Whether your teenager wants to stay more involved in their social circle, or you want to prepare your child in elementary school for emergencies, there are lots of reasons to buy a child a cellphone. But choosing that cellphone for your child is not the same as choosing a cellphone for yourself; there are special considerations that you need to keep in mind.

The first, and biggest, thing on most parents’ minds when picking out a cellphone for their kids is the number of minutes to buy for them. Of course, you want to make sure that they have the minutes they’ll need to use their phone; but you also don’t want them using their minutes any time they choose, running your costs way up.

Because of this, parents generally find two options that are best for them: a prepaid cellphone, or unlimited minutes. While unlimited minutes may sound dangerous to some parents, they may be just the thing for teenagers that you know will be spending countless hours on their phone. That way, they can use the phone when they want (which they most likely will anyway,) and you won’t have to pay exorbitant costs. A prepaid cellphone on the other hand, can be a great option for parents that do want to limit the use of the cellphone, and don’t want to pay extra fees when minutes have piled over.

So what about the features on your child’s phone; which ones should you be looking for? You’ll have to thumb through them to see which ones are best for your child, but there’s one that you shouldn’t go without – and that’s the speed dial function. You need to make sure that your child can access the most important phone numbers (such as yours!) when they need them the most. If there’s an emergency, the child might not have the time, or the presence of mind, to go flipping through their contact book trying to find your number.

Another large factor to think about when buying a cellphone for your child is the durability of it. While a smaller child will throw their phone around, continually dropping it and maybe even stepping on it, a teenager might not be so careful with their phone either. Not every child will make sure to slip their phone into the pocket of their backpack or purse designated for it, so it’s left to sit at the bottom of the bag, regularly being banged around on the ground and have heavy textbooks on top of it. For this reason, it’s important to get a cellphone that is sturdy enough to handle the task, and won’t break at the first drop. It’s also a good idea to get a skin, slip, or case for the cellphone to give it some added protection.

Lastly, if you already have a cellphone of your own, check with your carrier to find out if they have family discounts. Many will, allowing for more phones to be added for free, or discounted rates on certain numbers, such as family members. After all, if you all need a phone anyway, why not get a good deal on them?

Everywhere you look these days, people are on their cellphones. On the bus, walking down the street, in your office building, and now, even people with ear buds that allow them to legally talk on a cellphone while driving. If you’re one of the few that don’t have a cellphone, it’s probably because you either can’t sign up for a service contract (due to things such as bad credit,) or you don’t want to pay the costly contract fees (good reason, some of them can be pretty expensive.) But avoiding service contracts and signup fees doesn’t mean that you can’t have a cellphone. It just means you’ll need to get a prepaid cellphone. That is, if you want to get in on the conversation.

Prepaid cellphones are just that – cellphones that you pay for in advance, and use only after you’ve put money on the account. No contracts, no sign-up fees, just get a cellphone and then whenever you need to add minutes to it, pick up one of the activation cards, available just about anywhere, to do so. While prepaid cell phones come with many advantages, they have some disadvantages too.

The biggest advantage that comes with a prepaid cell phone is that there are no contracts. This in itself has many benefits because you won’t be required to pay a certain amount every month; you can simply pay for what you can afford, and what you need, at the time. And, because there’s no contract, there’s also no credit check. The company selling you the phone isn’t placing any risk in you because you’re paying for your minutes before you actually use them – so there’s no reason for them to check your credit.

And, there’s also no reason for you to give them a deposit. With a contract often comes a deposit because the company needs to protect themselves if you default on payments. Because that’s impossible with a prepaid cellphone, you don’t need to fork over the deposit before using your phone.

Prepaid cellphones are not only great for those who don’t have credit or the means to pay a monthly contract, they’re also great options for parents who want their kids to have a cellphone for emergencies, but also want to place a limit on the spending that’s done with the phone.

The biggest disadvantage to prepaid cellphones is that they’re expensive. Not only is the initial investment of the phone more expensive, but the minutes are more expensive too. While a contracted cellphone will generally include the phone free as part of the contract, you’ll have to purchase the phone, and then the minutes, with a prepaid phone. In addition to that, the cost per minute on prepaid phones is generally two or three times more than you’ll pay when using a contract.

Prepaid cellphones can be the answer for those who want to join the 3G and 4G world but don’t have the means, or desire, to pay the contract fees. Before putting down the money for a prepaid phone though, it’s important to know what it will cost you and whether or not it’s worth it for you.

One of the biggest benefits of owning a cell phone is that you can take out the little chip in the back, put it into any cell phone of any carrier, and still enjoy the benefits of using the carrier of your choice. Before you start doing that though, you have to understand what SIM cards are, and the difference between locked and unlocked cell phones.

The SIM card is the most important part of owning an unlocked cell phone, and it’s that little chip that you take out from the back to use in other cell phones. This little chip holds all of your subscription data, including your talk and text limits, billing information, and other pertinent info. With an unlocked cell phone, the SIM chip can be removed from any phone, placed into any other phone, and the user can then use it just as they would their regular phone. If the cell phone is locked on the other hand, it’s only going to recognize SIM cards from one particular cell phone carrier. The locking mechanism consists of software that the carrier uses in order to make that cell phone usable only with them and in essence, forcing customers to use them as a carrier.

How are unlocked cell phones beneficial?
That one’s easy and yes, an unlocked cell phone is much more beneficial to the user simply because it gives you many more options, which always works in the consumer’s favour. The obvious reason for wanting an unlocked cell phone is so that you can use whatever kind of cell phone you want, without being restricted to using only that carrier’s service. For instance, if you have purchased an iPhone, but don’t want to use AT&T (the exclusive Apple carrier,) you can unlock the iPhone should you find a better service contract. But other than just wanting the freedom of choice, unlocking your cell phone can have other, hidden benefits as well.

