Net10 Review

Nokia 1600

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:07:23 +0000

The Nokia 1600 is a basic Net10 phone which serves the purpose of being a phone very well but does not offer myriads of fancy features like some other phones. Its good features are:

The phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
The phone is compact and lightweight at just 2.82 ounces being portable and easy to handle.
The phone has a full colour display which is clear and easily readable.
You also have the option of customizing your screen with various wallpapers and screensavers.
You are also provided with the essential features of call waiting, caller ID and voicemail.
The battery life is quite impressive giving a maximum of 5.5 hours of talktime and a whopping 18 days of standby time.
You can suit your needs and set your ringtone from a selection of 28 polyphonic ringtones.
This compact phone also packs the option of choosing a language you are comfortable with from a selection of four languages- English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
The phonebook can store up to 200 entries.
The volume of the ringtones is loud which allows you to hear your phone ringing even in very crowded areas.
It has exceptional RF characteristics, much better than many of the high-end phones in the market.
The audio quality is also good given the fact that it is a very basic phone.
The speakerphone is loud and clear and much better than that of many other fancier phones.

The phone however lets you down in these areas:

The keys are not very well designed which makes scrolling difficult and cumbersome.
The call quality is not that good as it transmits quite a bit of noise to the caller while talking.
The earpiece volume is barely audible in congested areas and may not be sufficient for most users.

All in all, the Nokia 1600 is a good standard phone meant for calling and texting. It has a great battery life. The phone easily scores over most of the phones in its category and is even better in RF sensitivity than the well reputed Siemens A56.

Motorola W375g

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:04:27 +0000

The Motorola w375g is one of the most popular Net 10 phones designed by the makers of MotoRazr. The features in this phone that are bound to impress you are:

The w375g cell phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message. And if you buy their 2 year package then you get bonus talktime which slashes the rates down to 8 cents per minute.
Airtime Minutes allows you to buy ringtones, graphics, news, weather, sports and more.
The phone is sleek and stylish in design along withy being lightweight and portable at 3.4 ounces.
The battery strength is pretty decent providing 7.5 hours of talktime and 6 days of standby time.
The phone’s VGA camera takes decent pictures. You also have the option of sending picture messages.
The phone includes an FM radio which you can listen to while waiting in a long queue.
The indispensable features of call waiting, caller ID and voicemail are also present.
The phone comes with a handsfree speaker and the option of auto redial, the latter essential if you are in a hurry.
The usual extras include Alarm Clock, Stop Watch, Calendar and Calculator.
Another interesting extra feature is a flashlight, very useful if you are suddenly caught in the midst of a power cut.
The phone also includes a few simple yet interesting games to pass away those boring minutes.
The phonebook can hold up to 100 entries.
The rubberized keypad prevents dust from sneaking into the nooks and crannies of the phone.
The additional accessory kit is pretty cheap and easily available.

Some of the negative features of the phone are:

The wireless headset required for the FM Radio is not provided.
Five cents may be expensive for you if you are a very frequent message sender. You could go for virgin Mobile in that case.
The phonebook is too small, much smaller than most other phones.

Although the Motorola w375g is a popular phone because of its chic design and extra features, if you are looking for a phone with more functionality and battery life then you could try the LG 600G.

Motorola V171

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:01:44 +0000

The Motorola V171 is a phone made for those who want the most basic phone with very few fancy features and one that goes easy on the pocket too. The V171 provides you with all these features and more.

This cell phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
The V171 is a stylish flip phone with a brilliant colour screen of resolution 96 x 65 pixels. The clamshell design prevents accidental calls.
The phone is portable, compact and lightweight at a mere 3.1 ounces.
The battery life is quite impressive with a talktime of 6 hours and standby time of a long 12.5 days.
The phone includes the usual important features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail.
You can set the ringtone of your choice by selecting from a range of 20 polyphonic ringtones.
Preloaded games are also included in this phone for passing away those boring hours.
You can customize your screen with a nice selection of wallpapers and screensavers.
The extras are the usual Alarm Clock, Calculator, Currency Converter and Stop Watch.

Now for the features in this phone, or the lack thereof, those disappoint us.

