Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Samsung T105 Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone - Black

Samsung T105 Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone - BlackI bought this phone after a ... conflict with my mother (college student), so I had to pay for my own phone. I'm... cheap, so I went with this ten dollar tracfone and a 60 minute card. I got mine at walmart, and it came with a little cell phone holster, hands free set (wired), wall charger, car charger, the texting deal (each text costs just .3 minute instead of .5), double minutes for life, and ten minutes of service. I don't get great reception in my small town, but any time I go into /a/ city, I get full bars. Texting works fine, and phone calls have been comparable to my old US Cellular phone. I'm very happy with this phone, especially considering the service I've gotten for the low price I payed. Reception has been my only issue, and only in my small town.

Some features and comments:

The phone is very light.

It has a small ish screen, so more mature users may have difficulty reading some menu options.

It has a great battery It's been on and used every day for five days, and it still has 4/5 bars!

The phone's "silent" mode has a vibrate ring. This is important to me, a student.

The buttons feel durable, and the phone itself feels pretty tough.

There are only two wallpapers preloaded, so if you're one of those people...

It displays how many minutes and days of service you have left, the time, and date on the main screen.

It doesn't have volume buttons on the side of the phone.

Of course, no camera.

Pocket sized.

More mature users may have difficulty typing with small ish buttons.

I'd also like to touch on activation. For me, it was super easy. It let me speak the activation number, and after just a few questions (not personal just your zip code etc. for service quality), I was all set up. Adding minutes is very easy. You just call, it asks you to read the number, you can speak the number on the card, and you're all set!

I can't believe a phone can be this cheap and easy. If you're ok with not having a wide selection of ringtones, wallpapers, and a camera phone (middle schooler gimmicks IMHO), this is perfect. I get similar reception to Verizon and US Cellular phones in my area, and full bars in cities, and with all the little bonuses I got... I'm very happy with this phone!

Like some others here I picked up the T105 with double minutes and accessories for $10 from Walmart. I did so with some trepidation after reading some very negative reviews about Tracfone, mostly regarding customer service. But I reminded myself that those with negative experiences are more likely to post reviews and that there must be millions of satisfied customers for Tracfone to stay in business. I figured it was worth the $10, plus a $20 time card, for an initial test.

Now, more than two weeks later, everything is working fine and I am completely satisfied. I did call Customer Service to help me with my initial activation and did have trouble understanding the CSR at first. But once I had him repeat his initial statement I had little trouble understanding him after that. After taking my numbers, the CSR told me how many days and minutes to expect to appear on my phone "within an hour". Sure enough, after about 45 minutes I had the phone on and it suddenly connected to a cell tower and a few seconds later displayed exactly the number of days and minutes I had been told to expect. Can't ask for more than that.

Since then the Samsung T105 Tracfone has worked flawlessly and the battery lasts for days. I even bought an additional one year card for $75 from Amazon Marketplace (CardArt, aka Veronica Tablet) Tracfone 1 Year of Service & 400 Minutes and just entered it and a 200 minute bonus code (coupon booklet from Walmart) on the Tracfone website. Within two seconds of clicking the "submit" button my phone blurbled at me and I had an additional 365 days and 1000 minutes (400 doubled to 800, plus 200 for the bonus code). Couldn't be easier.

A year of cellphone service and 1000 minutes for $75? That's hard to beat, some people pay that per month for cellphone service. If I could get better reception in my remote rural concrete-and-steel house I'd get rid of my landline. But, in my area, I get only two bars at most when outside and consider myself fortunate to get that. I recently came back from a family visit to another remote area, Blanchard Idaho, and the other family cellphones didn't work, but my Tracfone did! Having a prepaid cellphone that uses whatever carrier is available has its advantages.

Except when traveling, my plan is to leave this phone off and carry it for emergencies. Finding a payphone is hard to do these days, so having the Tracfone with me will be helpful if I ever have a car breakdown or some such thing.

A general word on lithium batteries: the surest way to kill a lithium battery is to run it to zero. Even when off, a cellphone, camera, laptop, or similar device will still draw a small amount of power. If not planning to use a device for an extended period of time it is best to charge up the battery and then remove it. Otherwise one risks forgetting to charge the battery regularly and killing it.

Buy Samsung T105 Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone - Black Now

Like others here have said this is a great little basic phone for the price. But I've come to discover that it has a major flaw; it pocket-dials very easily. And it doesn't just inconveniently pocket-dial one of my contacts, it dials the local emergency dispatcher. I've had the phone for a week and it's done this three times already. Somehow the keypad manages to unlock itself and the 0 key gets pressed which somehow connects me to 911. I'm now afraid to carry it in my pocket if it's not turned all the way off.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung T105 Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone - Black Here

I'm surprised to see the negative review above me. All Samsung products have worked great for me especially this phone. And on top of it, the Tracfone service is perfect. I seriously save so much each month going on this service. I get nationwide coverage from coast to coast as well, I really have no complaints. The phone works fine and I think is of great quality. It's been nothing but a positive experience for me :)

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I bought this phone at Walmart, like others have. I got it coming off three years with AT&T on an iPhone! That's right, I moved from an iPhone to this little puppy...LOL. When my iPhone 3GS quit working and was no longer able to be revived, despite my best efforts, I needed a phone to get me through, until I decided what to do. I REALLY hate contracts, and as much as I wanted a nice shiny new iPhone 4S, there was no way I was going to (1) go on another two year contract, or (2) pay the high premium for buying it off contract. So this was a a temporary fix, but after using it a few days, I decided that I am sticking with this phone for a while! :)

The purchase included all the needed accessories...wall charger, car charger, wired hands free (will never be used) set, and cell phone case, which I have yet to use either. Also came with double minutes for life, which is really what sold me. I am not a huge cell talker, and mostly used my iPhone for data, so when I actually figured out the amount of money I was paying AT&T for a per minute charge, it was more than DOUBLE what I would pay with TracFone. I stand to save almost $1000 a year by using this baby!

I love the size and weight of this phone. It is so incredibly light, especially when you consider what I was carrying. And I am not all concerned about losing it, scratching it, breaking it, etc. I mean its about one of the cheapest phones out there. If that happens I will just replace it. Not problem at all. Not like replacing a smart phone. I don't even use the case, I just toss it in my pocket or purse and go. Sometimes I even forget its in my pocket, its so light.

Turning the phone to silent mode is simple, as is locking the keypad (I noticed another review complaining about pocket dialing, but locking the keypad is just a push of a button and it won't do that anymore).

Now, for my data fix, I am using a Virgin Mobile MiFi with 1GB data plan for $20. It works perfectly with my brand new iPod Touch, which takes the place of my iPhone data center now, as well as pairs with my iPad, if I happen to need it when out and about. Between this dumb phone, my MiFi, and my iPod, I essentially have an iPhone at a HUGE yearly savings! All three devices together actually even weigh less than my old iPhone 3GS! And each does what they are designed to do extremely well. :)

My only major complaint is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack and bluetooth on this phone. Now bluetooth technology I can understand not being included, at this price point, but the manufacturer should have given it a standard 3.5mm jack, as opposed to the funky jack it has now. Oh, well. I can live with it for the price of the phone, for sure. ;)

Now I feel better knowing that I am paying for only the minutes I am using to talk and the minutes I am using for data from VM. Before I had huge AT&T bills and never came anywhere near using the minutes I was paying for.

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