thoughts on iPhone instead of iPod Touch?

[mrudman]

My daughters and I all have the 4s's and service through Ting (which is a pay-as-you-go company). I bought the phones over a year ago outright for about $100 each. Since then, our monthly bill has never exceeded $45 for all 3 phones. And that's with calling/texting/data. I do limit my daughters' phones to 500 mb of data per month, but they usually don't come close to that. And they call/text a LOT, lol. We've also never had problems yet with the 4s not being able to run programs. We all have the latest iOS, and dd's have never mentioned not being able to download/play a game they wanted to. So, I say for it and get her the iPhone 4s,

 

[kristenrice]

DH and I each had an iPhone 4S. When we upgraded to the 6, we gave our DD's (ages 9 and 11) our 4S's, but they are not activated. The girls love them because they can watch Netflix, stream Pandora radio and listen to their own music when ever they are at home or at the grandparents (after-school care). As long as they have wi-fi, they are good to go. They can also use them as their cameras, but they are only 16GB so they've found that the storage fills up fast.

I will add that the girls each got a Galaxy Tab 3 16GB for Christmas last year. Sprint had them for $50 with new activation and they each have 2GB of data per month for $15/each. They don't typically use their data since we have wi-fi EVERYWHERE, but if we cancel, we lose the $15 price, so we've decided to keep it. Next year, DH and I will be eligible for new iPhones so we may upgrade, give the 6's to the girls and activate them on our family plan. Then, we'd cancel the data on their tablets because we have a family plan with unlimited data. It will add $30/month to our bill, but then we will all have phones and unlimited data.

 

[bethy]

I agree that a 4th generation anything isn't going to support some things she wants to do. If you are going with an itouch I would get a new one. We are struggling with this too, but my DS is 14.

As for the "I do not understand the bias against the iphone over the ipod at ALL." I will gladly tell you my reasons. #1 I don't want to pay a monthly charge. His tracfone is less than $100 a year and more than suits his calling/texting needs. #2 The ipod is for relaxation when he has downtime, primarily at home or in the car. If he had the phone he would be on it every spare second of the day. (I realize this is not true for all kids.. my DD has an iphone and is fine.) I would prefer he interacts with people. (Unfortunately this is usually looking over other kids' shoulders while they are on their phones.) #3 His new ipod from last Christmas was gone by Easter (either lost or stolen.. not entirely sure. I do know we had asked him not to take it to school) If it had been a phone I would have had to replace it.

Also, while $10 a month sounds great, most kids can use 60 texts in 5 minutes or less.

If you are leaning toward the phone you can always get the 4s and see how she does. It's easy to upgrade later. My 16 year old has a 4s because it was a hand me down and it's that or nothing. She doesn't complain, but I know it glitches quite a bit. We are getting her a 5s for Christmas as she'll be going off to college in the fall and will need something reliable. She has the $30 T-Mobile plan w/100 talk minutes and unlimited data.

So I am a typical lame, kinda lazy, cell service customer in that we have a family plan, with commitments, etc. So adding my youngest DD's used, older generation phone, *felt* like it cost us almost nothing because we have a certain amount of data for our whole family and she gets a part of that. We don't use much data overall and our data needs did not increase when she got a phone. And yes there is also a small "access" fee to give her a phone line but for our family each person having a phone is a huge priority for practical and safety reasons and so we would have paid that access fee for a flip phone anyway.

As for the issue of keeping kids from using it too much I totally get that - and it really varies by kid. However I cannot see any difference between an iphone and an ipod in that case, unless maybe the kids spends most of their time in the car that doesn't have wifi, etc.

 

[zoemurr]

So I am a typical lame, kinda lazy, cell service customer in that we have a family plan, with commitments, etc. So adding my youngest DD's used, older generation phone, *felt* like it cost us almost nothing because we have a certain amount of data for our whole family and she gets a part of that. We don't use much data overall and our data needs did not increase when she got a phone. And yes there is also a small "access" fee to give her a phone line but for our family each person having a phone is a huge priority for practical and safety reasons and so we would have paid that access fee for a flip phone anyway.

As for the issue of keeping kids from using it too much I totally get that - and it really varies by kid. However I cannot see any difference between an iphone and an ipod in that case, unless maybe the kids spends most of their time in the car that doesn't have wifi, etc.

