Considering a Lumia 630 for my kid, a few questions though!

[Paul Lindqvist]

Hi!

Im considering the budget Lumia 630 handset for my oldest daughter (12 years old)

Her current (smashed up) phone is a Sony Xperia Go which has served her well... as well as a android device can at least...

I'm a photography by profession and use soley Apple products for work, phones, tablets, laptops workstations etc.

Problem i'm having with handing iphones to my children is the cost and the durability. Iphones hardware isn't well suited for kid usage.

The iOS is a parent's dream come true though. Parentcontrol is so much better on iOS then Android.

So i thought i check out the newcomer (windows phone 8.1) apparently it's not much better then android ? Name the family account feature ?

I tried setting up my current microsoft account as a parent but i never got it working..:-(

So i have a few questions:

1. How do i setup my self as a parent ? I checked the FAQ and the guide tells me to add my self as a parent but i never get the option to do it. Tried to add a kid account and get to the login screen, but no option to create a new account ? Do i need to be on a pc to do this ?

2. With the family feature can i control which apps can be accessed and turn off internet access ?

3. The Lumia 630 is it a decent phone in terms of build quality and screen quality ? (for the price of course)

Im still haven't decided if it's worth trying out Windows Phone 8.1 or just get her the more expensive Sony Xperia V..

Thanx for any feedback!

 

[James8561]

you should create her account first and then log in with it when prompted. you should do this on a PC it's easier

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Thanx for the reply!

So administrating and setting up a windows phone will require a pc to go smoothly ?

 

[James8561]

Not really. Setting up the phone can be done easily and smoothly on the device. It's just that it's easier to access windowsphone.com on a PC than on a small screen.
As for the quality of the L630, you'll have to make your own opinion. For me, I would never buy a 630 because it's missing too many small but important things such as proximity sensor, front facing camera, shutter button (all previous WP have hardware camera button just like on a real camera), and capacitive buttons on the front ( the back, Windows, and search buttons are now on screen instead of being actual buttons). I feel that the experience is greatly impacted by theses omissions. If you agree, then I suggest you look used Windows phones. The Lumia 920 can be had for$150 on eBay.

 

[JamesPTao]

A much simpler way to do things would be to put a pass code on the phone and put all the apps (including phone, messaging ECt) in kids corner. This will prevent her from buying apps and using anything outside of what you add to kids corner.
Whups, never mind just read her age. That works well for younger kids but I doubt she would be happy with that setup. Nevermind.

 

[James8561]

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/apps/set-up-my-family-for-windows-phone
This page explains the gist of the My Family feature in WP.
For apps, it logs like you can only allow free and paid, free only, or disallow. You can't set individual apps (which is impossible anyway since there are 275k apps in the store). I think you should just download all apps that you want her to have, then set it to disallow so that any new app installation had to go through you.
As for internet access, anyone can turn on or off Wi-Fi and cellular data since there's no restriction. If you won't have a data plan just turn off cellular data and tell her that she can't use it. As for Wi-Fi, there's no way to restrict it as far as I know. You'll just have to caution her to not connect to suspicious networks.

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Many thanx for the input!

I think the quality will be good enough for the money and the intended usage, the lack of front camera is good as my daughter know what i think of selfies...

The Windows phone app looks better then any android app on mac i'v seen.

Will get it tomorrow and let you know how i fare setting it up.

Thanx!

 

[James8561]

^yea let us know.
I was going to mention that she may not like it because of the lack of front facing camera given how popular selfies are among young girls
but it's good that you can teach her what REAL photography is about XD

Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)
^that's the link to browsing the WP store on a computer. you can browse, purchase, and install apps from a computer as well as your phone. you can also use that site to ring, lock, erase, and find where your phone is (in case she loses it)

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Okay got it yesterday.. and the phone it self was easy enough to setup, but getting my two ms accounts to play nice together (my account and my newly created for my daughter) was a pita and took several hours of chatting with MS support.

I simply hate MS and their web UI on some of their websites, it's the reason i cancelled my office 365 subscription...

Regardless of how much i hate their confusing web UI for some of their services, their support is extremely dedicated and easily accessible!

So hat's off to them for sorting it out for me!

I hope they will add more features to phones devices from the familysafety website, so you can monitor phone devices similar to the PC devices.

My daughter is very pleased, but more importantly so am I!

This was my first encounter with windows phone and i must say i was pleasantly surprised.

It's different, and it's fresh!

Huge downside is the lack of apps, but for my daughter this is a non issue though.

Unlike Candy OS it actually offers something unique and different.

Thanx for the help!

 

[switch side method]

For normal web use you can restrict what she can access. For Instance when it comes to web searches you can put a strict limit on there. Just need to go to internet settings. Don't tell your daughter this tho as she will be able to change it

 

[Paul Lindqvist]

Yes than for the tip! I'v set it to strict!

 

[switch side method]

Yeah that's great. Feel free to thank and like my comment. All helps you know *wink*