<p>I know most BS must have some type of handheld mobile device, but what mobile capabilities are really NEEDED as BS? I'm not talking about laptops here. I'm trying to find out if my S needs a basic cellphone with TXT capability or if he needs a smartphone for email/calendar/internet. We are a Verizon Wireless customer and prefer that carrier.</p>
<p>texting - do BS text a lot? Is it better to have a full QWERTY keyboard these days?</p>
<p>email/calendar - is it useful to have a mobile device that can easily access your school email? Which protocol do you use to connect? POP3? Windows Mobil OS? iPhone?</p>
<p>internet - is it useful to have a mobile device that can easily access the internet or is the your dorm's laptop more than enough?</p>
<p>I prefer to give my S only what he needs. Thank you.</p>
<p>Kids at SPS text 0, like literally no messages. I really don’t think a smart phone is necessary as students at will call each other on their room phones. Cell phones are rarely used and only when going into town.</p>
<p>At my sons school kids text a lot, in addition to traditional cell phone usage. And while you will see a lot of iphones, etc, I really don’t think you need MM features. In fact I think many schools email is web based, so accessing over a handheld can be quite painful. I should add that kids use cell phones mainly in their dorms, as most schools forbid cell phone usage on campus. My sons did not even know their land line number this year.</p>
<p>At Choate, my experience (tour and revisit) was that kids had their cell phones, didn’t necessarily use them. I was lucky enough to get a free Blackberry when my mom updated, so its a non-issue for me…</p>
<p>Texting could be used a lot, depending on the phone service at your school- if kids get room phones, then those would probably be used. Choate doesn’t provide phone service (I don’t think) so in this case, I’ll be using my cell a lot.</p>
<p>A highschool student rarely “needs” a cellphone that has e-mail capabilites. Those are for business users, to whom quick e-mails on business matters are vital. So I think you should just get a regular phone and save ~$360. And generally teens text a lot–BS or not.</p>