The antenna makes the phone look a bit outdated and old fashioned.
The screen is actually very small and the large font size (that cannot be adjusted) makes for a lot of scrolling.
The download speed is slow which means that you’ll have to spend a lot of money if you want to download something.
Text messaging becomes difficult with the iTap text entry.
The menu is not very easy to navigate and can become a source of irritation quite a few times. The option of ‘My Menu’ does not help solve the problem.

So for those who need a phone just for calling and in emergencies, the Motorola V171 is a good buy although the tiny screen and the annoying menu may just make you lose your patience with it pretty soon. You can go in for the Nokia 1600 if you want a basic phone but with some necessary extra features.

Motorola EM326g

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:58:56 +0000

The Motorola EM326g is the first slider released as a Net10 phone. It is packed with the following positive features:

The cell phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
Airtime Minutes allows you to buy ringtones and graphics.
The phone is sleek and compact being 3.8” long by 1.9” wide and just .5” thick. It is lightweight and portable weighing just 3.05 ounces with the battery installed.
The curved edges of the EM326g give it a chic new age look.
The screen is sufficiently big for comfortable viewing and text message typing. The screen displays all the information that you could possibly need from signal and battery strength to alarm clock and Bluetooth indicator and airtime info.
A single press of one of the buttons lights up the screen and shows you the necessary information without having to unlock the phone.
The slider is smooth in its functioning and yet it feels solid and reliable.
This phone also packs Bluetooth Wireless Technology in it, a feature not so common in the previous phones that have been released in this category and PC connectivity via USB.
The phone’s camera is of 1.3 megapixels, a resolution much higher than most of the other phones of this range.
The usual features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail are also present.
In addition to text messaging, this phone provides you with the option of sending MMS picture messages.
The phone comes with a handsfree speaker and the option of auto redial, the latter essential if you are in a hurry.
The phone includes 25 polyphonic ringtones and a nice, strong vibrating alert.
Interesting applications like FM Radio and MP3 Player are also included in this phone.
Java based games included in this phone are much more advanced and interesting than the games included in the previous models.
The battery life is impressive at a talktime of 8.1 hours and standby time of 12 days.
The phonebook can hold as many as 1000 entries.

However, some things to look down upon in the phone are:

The call quality is not that good as the speaker is quite far away from the mouth when the slider is open.
The headset needed for the FM Radio and cable and SD card for the MP3 Player are not included.
There is no option of removing the airtime balance and due date from the screen.

Overall, the Motorola EM326g is a pretty good phone, significantly better than its predecessors. If you want better call quality then you could go for the LG 600G.

Motorola C139

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:55:27 +0000

The Motorola C139 is a no nonsense phone free of most of the hassles of today’s fancy high end phones. The positive features of this Net 10 cell phone are:

The phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
Airtime Minutes allows you to buy ringtones of your choice.
Its compact (4.0 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches) and easy to carry being lightweight, weighing just about 3 ounces.
External antenna is also absent and the rubberized slider gives it a comfortable grip.
The vivid color screen supports 65000 colours.
The menu is pretty user friendly and can be arranged in the order that suits you.
You can personalize the C139 screen with wallpapers and screensavers of your choice that are included in the phone.
It surprisingly packs the feature of composing your own ringtone if you want choices beyond the 20 monophonic tunes.
The talk time provided is exceptional lasting as long as 6 hours as is the standby time of 12.5 days.
It comes with three simple games; Maze, Spring Ball and Soccer that are easy to play and entertaining.
You get most of the essentials, including a vibrate mode, speed dialing, text messaging, a calculator, a currency converter, a stopwatch, a calendar with a day and week views, and an alarm clock.
Also the dual-band (GSM 850/1900) is decent and offers little interference ad disturbance.

Some of the negative features of this phone are:

The phone lacks a speaker phone, a very essential and basic feature present in even the most low end phones available today.
There are no volume buttons on the side which makes adjusting the volume difficult while talking.
The menu design is not convenient enough and takes time to navigate. Also the menu key does not double up as the OK button making for frequent shift of buttons.
The phonebook can only hold 100 entries which is hardly enough for most users. Although the SIM card hold an additional 250 contacts, the lack of multiple numbers per contact is a real let down.

The Motorola C139 phone easily scores over the Nokia 1600 in design and function and is a good choice if you want a basic phone with the essential features but no hassles.

