Customer Reviews

LG 500G Prepaid Phone (Tracfone)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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 you may find in the cell phone (and which is also a great selling point when you're negotiating with your aforementioned ten year old).

Just get it. The only time you'll regret it is when you hit that stupid Browser Button.


Edit: 8/4/2011

The phone charges with a micro USB cable. (There -is- a difference between micro USB and mini USB.) These cables are cheap from Amazon. You can have one shipped to you for about two bucks. I'd recommend getting a couple and a USB car charger, which, depending on the quality, should set you back around five to ten bucks. Being able to charge the phone from a computer is a great feature, but you may also be wondering what kind of data you can transfer between the phone and the computer. The answer is nothing -- if you don't have a micro SDHC card (4gb SanDisk w/ adapter is seven bucks). With the card installed, connecting the phone to the computer should both charge the phone and allow you to change the contents of the SDHC card. No special software should be required. The reason I'm bringing this up now is that lately I've been having issues with this feature. It started to work, but connecting the phone with the card installed to my computer now brings up a hardware failure notice. This is a minor issue, but an inconvenience nonetheless. I have to open up the back of the cell phone, take out the battery, remove the card, place the card into the adapter, and connect the card to my computer that way. That's the only issue I've had with this phone so far. I'd still have bought this phone if I knew it had this issue, however. I will update if I find a resolution to this issue.

Some other information. I mentioned getting a car charger, but you may never need it. I'm on day five without charging my phone, and it's still got half battery life. And yes, I have been using it. This totally makes up for the connectivity issue, and then some. Also, as far as adding things to the phone, buying the SDHC card has been a good idea. There's plenty of tiny extras for the phone you can find online. Ringtones do not need to be in a special format, mp3 will work. If you do a search for games for this phone, they're everywhere. I download mine from Mobile Heart. (You can play Civilization! I love this game.)

So, about a month in, I've found one setback and a couple of really big pluses. Rating still stands at five stars.

Edit: 8/27/2011

Still working great. The phone averages about four days on the battery without charge. (Compare this with maybe two days for a smart phone.) Also, I obtained a Bluetooth device (Rocketfish Rf-Mrbtad Micro Bluetooth Adapter, $11). File transfers are a lot easier, and it's nice not to have to worry about cords and stuff. A little bit slower, but it makes up for the problems with USB cable connectivity. Still the best prepaid phone I've ever owned. I think this will be the last edit until I stop using the phone. Rating still stands at five stars.

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.

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.

This is the fourth Tracfone I've had - Nokia & Kyocera (both CDMA) and a Motorola (GSM). This gets signal where I never got it before (I live in VT). The qwerty keyboard is a lot easier to use than a standard keypad, and texting saves you money. I really like the keylock (no more butt-dialing). It would only be better if it came with a carrying case, car adapter and a micro sd card, but for the price it's a no brainer.

Last week I dropped my LG 420G in water and permanently lost the display. I had considered replacing it with another of the same until I found this LG 500G and at a great price. I read several reviews and knew what to expect, which is a basic phone with a QWERTY keyboard, mp3 player, and micro sd slot. Not bad at all for under $25, and I received it in 3 days, also! This phone is lightweight, and the keys work for me, although it might be a tad small for someone with large fingers. So far I've had no problems with it at all. I would also like to add that I had to contact Tracfone's customer service to have my old # and minutes transferred to the new phone, and anticipated it being a nightmare after reading about how horrible their CS is. Fortunately, that was not the case for me at all. They were courteous, expedient, and helpful. I was off the phone in less than 10 minutes with my new phone activated, minutes and number transferred, and a few bonus minutes to boot. I'm so glad I thought to look up Tracfones on Amazon. It was yet another good deal!

I really think I could like this phone, except for 2 things.

The Power/End key does not work, so I cannot turn off the phone. Ending calls is a pain having to go thru extra steps in the menu to disconnect. It is also a pain having to press "back" to go back thru each menu to get back to the home screen.

The other thing I do not like is the location of the browser key. Even though I know the Power/End key does not work, I still push it out of habit and a few times already, I have pushed the browser key by accident, which cost me minutes.

I like the keyboard for easier texting, which is the reason I chose this phone.

All the features you could want in an inexpensive phone. If you have large fingers this phone is not for you otherwise this phone is ideal for someone looking for a basic phone with features similiar to a Blackberry. For now, I give it a four star because i just purchased this phone and still learning all the features, once learned will give an update.

TRACFONE

To begin with people tend to complain about tracfone and their general lack of feature-rich phones. I am by no means in love with tracfone. While their tech support is a pain, these days that can pretty much be avoided by the online interface which makes activating phones and purchasing minutes very simple and really is all you need to get started and maintain service. If you have the money and the need for a smartphone then by all means get one. I came back to tracfone after being on AT&T, T-Mobile, and cellular south Cellular-South plans and I can honestly say that I really don't miss my iphone or android smartphone. Yes there are times where it would be useful, but realizing that I pay less than 250 a year for service is more than enough of an incentive. The main reason tracfone doesn't release larger more expensive phones is mostly because of it's core demographic of buyers, cheap bastards and old people. Therefore, the people who complain probably should have been looking for a more expensive option to begin with. If you think that having a smartphone is a good status symbol I promise having extra cash is better. All in all tracfone provides a great bang for the buck and those who complain really need to look at just how much they're saving each year.

