LG LG500G Tracfone wіth Double Minutes fοr Life
- Service Provider:TracFone
- Phone Type: Bar Phone
- Calling Features: Phonebook, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting
- Telecommunication Features: Caller ID, Voice Mail, External Caller ID Screen
- DіѕрƖау Features: Color DіѕрƖау
- Talk Time: Up tο 4 hours
- Standby Time: Up tο 170 hours
- Maximum Resolution: 640 x 480
- Built-In Digital Camera: Yes
- Megapixels: 2.0 Megapixels
- Video Resolution: Nο Built-In Video Recorder
- GPS Enabled: Yes
- Built-In Memory Storage Capacity: 7MB
- Media Type Compatibility: MicroSD Card
- Data Capabilities: Web Browsing
- Wireless Frequency/Band: 800/1900 MHz
- Wireless Technology: GSM
- Messaging Capabilities: MMS
- Instant Messaging: Nο
- File Formats Supported: MP3
- Input Method: Physical QWERTY Keyboard
- Battery Cell Type: Lithium-ion
- Includes: Battery Charger
- Dimensions: 4.58 ” L x 0.51 cm. W x 0.24 cm. T
- Weight: 2.93 Oz.
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Best prepaid bang for your buck,
I hate cell phones. In my opinion, long distance communication is best done via a land line (Limited Mobility? Oh, the humanity!) or a computer through e-mail, IM, or social networking sites. So if you’re like me, you want a cell phone that you won’t be using that often (business, emergencies, maybe even time-to-time socially), that you won’t cry over if it is broken or stolen, and, most of all, MUST BE CHEAP. This product is very reasonably priced (7/2011: 22 + ns on Amazon, slightly more at a retail store), the value of the minutes is among the best for a prepaid cell phone, and the cell phone itself is pretty sweet. Buy it, carry it around with you or leave it in your car, toss it around, buy one for your ten year old to teach them about conservation, whatever.
Especially with Tracfone, double minutes are a necessity. Don’t get a Tracfone without it. In fact, there’s a version of this phone with triple minutes. It’s something like 90 bucks extra but depending on how much you use your phone, you may want to look into it. Best value I figure is the 200 minutes purchase. After double minutes and a promo code (promo code book included with purchase, by the way), you’ll get approximately 450 minutes. After taxes and everything, I calculated that each unit costs around 9 cents. Better than what Net10 offers. Higher minute packages may have better value, but if you have to make those kinds of purchases on a regular basis, you might as well look into a phone with a contract. Functionally, this item works pretty much in the same way you’d typically expect a prepaid phone to work: the number of units per minute (1:1) for a call is rounded up, whether you were talking for two seconds or 59.999 seconds; texts are .3 units, probably the best value you can find in a prepaid; the browser is lame and should be used only in emergencies, and is .5 units to start and .5 units for every minute in the browser.
As for the phone itself, I like it. A lot. But first, the three things which bother me the most about this phone MUST have the most elaboration, to let you know what you’re getting into.
1. Text Previews: This is nothing new. Tracfone seems to utilize a tactic in which you cannot see from whom you are receiving a text. Is it from a colleague? Is it from a new number? Is it spam? You can’t tell. All they provide you before you open it is the first few characters of the text which was sent. Can’t blame them, really. Their texts are so cheap, they have to make certain that you at least open every single one you get.
2. The Browser Button: This is the most common problem I’ve found in all of the reviews I’ve read. Not only is the browser button a big soft key which you also use as the “Back” key, but it’s also placed right next to the “Pwr/End” key. Key lock MUST BE ACTIVATED ON THIS PHONE, or you’ll wind up punching this button while slipping the phone into your pocket and wasting a LOT of units. Horrible. You’ll be pressing this button a couple of times when you do not want to. Bam. Half a unit expended. If you hit the “End” key quick enough, you might avoid it. Invariably, though, you will be wasting money thanks to this little baby. This, too, is suspected to be a ploy to cheat you out of your hard-purchased units. Frankly, I think it was just a stupid human factors mistake made on someone’s part. It’s really the worst aspect of this phone and it could have all been avoided if only the phone had…
3. Personalizability: I can change the background and ringtones, okay, fine. I CANNOT change what the soft key buttons do. If I could change the Browser Button to, say, a Camera Button, this would be the God of all Prepaid Phones. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with a shortcut to a horrible, useless browser and guessing where the shortcut key to the half-decent camera is (tip: it’s “Left” on the Navigation Key).
