Suggestions please for new smartphone to give as gift to teenage boy?

[Miamagn]

Suggestions please for new smartphone to give as gift to teenage boy

I am looking to buy a new phone for my son as a birthday gift. He currently uses a Samsung Galaxy S4 that he's had for 2 years and which was his first smartphone. He uses the phone for music, texting, keeping track of sports (e.g., pro team games, especially football and basketball), and web surfing. When I asked him what we most wanted his phone to be able to do, he said "to watch you tube videos without problems". I think battery life is also important since he is in school after regular class hours for extracurriculars and often on bus trips with the school band where he does not have access to a charger. That said, he's never carried the extra battery with him to swap out, and even though I told him about the expanded storage slot, he's never installed the micro SD card to use.

Factors to consider:

He will be a h.s. senior this fall, and the new phone will likely be the one he takes away to college;

He rarely takes pictures, so camera (at least for now) doesn't seem important (unlike his sister, the "selfie and Instagram princess");

He is a gamer, but primarily from his PC and PS4, not his phone;

He likes to carry the phone in his pocket, so I was concerned about whether some of the new phone choices with larger batteries and larger builds would be problematic for him;

Oh -- our carrier is verizon, so only phones that can operate with that carrier.

He hasn't asked for anything for his birthday, and I am pretty stumped for other gifts that he would be excited about, so am ok with spending the $$$ on this.

Would greatly appreciate your feedback!

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Suggestions please for new smartphone to give as gift to teenage boy

PLEASE DON'T!

Tell him that you want to get him a new phone for his birthday, let him know the price limit, and let him pick what he wants.

Even if you get him the most fantastic, newest, most feature-loaded phone, he may actually want a smaller one than the S4.

"Watch you tube videos without problems" isn't all phone - if the internet path between the server the video is coming from and the phone is slow, the video will buffer. The fastest phone in the world can't change that. About all you can do is get a phone with a large screen, high definition and good color rendition.

The best bet is to take him to the carrier's store (or "A" carrier's store if you're using a network operator that doesn't have stores) and let him try out various phones. (He can even bring some videos on a memory stick or SD card and reader - and an OTG cable - and thy'll probably allow him to watch his video(s) of choice on various phones to see which ones he likes better.

For toughness - keeping the phone in his pocket and getting it knocked around - I'd suggest investing in an Otterbox Defender case for whatever phone he gets. I'm not a kid (my kids aren't kids), but I've had a few accidents with my phone, and if not for my Otterbox case I would have had to buy at least 2 new phones.

But let it be his choice. Both my daughter and one grandson switched over to my plan recently (she's saving a lot that way), and their choice of phones isn't what I'd have expected wither one to want. If I had chosen their phones they both would have been very disappointed. (I really don't like either phone they chose - but it's their phones, not mine. My grandson can spend hours getting lost on Wikipedia or listening to TED talks [12, going on 50 - a Renaissance Man] - on a 3-1/2" Windows phone.)

 

[Miamagn]

Re: Suggestions please for new smartphone to give as gift to teenage boy

Thanks for your perspective. I had the same concerns. Plus, he seems satisfied for now with his current phone ---which does have an Otterbox case on it (a previous gift from me). The case itself is sporting some serious cracks and dings. Maybe I'll start with replacing his case for the S4 and a make him the offer you suggested when he is ready to shop himself.