LG500G

My first cell phone was a tracfone. It cost twice as much as this phone and had less than half the features this one does. What do you get for $30? (less if you can snag on off ebay) Full qwerty, good MP3 player, decent camera, and other features I would have been very grateful for when I purchased my first phone at 16. Also considering double minutes are included this is an absolute no brainer. The phone is cheap, having said that the keyboard is excellent as is the mp3 player, and when I don't have my DSLR handy this is a very acceptable quick picture taker. I picked up a class 6 4GB card (4GB is the max supported memory size) and coming from the mp3 player interface on androind and iOS this is quite acceptable and very usable. I love not having to charge my phone. I alternate between huge ammounts of calling and texting to not making a single call in a week, that's just me. Therefore it makes sense that I may only have to throw my phone on the charger maybe once a week or two tops if I've been using it, also when it need juice it charges pretty quickly. I've had this phone now for about four months so plenty of time to get used to it. All in all I'm still thrilled to have such a good device for such a cheap price. If you are shopping for a case I got a rubber case for an LG saber that fits pretty well just a little trim at the charging port. I know tracfone has lauched several "smartphones" but if you look at reviews and specs they really don't have much more functionality than this device and their usually around three times the price. Also recently released is the Samsung T404G which gives you triple minutes for life. That said I will pick that up eventually but how happy I am with this phone makes me hesitant.

I bought this phone via TracFone direct. Got the phone quickly, had little trouble with set-up or adding minutes; so far, so good. The phone itself appeared to be good quality, and worked well for the first three weeks. One morning, I tried to make a call, and the phone acted as if it were turned off. Tried to turn it on, and got no response at all; the phone is totally dead. I removed the battery, it appears fine, checked all the connections, and tried to charge the phone; nothing, no response at all. The product manual suggests calling the TracFone customer service hotline, I did, and got a message stating that they were too busy to answer any more phone calls, and to get resolution to problems via the website. Tried the website, and four days later they e-mailed me and told me that the only way to get resolution is to call their customer service center (sound like a closed loop to anybody out there?) Terrible, nightmare customer service, and a phone that simply dies for no reason at all? I'd suggest buying from a company that cares...not TracFone.
Pros: Good signal, quick delivery, phone worked great for three weeks
Cons: Phone completely dead after three weeks, no way to actually get TracFone to respond to the problem so far; phone is still dead, no solution in sight. Can't resolve problem via website, e-mail, or get an answer on the telephone help line.

I've used Tracfone for many years. This is the third Tracfone I have owned and it is pretty different from my old Motorola W376g (a decent phone in its own right).

The first thing about this phone I want to mention is that it comes with double minutes for life. This is a huge plus. For someone like me who doesn't use their phone much, I can pick up a 120 minute card with 3 months of service for 30 dollars and not have to worry about my cell phone again until the service runs out. That is a great deal, and much cheaper than any monthly plan.

As for the phone itself, it is a pretty solid Tracfone. I was actually looking into getting more of a smartphone-style phone, but Tracfone's options currently aren't there quality-wise yet from what I have read from reviews. Maybe next year. Anyway, the LG 500G is a pretty easy phone to use. It has most of your standard features; text messaging (at a cheap rate of .3 minutes per text sent/received, it does cost more for longer messages though), contact list, camera, alarm clock, calendar, and so on.

The personalization options on this phone are much better than my old Motorola phone. There are multiple profiles and they are fully editable. The display is in full color, and you can add whatever background you like to the phone via a microSD card. You can also add custom ringtones. You may get an error if you try to add custom ringtones that the files are too large however. I am not really sure what the maximum file size is for files for ringtones. It doesn't really make much sense to me since my music files do not have that issue. If you do not have software to edit audio files then you may find that what you are trying to use as a ringtone won't work on this phone. Also, there are several themes for the menus. However, there is no way to create a custom theme. Two of the three themes are pretty hideous in my opinion.

There is a built-in music player that plays at a pretty decent quality. However, there is no option for continuous play. You must press play for each song, which is really dumb and annoying. The only way you can continuously play songs is by using the random feature, but I no not enjoy listening to my songs randomly so that is useless for me. The maximum microSD card the phone will support is 4 gigs, which should allow for plenty of space for songs (as well as pictures and ringtones and whatever else) for most users. In order to access the SD card slot, you have to remove the battery.

Also you cannot remap the buttons on the main screen, which is another annoyance because the browser button is located on that screen and if you accidentally hit it, you might get charged half a minute. That is unless you are fast enough to hit the "end" key before it charges you. This is a pretty short-sighted move, and possibly even a bit under-handed. I guess they were betting on people hitting the browser button without realizing it and running their minutes down. As other reviewers have said, it is important that you enable the auto key lock feature (listed under tools --> settings --> phone).

Battery life is MUCH improved over my old Tracfone as well. I have not seen it get even close to dead and I only plug it in maybe once every week-and-a-half to two weeks when the power starts getting down to about halfway.

Unlike other Tracfones, this one does have the option to reject calls. I have gotten spam calls and text messages on other phones before, so that is a plus if you experience the same thing. You have to create a group (under contacts) and then filter the group under settings ---> call. It is a bit clunky, but at least the feature is available.

The keypad is kind of small, even for someone with small hands like me. I do hit the wrong button occasionally. I am somewhat of a lazy typer though, so that may just be me. However it is MUCH easier to text than on my old Tracfone. There are no keys for just numbers. They share keys with letters and you have to press a button in the lower left corner (a small arrow pointing to a square) to get it to go to the numbers and other keys.

All in all this is a decent Tracfone if you can work around the minor quirks. Nobody who buys a < $20 phone is expecting it to be perfect, and while the LG 500G is an improvement over older models, it still has some shortcomings that leave me scratching my head as to what they were thinking. But as far as the value goes, Tracfone cannot be beaten for those who don't need to Facebook all day or send 20 text messages an hour.