One of those is for customers who find themselves doing a lot of international traveling, and a lot of international calling. By staying with the same carrier and the same SIM card, you’ll need to pay outrageous roaming and long distance fees when travelling abroad. However, with an unlocked cell phone, you can simply take out the SIM card in the back, leave that at home (or take it with you for emergencies,) and pop in a prepaid international calling card. Calls can still be made, and you’re not going to have to pay erroneous fees when you get home to make them.

So how do you find unlocked cell phones?
Most cell phone companies don’t advertise that their cell phones can be unlocked, because they want their customers to stay with them and their service contract. However, you can find out if the cell phone carrier works with GSM-enabled phones. These are the only type of phones that can be unlocked so if your carrier has them, they can be unlocked.

The actual unlocking process can be a bit complicated, and might vary slightly with different cell phone models and carriers. However, the actual process of unlocking is very common so instructions for just about any phone and any carrier can be found online.

If you’re in the market for a new cellphone, you probably want a device that can do it all and that will give you all the technology you need at your fingertips. And when shopping for said device, you’ll likely come across two words quite a bit: PDA cellphones, and smartphones. Both will let you make phone calls, browse the Internet and text and type to your heart’s desire. So what are the differences between the two?

PDA stands for “personal digital assistant.” This definition means that while it’s a cellphone and will allow you to make phone calls, it’s really more of a mini-computer, allowing you to run your phone like a computer, fully equipped with an operating system, keyboards, touchscreens, and traditionally, a stylus. The Palm Pilot (which now seems absurdly outdated,) was one of the first PDA devices on the market. Calls could not be made from a Palm Pilot, as being a PDA device, that came later.

PDA devices are mini-computers first, and a phone second. And as with the Palm Pilot, the first PDAs didn’t have any phone capabilities at all. Even though they can make and receive phone calls today, PDA cellphones are purchased and used more for their computing abilities than their phone abilities. This concept however, is becoming less and less common and consumers want to have it all, with no one priority more important than the other. This is why, even though in the past PDAs were larger, more powerful devices, today they’re becoming smaller and more compact to look very much like a smartphone, with just as many phone capabilities.

A smartphone is just that – a phone that is also packed with features that allow it be “smarter,” and to do more. Unlike PDAs, smartphones are a phone first, and a computing device second. Because of this, smartphones generally don’t have as much computing power, and they may have software that limits the user’s ability to view things such as spreadsheets and word processing documents.

However, just like PDAs are evolving with the times and to meet consumer demand, so are smartphones. Just as PDAs are becoming more compact, and more equipped with telephone capabilities, smartphones are also coming equipped with much more powerful computing capabilities, and operating systems that allow for much more to be done with them.

Neither the future of PDA cellphones or smartphones is at risk of becoming obsolete in the consumer world; and the possibilities of what can be done with both is just starting to be discovered. But, as the world changes and consumers start to want even more out of even smaller devices, the world of PDAs and smartphones is inevitably going to merge, with both styles of phones taking on the characteristics of the other. Because of this, it’s likely that someday soon the terms “PDA cellphone” and “smartphone” will be able to be used interchangeably.

There are a lot of great cellphones on the market, and it can be difficult to choose which one is the best. Finding that perfect cellphone for you will depend on how you’re going to use it, what you need it for, and what features you want most out of your phone. But, even the best phones aren’t perfect and so, here’s a breakdown of the 10 best cellphones on the market today, and a look at their best and worst features.

HTC Sensation 4G
The display on this phone is hard to beat, it’s sleek and slim in appearance, and has dual-core power. But, this phone has also proved to have problems with the “death grip;” a problem in which holding the phone too tightly, or a certain way, causes calls to be dropped repeatedly.

Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)
This phone too, seems to have it all. The dual-core processor is super-powerful, enormous speed, and a bright, clear, simply stunning display. But AT&T still hasn’t managed to fix the security issue that’s been around since the release of this phone, and that’s a huge issue for today’s users.

Samsung Focus Flash
If a great camera is what you’re looking for, this phone does not have it. A camera, yes; a good one, no. But it might make up for that with the fantastic Windows Phone 7 operating system, 4G speeds, and powerful processor. And, it’s one of the few phones you can buy that’s also got Flash.

Motorola Droid Bionic
With tons of great features for gamers as well as professionals, and lightning-fast speed, this phone seems to have it all. And you’ll need to too, if you ever plan on paying for it.

Motorola Droid Razr
Another Motoralo that won’t disappoint, this one’s got almost as many features as the Bionic. But don’t be away from your charger for too long – you don’t have much time with this battery.

Apple iPhone 4S
The new operating system might be a little lackluster, but the improved speed and camera keep the iPhone as one of the best smartphones you could own.

Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile)
This Galaxy has all the features of the Samsung Galaxy S II that you’ll get with AT&T, but with T-Mobile there are none of the security issues. That makes it one of the best smartphones on the market.

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide
All of the features on the T-Mobile MyTouch are impressive, but if it’s photography you’re into, this phone has the best camera of them all. A bit pricey, yes; but still one of the best phones you’ll ever have in your pocket.

HTC Evo 3D
Everything’s 3D now and that has extended to the world of phones. Not only is the HTC, available from Sprint, one of the first to keep up with this latest trend, it’s also got tons of easy-to-use features. If you need to have consistent call quality however, you won’t find it with this phone.

Samsung Epic Touch
Epic, indeed! With a slim, sleek look and an operating system up to the task of gaming, browsing, or organizing, the only thing wrong with this phone is its cheap plastic design.