Customer Rating: 
Summary: A simple and reliable peace of mind phone to have.
Comment: This has been my back-up phone for a year and it has been 100 per cent reliable. I think it looks pretty nice too! This phone is very basic and easy to use and the battery life is more than expected. AT&T sends (me) a reminder email as well as a FREE text message (with plenty of time to spare) every time it is nearing (my) time to renew (my minutes). There is a short grace if your card expires, but I purchase another minute card before that happens and any unused minutes carry over into the new minutes. They never expire as long as you keep the minute (airtime) cards activated!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: buy with caution
Comment: Phone works great - unless you don't keep it activated, then you have a $50 paperweight on your hands.
I needed just a basic phone to use in case of emergency - this phone is great for people who don't live on their phones. Unfortunately you have to keep the phone activated at all times. If you don't you have to buy a new phone. Just on principle - how environmentally appropriate is that? just toss a perfectly good phone because you accidentally let the contract expire?! - I would NEVER buy another gophone.
BAd bad bad for the environment. And the dude at the phone store made it explicitly clear... you have to buy a new phone, not a new sim card.
When I had tracfone there was never any problem if I let a contract/account expire, they just assigned you a new number no big deal [which also described their coverage area - which is why I dropped them]
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good for between plans.
Comment: This is a prepaid phone, and doesn't have many features. One of the most annoying things about it is the display. The screen has a 40 second backlight whenever a button is pushed (it's adjustable, 40 seconds is the max), and then the display turns off and goes black (presumably to save the battery). Pressing any key will make the display light up again-- but the phone registers whatever button you press (i.e., if you press an "8" the phone will dial 8, if you press the center menu button it will open the menu, etc.). This makes it very inconvenient if you just want to light up the display to check the time/date, which I do quite often. The red "hang-up" button will light up the display without opening anything-- but it also doubles as the power button. If you press it for more than a split second, the phone shuts off.
The buttons also have a tendency to get pushed in your pocket/purse. While the keypad does have a "lock" feature it's irritating to use. The buttons themselves are a tad flimsy which makes the unlock combination frustrating. Thus, the phone has a tendency to make calls, connect to the net, create new address book entries, etc. while in your pocket or purse.
This phone will store one number per contact. I have three separate phonebook entries per person: work, home, cell, which is annoying. It supposedly can send multimedia as well as plain text messages, but the phone has no camera. However, it will receive multimedia messages so you'll be able to get pics and such.
The text feature is nice, as it has itype which allows you to type with one-touch and select the word as you're typing (either choose spelling, or select the whole word by pressing "up"). The text menu also allows you to save drafts. Other features include pre-typed templates ("I love you", "Congratulations", etc.) and fill-in quicknotes ("Meet me at __").
The text inbox generally holds 200 messages before having to be emptied. Deleting all messages can be annoying, as the feature is weirdly buried in the Outbox menu. The annoying thing about texts is that the Outbox doesn't tell you what time your message was sent. However, it does record the time of incoming texts, which makes no sense.
The calendar (a pain to navigate and set up), alarm clock (which has a snooze button), and calculator are all features which I use often. The ringtones and backgrounds are very limited, but you can control button sound/volume as well as alarm/text/ringtone sound and volume. You can also set the phone to vibrate and back by pressing and holding # (beyond the button's touch tone, it does not beep or make a conspicuous noise while setting it to vibrate or back, which is nice for meetings).
The phone also has a headphone jack, speed dial, and the 24-hr time display option. It has a quick-access redial/recent calls list, and a "call-time" feature (which only keeps track of total talk time and the last phone call duration-- it does not record time individually for your recent calls list). The phone is chat capable.
The phone is clear with good reception but because of the placement of the microphone, when you prop the phone against your shoulder to grab something, type, etc. your voice will sound pretty muffled/unintelligible to the person on the other end. It does have hold and call waiting, and will beep to let you know you've received texts/voicemail if you are in-call.
I've had this phone for seven months (I bought it when my previous phone died in the middle of my contract) and it's been a fairly good one, considering the $20 price tag at the local Target/Wal-mart. The switch-over was simple, just inserting my old SIM card into the new phone. It has been easy to use. Charging takes roughly 2 hours and the battery life is great (5+ days), mainly due to the small display and simple features.
After having this phone for seven months it has started to give me trouble: turning off randomly or in mid-call, shorter battery life, etc. Since the display is usually black, it's difficult to know when the phone has turned itself off. I have to check it periodically, and often have to power it back up. Turning off the phone and removing the battery pack seems to solve this problem short-term. I rarely turn off my phone even to charge it, so this may be the issue. At any rate, the back panel has a release and is easy to remove.
If you want an inexpensive, pretty basic phone to tide you over between plans, this prepaid is a decent choice. If you're going to use your own SIM card, make sure your plan is with AT&T. For basic texting, basic calls, and solid battery life, this is the way to go. I have dropped it several times in a parking lot, spilled water on it, and sat on it, and it has held up great.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrible phone, worse service
Comment: The phone is cheaply made. Thin delicate plastic just begging to break.
Address book has been crippled by att so now it only allows 1 phone number per entry. This means your address book becomes all but unusable as you have to scroll through 4-5 entries PER friend, relative or co-worker. No ability to store email addresses either.
G-d help you if you have to call their support staff. I just got off of a 48 minute call and I still do not have all the issues cleared up. RUN from att.
|