The difference for us is that the phone goes to school. The iPod was not supposed to, did, and was missing quickly. We did not replace it. I don't think he needs to be playing on it on the school bus, (less than 10 minutes) during lunch, or on breaks between school and sports which he would be. My DDs plan (iphone) is $30 a month. Mom/Dad/DS have tracfones for less than $300 a year combined. Yes, I realize I am both cheap and mean. Oh well.

OP: if she is asking for a touch and that is what her friends have then I would just buy her that. If you think she needs/is ready for a phone and you are willing to pay the fees then go that route. I'm sure she will be thrilled either way.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

DD13 has an iPhone 4S, which used to be her sister's. I know it can't get the Snapchat updates (the graphics you can add to the pictures), but your DD10 probably doesn't use Snapchat yet. It also loses battery life VERY quickly - DD will take it in the car and it will drop from 50% to under 10% very quickly. We are getting her a newer iPhone for Christmas.

 

[wenrob]

My two will be getting our hand me down 5's for their 10th birthday next week. They are getting more independent and I want them to be able to call/text me without having to hunt down WiFi. I plan to pay oldest DD's 6 off and so our bill will actually go down a few bucks after adding them. They're at an age where they want to text/call friends and since we don't have a landline anymore I'd rather it not be on my phone. For me it will be more convenient than iPods and I can lock them down pretty tight so I'm not too concerned about data. It's about a year and half sooner then I planned but the reality is there aren't pay phones on every corner anymore and this makes me feel better about letting them fly on their own a little more.

I do agree with PP that getting a 4 will not have a whole lot more life left in it but it should be fine for a year or so.

 

[Dashzap]

I liked my boys having cell phones once they were middle school aged so I could reach them easily when they weren't home. On the other hand, you can pick up a refurbished ipod from Apple at a pretty good discount...and they give 'em new cases and batteries and warranties as part of the refurbishment so it's a reliable route.

Either way, there are parental controls available for an iphone, ipad, or ipod. Apple calls it Restrictions.

From the Apple site:

See what you can restrict

Apps and features

• Safari
• Camera (also disables FaceTime)
• FaceTime
• iTunes Store
• iBooks Store
• In-App Purchases
• Siri
• AirDrop
• CarPlay (available only with iPhone 5 or later)
• Installing apps
• Deleting apps

You can restrict access to YouTube in iOS 5 and earlier.

Types of content

• Ratings (select the country in the ratings section to automatically apply the appropriate content ratings for that region)
• Music and podcasts
• Movies
• TV shows
• Books
• Apps
• Siri
• Websites
• If you don’t use Touch ID for paid and in-app purchases, you can choose between two options for how often you need to enter your password for these purchases.

Changes to privacy settings

• Location Services
• Contacts
• Calendars
• Reminders
• Photos
• Bluetooth sharing
• Microphone
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Advertising

Changes to settings and accounts

• Accounts (you can prevent changes to Mail, Contacts, Calendars, iCloud, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, Flickr, iTunes, App Store, iMessage, and FaceTime)
• Background app refresh
• Find My Friends (available when you install the Find My Friends app)
• Volume limit
• Cellular data use (available only on cellular-enabled iOS devices)

Features within Game Center

• Multiplayer games
• Adding friends

No, I don't work for Apple. XD

 

[shystalips]

My daughters and I all have the 4s's and service through Ting (which is a pay-as-you-go company). I bought the phones over a year ago outright for about $100 each. Since then, our monthly bill has never exceeded $45 for all 3 phones. And that's with calling/texting/data. I do limit my daughters' phones to 500 mb of data per month, but they usually don't come close to that. And they call/text a LOT, lol. We've also never had problems yet with the 4s not being able to run programs. We all have the latest iOS, and dd's have never mentioned not being able to download/play a game they wanted to. So, I say for it and get her the iPhone 4s,

I agree, Ting is probably the best plan out there as long as your not a data hog and you bring your own device.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

IMO, the worst thing you can do to a 4s is update the IOS to the latest. We have 3 of these in our house & the only one that functions flawlessly is my daughter's - she has IOS 6.1 on hers.

 

[Sadie22]

I have a 4s running the latest OS with no problems.

 

[HHMcG]

My two oldest (DD10 & DS8) both have hand-me-down iPhones (4s & 5s) with no cell service. They can iMessage, facetime, email, ect when on wifi and then just play games when they are away from home or wifi. In a year or so we will end up turning DD's phone on as she is out an about on her own more.
Like you I didn't want to pay for an iTouch and need to buy them a new device in a year or two. (Though it seems we will have to replace the 4s sooner rather than later, hmmm)