a montly data plan fee if you are on a monthly plan. Transferring a SIM from another phone won't work: they can tell you have an iPhone on the network.
Different story on T-Mobile, and others seem to be able to work the AT&T iPhones on H2O wireless.
Good luck.
- Winston