That’s all the bad stuff, though! Let’s talk about the good stuff. Remember, this is a prepaid phone. I’m matching it up to other prepaid phones I’ve seen before.
- Light
- Great-looking
- Great battery life
- SD card slot
- Good camera
- Excellent keypad (see below)
- Volume is on-par
- Full of other useful functions (such as games, mp3 player, and calendar – with event planning!)
The keys are small, yet are very easy to master (and they have a wonderful response), even if you have big fingers. I do not know the threshold between comfort and frustration; all I know is that if small keys have been an insane problem for you in the past, you may want to find a demo of this phone to check it out first.
This phone is worth it. You can laugh at the poor souls who have sold themselves into $600+ a year contracts while you thriftily expend $15 – $20 a month for a phone with nearly the exact same features. The difference could help you pay for a netbook, which more than makes up for any deficiencies…
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|Good Basic Phone for Texting and Calling,
I’ve had this phone for about 6 weeks, and like it. I replaced an ATT contract and a Motorola Razor with this Tracfone. For my purposes (texting and phone calls) it’s just fine, and the full QWERTY keyboard is certainly much better for texting than what I had with the Razor. The instruction manual which comes with the phone is minimal, but Tracfone has a very informative interactive tutorial for the phone at their website. The one feature which I miss that my Razor had and this phone doesn’t is voice-activated dialing. My significant other travels overseas quite a bit, and I use this phone to text and chat with him on his ATT phone while he’s abroad. The charges for these international calls are no more than they would be for any call made here in the states. The sound quality for these overseas calls is great (except for the random clicking on the calls to/from China..maybe someone is eavesdropping??)
I’ve been tracking my usage, and recently bought one year, 1500 minutes (doubled to 3000 minutes, with a 100 minute bonus)from Tracfone. I estimate that with my usage, this phone will run me about $15/mo. Certainly a bargain when compared to the ATT contract which I had previously.
I also bought and use a SDHC micro chip (4GB, the maximum capacity for the phone) for playing tunes. It works just fine on this phone.
Update 7/30/2011
I’m still very happy with this phone. Just a few points:
1. Tutorial link: <…>
2. Recently traveled to an area without GSM service (backwoods of Oregon). Somehow the phone got locked into a “No Service” mode, even when I went back into areas with service. The problem was solved by turning the phone off and then back on. Something to be aware of.
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|So far, so good,
I read online reviews and looked at one in the store before I bought this phone. It is actually the first Tracfone I have bought that I was excited about! I have had a Tracfone for years, and it is now my “back-up” cell phone. I really didn’t feel that I needed a smartphone with this but I wanted to be able to text more easily and have the possibility of web access not that I use it much. The phone was no surprise then after researching it, and I didn’t expect a smartphone or even semi. That’s not what this phone is.
But I like the more modern look and also that it is not branded Tracfone on the outside (I usually turn off the automatic screen display of minutes anyway). It was easy to install the battery and get it charging. Then I was pleasantly surprised that customer service had my number and service transferred so easily. This was the best experience I have had with them on the phone! My reception seems good, and testing works fine. I have not put a microSD card in yet, but I will update if I have any problems with that. The keyboard is small but is is nicely responsive for me and my smallish hands. Accessing the menu to change wallpaper, settings, and enter contacts was simple and for me intuitive. The keypad lock and unlock is different than what I am used to, but after a couple of times I like the way it works–you press a specific key to lock than you have to press first unlock than immediately press yes to unlock. This seems like it will prevent accidental unlocking.
So far, I have not found anything that I don’t like about this phone. Just be make sure you know what it is, not a smartphone nor a touchscreen, and that the keypad is small. As with other Tracfones, the so-called user manual is scanty on details so you may need to look up additional information. It takes my standard 3.5 headphones although the jack is sort of at an angle. For the price, it is a great phone and I’m very glad I updated my Tracfone to this model.
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