LG 400G

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:52:56 +0000

The LG 400g is the new flip phone released by Net10. It includes lot of blockbuster features and comes bundled with a good service plan. The combination together offers features like:

The 400g phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming.
It allows you to do International calling for only 5 cents additional per minute. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
Airtime Balance Display lets you know how many minutes and days of service you have remaining on your phone
The phone is compact with dimensions of 1.85″ x 3.42″ x 0.78″ and weighs only 2.51 ounces with battery installed making it a feather light phone, a trademark of LG phones.
The phone has all the usual features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail.
It has an impressive standby time of approximately 10 days in digital service area and boasts of a talk time of 7 hours.
It supports user interface in two of the most widely used languages – English and Spanish.
You can store as many as 255 entries in phonebook.
The LED on top of phone gives a lot of status information like roaming, message and incoming call.
It has some good games, screensavers and wallpapers.
You also get 16 polyphonic ringtones in the phone.

In spite of all these features, the phone also has some dampeners like:-

It does not allow you to buy additional graphics or ringtones.
The sound quality is not very good.
There is no option of removing the airtime balance and due date from the screen.
Network reception is not very sturdy with towers fluctuating from 5 to 0.
It does not offer Bluetooth technology or camera.

In our view, this is not a very good option from LG if see price point scenario of market. The LG 300G phone which is cheaper than LG 400G offers some of the features not offered by this phone. For a few dollars extra, you can buy the LG 600G camera phone which also offers Bluetooth technology. In effect you can shoot pictures and send them over to your friends. It also has bigger phonebook.

In spite of all these short comings, LG 400G is a simple to use phone without any additional hassles.

LG 1500

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:48:58 +0000

The LG 1500 is a perfect blend of features, functionality and affordability in the same package. It also works very well as a Net10 prepaid phone.

The positive features of the 1500 phone are:

The phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
Airtime Minutes allows you to buy ringtones, graphics, news, weather sports, etc.
The phone has a convenient clamshell design with a colour screen display of resolution of 128 x 128 pixels.
In addition to that it also has a monochromatic 96 x 64 display on the outside which shows details such as battery life, signal strength, time, call display and more.
The phone is light weight and portable at just 3.03 ounces.
The battery life is sufficient providing a talktime of 3 hours and standby time of 10 days.
The usual features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail are also present.
The phone comes with a handsfree speaker and the option of auto redial, the latter essential if you are in a hurry.
Other usual extra features include External Caller ID, Voice Recorder, Vibration Alert, Alarm Clock, Calculator and Converter.
This phone also packs the option of choosing a language you are comfortable with from a selection of two languages- English and Spanish.
The phonebook can hold up to 255 entries which is sufficient for most users.
The T9 dictionary makes it much easier to type text messages.
In addition to text messaging, you also have the option of sending photos and audio clips using the multimedia messaging service.
The phone comes with simple Java based games.

Some of the negative features of this phone are:

The call quality is not that good and the signal strength goes down often.
The keypad is small and may pose a problem if you are an avid text IM sender.
The menu is not very well organized and difficult to navigate.
It’s difficult to find the side volume keys while talking as they are not elevated.

Overall, it is a good phone if you want to use it for making calls and sending text messages. The battery life is also decent.

LG 600G

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:38:42 +0000

The LG 600G is yet another cell phone launched by LG for Net10. It is a stylish flip phone that comes with several features to satisfy your requirements.

The phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
Airtime Minutes allows you to buy ringtones and graphics.
This phone also packs Bluetooth Wireless Technology in it, a feature not so common in the previous phones that have been released in this category, and connectivity to the computer via Bluetooth and USB cable.
The phone is sleek and compact in its dimensions. It is lightweight and portable weighing just 3.174 ounces.
The key design is convenient and easy to use.
The battery life is pretty good at a talktime of 6.5 hours and standby time of 4 days.
The usual features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail are also present.
In addition to text messaging, this phone provides you with the option of sending MMS picture messages.
The phone comes with a handsfree speaker and the option of auto redial, the latter essential if you are in a hurry.
The phone includes 24 polyphonic ringtones and a nice, strong vibrating alert.
The phonebook can hold as many as 1000 entries, which is pretty impressive and also the option of storing multiple numbers per contact.
The phone has an interesting feature – the camera. In the camera menu you can choose from two resolutions which are 320X240 or 640×480. You can also control the picture quality and zoom in or zoom out as per your needs.
Another good thing about the camera is that it can be activated even while the flap is closed. In that case, the picture will be displayed on the outer screen.
The phone also packs a web browser and that too a functional one.

