Motorola Renew W233 Prepaid Phone, Green (T-Mobile)

by Motorola

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 1.9 x 0.9 inches ; 4.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0026IC8JU
• Item model number: W233 Renew
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,275 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Stay in touch with all your contacts and keep your busy life organized with the Motorola Renew W233, and pay the way you want with prepaid and postpaid calling plans from T-Mobile Pay As You Go. You'll get all the communication features you expect from Motorola while reducing your carbon footprint. Not only is the plastic housing of Renew made from plastics comprised of recycled water bottles and 100 percent recyclable, but it is also the world's first carbon neutral phone.

The Motorola Renew is the world's first mobile phone made using plastics comprised of recycled water bottles.

A great phone for those just looking for the basics in mobile communication, the Renew will keep you connected to your closest friends and family members with T-Mobiles myFaves (offering unlimited calls to your five most-used phone numbers) as well as via SMS text and MMS multimedia messaging. The phone also features Motorola's CrystalTalk technology to helps reduce background noise, a speakerphone for handsfree conversations, digital audio player, MicroSD memory expansion (to 2 GB), and up to 9 hours of talk time

T-Mobile Pay As You Go Prepaid Service
T-Mobile prepaid plans give you wireless access with less commitment, so you can pay--and talk--as you go. With no annual contract, no credit check, and no monthly bill, prepaid plans are a simple, direct way to go mobile. There are many ways to conveniently refill your T-Mobile Prepaid Plan so that you can stay continually connected with the people who matter most, including using web2go directly from your phone, via the T-Mobile web site, or using refill cards available at over 90,000 locations nationwide.

With Pay As You Go, you get wireless service exactly how you like it--there's no long-term contract, no credit checks, and no surprises. Add $100 in refills with Pay As You Go and you'll become a Gold Rewards customer, which gets you 15 percent more minutes on all refills and your minutes won't expire for a year after the time you refill.

You can also pay only $1.00 per day for unlimited nights and unlimited nationwide calling to any T-Mobile number. All other domestic calls you make are just 10¢ per minute.

T-Mobile includes the following services with this T-Mobile Pay As You Go phone:

• Nationwide long distance (including calls to Alaska and Hawaii)
• National roaming on the T-Mobile USA network
• T-Mobile web2go (free shopping for HiFi Ringers, MegaTones, wallpapers, and more; not available on all devices)
• VoiceMail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling
• Free e-mail address ([e-mail])

Additional services available for additional fees:

• Text messaging ($0.20 to send, $0.20 to receive)
• Picture messaging ($0.20 to send or receive)
• Download ringtones and wallpaper (prices vary)
• Download games and applications (prices vary)
• 411 & More directory assistance ($1.49 per call plus airtime)
• International dialing to over 150 countries (international rates apply)
• Prepaid international roaming rates

To keep your mobile number active, refill within 90 days after your minutes expire. After 90 days, your account will be canceled and you will lose your phone number. If you want to restart service after that time, you will need to activate new service.

It's also compatible with T-Mobile's myFaves service, which allows you to call up to five of your most common contacts--on any network, even landlines--without using any of your minutes. Learn more about myFaves from T-Mobile.

Phone Features
If your eco-conscience has been nagging you lately, the environmentally responsible Motorola Renew was designed for you. The phone made from 25 percent post consumer recycled plastics, and its plastic case is 100 percent recyclable. It's also the world's first carbon neutral phone. Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. The phone has earned Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree Product Certification after an extensive product life-cycle assessment.

A no-frills communicator, the Renew is a great mobile voice and text/picture messaging companion.

The box packaging has been reduced by 22 percent in comparison with standard Motorola packaging. Additionally, the reduced package size and weight helps to reduce transportation emissions. Minimizing its carbon footprint through energy, transportation and material efficiencies this device does its part reduce its climate impact.

A no-frills communication partner for your on-the-go lifestyle, the candybar-style Renew has a 1.6-inch LCD screen (128 x 128 pixels, 65K colors) and a standard alpha-numeric keypad. Sitting between the keypad and display are a four-way navigator, send/end keys, two soft navigation keys, and a dedicated digital audio player key. The phone has a small amount of internal memory--enough to store 500 contact entries as well as ringtones and other information--and it can be expanded via optional MicroSD memory cards (up to 2 GB in size). The phonebook can store multiple numbers per contact entry and is compatible with ringer groups as well as photo/ringer ID. Other features include the most recent 10 dialed/received/missed phone calls, a protected USB port on the right side, and a protected headphone jack (2.5mm) on the left side.

Motorola's innovative CrystalTalk technology automatically accounts for background noise during a call and adjusts the audio quality based on ambient noise conditions to provide the optimal conversational experience. CrystalTalk also reduces the volume of the background noise picked up by the microphone during a call, making it possible to be more easily heard over the phone while in a noisy environment.

If you need text messaging capabilities, the Renew has you covered as support is built-in for sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages. T9 predictive text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built-into the unit--a plus for text messaging users.