Enough of the pros now some of the cons of the LG 600G model are:

The LCD screen is not that good. The colours appear distorted if you tilt the phone beyond a certain angle.
The phone has a single port for the battery charger, wired headset and the USB cable.
The call quality is poor and the reception, weak.
The surface of the phone gets scratched easily.

However, the 600g phone is much better than the previous Motorola 375g in terms of its battery life and camera. But the 375g outweighs it with respect to call quality and the LCD display.

LG 410G

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:35:19 +0000

The LG 410G is a durable phone in a compact package. This stylish flip phone comes with a variety of features to make you happy:

It weighs only 2.85 ounces making it easy-to-use and portable.
Its compact flip phone design and colour screen display makes it look sleek and stylish.
It comes with a handsfree speaker and an external caller ID display, the latter of which is absent in many such flip phones.
The phone also comes with a Voice Recorder and Alarm Clock which are essential features for most users today.
The battery life is good with up to 4 hours of talk time and 7 days of standby time.
The phone comes pre-loaded with 13 ringtones.
The phonebook can hold 500 entries which is sufficient for most users and larger than most phones in this category provide.
Another added bonus is that the LG 410G is Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC) rating M-3.
The screen is small yet crisp and far better than most of the other phones in its range.
The call quality is very good with no interference or disturbance in the form of noise, echo or static.
The outer display can be activated by pressing the volume rocker button on the side once and does not need to be held on to like in many other phones.
It has the T9 so that you don’t have to type words over and over again while texting. It can also learn new words in the T9.
It also features Downloadable Ringtones, Graphics, News, Weather, Sports and more using Airtime Minutes
The LED chrge indicator glows bright and clear in the front face so that you can always charge your phone at the right time.

The phone however disappoints you in certain areas:

The screen may be too small for many users.
The phone is lighter than any other Tracfone, perhaps too light to be handled comfortably.
The battery and charging port are the same.
The outer display is cloudy and looks like an imperfection in the screen from a distance.
There is no dedicated browser button but the right navigator button activates the browser. However, the key cannot be reassigned.
This phone does not include double minutes for life.

The phone is strong and works well and certainly scores well over the Motorola EM326g and LG 300g.

LG 300G

Dan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:32:45 +0000

The LG 300G is a compact easy to handle phone which packs few extra features but fulfills the job of being a Net10 phone pretty well. The features of the phone that impress you are:

The 300g phone includes 300 minutes and 60 days of service on activation.
It is a Single Rate phone charging 10¢ per minute for every call whether local, nationwide long distance or roaming. International calls to over 60 destinations 15 are available for just 15¢. Messaging charges are only 5¢ per message.
The phone is compact having dimensions of 3.75 x 1.71 x 0.52 inches. It is also lightweight and portable weighing a mere 2.10 ounces, lighter than most other phones in the market.
It has a colour screen with a resolution of 128X128 pixels and packs in itself a variety of 65 536 brilliant hues.
The Li-Ion, 900 mAh battery lasts quite long giving a total of 7 hours of talktime and 10 days of standby time.
The phonebook holds an impressive 500 contacts, much more than most other pricier phones in its category. You also have the option of storing multiple numbers per contact name.
You also have the surprising feature of caller groups allowing you to make your contacts list tidier and more organized.
In addition to the ring ID, the phone also comes with a picture ID. Makes receiving and calling a not so mundane task.
The extra features include the usual Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Stopwatch, World Clock, Notepad, Unit Converter, Tip Calculator
The phone is also packed with the option of recording and also comes with a loud and clear speakerphone, both indispensable features nowadays.
The phone comes with a handsfree speaker and saves you precious time by including the option of Auto Redial.
The usual features like call waiting, caller ID and voicemail are also present.
The phone includes 32 polyphonic ringtones. The vibrating alert is nice and strong.

However, you will not be too happy with some features of this LG phone.

It has a very small and awkward keypad which makes typing a little difficult.
You cannot buy ringtones and graphics with your airtime minutes.
The ring volume is not loud enough and may not be audible in crowded areas.
Although the pack says messaging at 5 cents on the outside, messaging actually costs you 50 cents per message which is quite expensive.

If you want a phone with little features for making emergency calls, then the LG 300G is the right buy.

However, if you are willing to pay a little more go for the LG 600G.