Other features include:

• GPRS data connectivity
• Handsfree speakerphone
• Polyphonic and MP3 ringtones
• Vibrating alert
• Digital audio player compatible with MP3 files
• Tools: Alarm clock, calculator, calendar, voice memo
• Downloadable games (Java MIDP 2.0)
• Web browser (WAP 2.0/xHTML)

Vital Statistics
The Motorola Renew weighs 2.93 ounces and measures 4.37 x 1.77 x 0.58 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 9 hours of talk time, and up to 18 days of standby time. It runs on the 850/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies.

Product Description

The Motorola Renew weighs 2.93 ounces and measures 4.37 x 1.77 x 0.58 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 9 hours of talk time, and up to 18 days of standby time. It runs on the 850/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Option For Someone Like Me, June 29, 2009

By 

cyberpsycho "cyberpsycho" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Motorola Renew W233 Prepaid Phone, Green (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I don't spend a lot of time on the phone, but it has become increasingly important for people to reach me while I'm away from home, or out of the office. After researching the options, a prepaid phone seemed to be the best choice. No monthly bills, or long term commitment, for a device that would be used infrequently, plus the T-Mobile $100 for 1000 minutes prepaid plan gives me more than enough talk time, and I have up to a year to use it. Anything not used within that period can be rolled over provided you add more minutes before the year is up. Additional minutes can be easily purchased online, over the phone, or at store locations around the country.

The Moto W233 has surprisingly clear audio, along with a well amplified speaker, and strong signal quality. Nine hour talk time, eighteen hour standby on the battery. The screens are intuitive and simple, albeit quite basic. Included in the box is a pamphlet style "quick start" guide, however, a full version of the product manual is available on the Motorola web site.

The address book and calendar are adequate, and new contacts and phone numbers can be added from the T-Mobile web site, as well as through the dial pad. With the optional micro SD card you can also store photos and music on the device. The downside is that the screen resolution is far too poor, and too small, for viewing anything other than clipart style images. In other words, don't bother downloading your Flickr jpeg collection to this phone. You will be very disappointed.

The headphone jack is smaller than a standard earphone plug, so forget about using your favorite iPod earbuds with this one. Fortunately, a decent pair of buds are included in the box. The lime green color gives it a toyish appearance, which may cause some embarrassment when compared with your buddy's fancy flip out Nokia, but hey...you're doing your bit for the environment with this product made largely of recycled plastic.

The battery charges quickly (about an hour, give or take), and can be charged through the USB port on your computer after downloading the proper drivers from the Motorola web site. However, be forewarned, the drivers only work on Windows XP and Windows 2000. Nope, no Vista drivers. Amazing, ain't it?

Overall, if you're just looking for a decent device that enables your people to reach you when you're away from the land line, and you really don't need another phone bill on your budget, the Moto W233 is ideal. It's lightweight, small, fits in a shirt pocket, and fits nicely in your hand. For someone like me, this device is likely to be all I'll ever need when it comes to cell phones.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good first phone, May 24, 2009

By 

P. Hawley (Hollis, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Motorola Renew W233 Prepaid Phone, Green (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I bought this phone for my son's first phone. He's 11, but will be doing a lot of camps this summer so I wanted him to have a way to call if needed. With the pre-paid option, I can give him a $10 per month phone allowance. He gets to demonstrate that he CAN be responsible, but it's not a huge thing if he loses it. Either way he's learning, and it's a good basic phone. Nice voice quality. Good volume. I'm sure he'll have the MP3 features figured out soon.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It works..., October 17, 2009

By 

ORdanish - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Motorola Renew W233 Prepaid Phone, Green (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I needed a replacement phone immediately. Because I *completely* resent the $18 'upgrade' fee T-Mobile charges on top of the cost of a new phone, I've decided to buy unlocked or non contracted phones from now on. I didn't know what kind of 'good' phone I wanted, so I bought this as a stand in... I just slid my regular sim card in when it arrived and I was good to go (i.e. I did not use any sort of pay as you go, pre-paid service with it).

The good:

It works. It makes calls. Calls are clear. It was a cheap filler phone and I'll hang on to it for that purpose again. There's a music player which works well.

There are two fun games included with it--sodoku and tetris--which work well and don't seem to be 'demos'.

The not great but dealable:

No bluetooth, no email client. It's a cheap phone, so not having those things wasn't unexpected but I realized how much I'd grown to like both of those things.

The memory expansion card is underneath the battery--not very convenient.

The battery itself is a REALLY tight fit...I've never had one which is so hard to remove (which makes dealing with the memory card more of a pain than I'm used to.

The not so great stuff that I didn't like about the design which goes beyond the it's 'it's a basic phone' explanation:

The headphone jack isn't a 'standard' one...and the included earbuds are utter crap so I've really missed my stereo bluetooth ones. It's a shame because the music player itself isn't bad.

The photo viewer is a disappointment. Pictures don't fill the screen well and take forever to load. Waste of time.

Perhaps the most significant is that I've had a LOT of phones and this has the tightest, most uncomfortable key configuration. The buttons seem hard to press and my hand cramps up. I'm not a texting maniac but I REALLY hate texting on this phone (and I've never thought about it before).

I can't figure out how to turn off the annoying little jangley chirpy sound when I plug or unplug it in to charge. Annoying when that wakes up my husband late or in the morning.