Customer Reviews

Samsung T301G Prepaid Phone (Tracfone)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

You may turn off GPRS (mobile web/MMS) to save battery life if you do not use GPRS features. However, the option requires accessing a secret menu. This is how:

Open the slider and type *#4777*8665# and a menu should pop up. Go to menu number 5, Attach Mode. Select Manual attach. OK. It will inform you that you need to restart the phone for this to take effect - do this later. Then go to menu number 2, GPRS detach. The phone will notify you that it has done the GPRS detach, which means that it is no longer connected to the GPRS network. Now restart the phone, and there should be a blue and white G at the top of the screen instead of a red and white one. Success! Of course, you may reverse this at any time by going back to the secret menu and selecting Auto attach and GPRS attach.

This will NOT adversely affect your ability to add minutes to the phone via [...] or by using a minutes card purchased in a store. If blocking the browser makes you unable to add minutes directly from the phone, just GPRS attach again and you'll be fine. If you cannot remember the code, consider putting it into a note (in the tools menu) for safe keeping.

Enjoy your longer battery life!

You can read on an unopened package what features a phone has but what people really need to hear is how those features you use most "work." It's a well built phone that I will use mostly for talking and limited texting. My main concerns about a phone are its quality and its audio performance (both incoming and outgoing). Because I have owned and used all three, I can compare this phone to the LG600G and the Motorola W376G and this one is the winner hands down! Audio is as good or better than the Motorola 376 and even better quality of construction. The 376 has a "flimsy" key pad not conducive to large finger tips and its silver case scratches easily. The LG600G (or at least the one I received) had POOR quality audio coming and going - nobody sounded like them self and it was not sharp and clear.

Samsung produced some features you don't see in the average "prepay plan phones." The one I appreciate most is an added touch that speaks to the quality of Samsung products and it is the ability to adjust total sound levels up or down depending on your environment (normal, silent, driving and outdoors).

They'll continue to improve as time goes on but for the present, the T301G is the best that TracFone offers and is an excellent phone.

Just had to add my two cents. I read the reviews about the ease of accidentally hitting the browser button and losing minutes, and I ordered this phone anyway. And I agree 100% about the browser. While setting up the phone I have lost a few minutes already by accidentally hitting the darn browser key. What a dumb place to put a browser key! (It's the top right button on the front of the phone, and if you bump it, hit it, press it accidentally (even when the phone is in the closed position), if your phone is on, you will lose 0.5 minutes. I have searched all over the web and there is no way to disable it, or at least have it ask you if you want to connect. Terrible terrible feature. I also followed the instructions of another reviewer and entered *#4777*8665# and followed the instructions, and it doesn't work for me, and from other sites I have found out, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I am going to see over the next month how much time I lose, and then I may have to take another reviewer's advice from another website and glue the button shut. (He said this worked for him fine and you can still get to the browser from the menu button). I cannot recommend this phone to anyone who has kids, your kids will drain their minutes by accident.

Besides being a very good phone, this Samsung phone is Bluetooth enabled, has a nice camera, and the slider is easy to use. Loaded with good features but not complicated to use.

My wife and I each have one of this model Tracfone. Neither has been a problem with outgoing or incoming calls. No dropped calls. Voice quality has been clear and natural sounding. We haven't yet found any areas where the phone won't work, and this covers New England to Oregon. Those are the "pros." The following are the "cons," along with some physical features we would like to see improved:

- One of my biggest cons is the fact that the browser key is fixed and cannot be changed or disabled. The prompt that gets you into this limited browser can be easily activated and cost you fractions of minutes.

- I carry my T301G sideways in a belt holder. I have occasionally missed a call when extracting the phone and quickly pressing the "off" button by mistake. This won't shut the phone off, but it will cancel the incoming call.

- The little, raised line under the display is used to slide the phone open. This line is too small and and just about useless to use. A rubber, or ribbed area on the side of the phone would be much more useful to slide the phone up. I find the process to be a "two thumbs" operation if you don't want to press on the LED display all the time - or activate one of the soft keys which are much too close.

- My previous Tracfone was a "clamshell" V176. This has a rubber feel to the phone, and I never thought I might drop the thing because of a slick, or slippery exterior. I wish the T301G was made from the same material - although I have not yet dropped this phone.

- The four soft keys can be programmed for whatever you want. I have found that assigning your "contact list," messages, list of incoming calls and phone info (minutes and time left) works best for me. The keys themselves, however, are still too small. The "incoming calls" one is needed for when I mistakenly disconnect a call as mentioned above.

- I found the phone information that constantly scrolls across the screen to be distracting and irritating. I was able to shut this function off through the menu though. The press of one of the soft keys now tells me this information.

The above "cons" are not a deal breaker for me. Life with this phone would be just a little easier if they were addressed.

Some other thoughts:

- I have never had trouble adding minutes to either phone. I do it over the internet. All they want is your phone number (as long as the phone is registered with Tracfone - easy to do). You purchase the minutes/time and they appear on the phone almost immediately. Keep the phone "on" while doing this.

- My V176 lasted almost six years with no problems until the last two weeks of it's life. If I can get this same performance from the T301G, then (for the price)I think it will be worth it.

- I know it would make the phone a bit larger, but I wish the soft keys, menu and browser keys, and key pad itself were a little larger. Less room for error and more comfortable to use.

- I have the phone set to answer (or call) when the slide is used. I don't think the browser will activate, by accident, when the phone is closed, because it's locked then.

(Edit on the above - If the phone is "on," then the browser will activate even when the phone closed (locked). This "con" continues to grow larger)

Not a great camera, but it will do in a pinch.

The volume control is on the side of the phone. Ascending from 1 thru 7. One press below 1 puts the phone on vibrate. Easy.

All-in-all, this is a nice little phone, for the price, and the fact that no contracts are involved. Much less expensive to operate than than most any other phone. It would, (at least for me) be the perfect little phone if the above "cons" could be ironed out.

The browser button is on the face of this flip phone. It often gets triggered when you try to answer a call or when you put the phone in your pocket. You get charged a minimum of 1/2 minute whenever this happens. I never use my browser, but TracPhone can not disable internet service for your handset, nor will they reimburse you for accidental triggering of this button. :(

The Samsung T301G Tracfone has many more features than stated. From a very adjustable camera. To the ability to record your own ring tone. Sending & receiving email, up to 640 x 480 graphics. The ONLY detraction is the sound quality of it's transmitted signal. (You might sound tinny to the people you call when the battery gets low.) Overall though, I give this phone high marks. You won't get a better phone at anywhere near this price.

This is a really good phone if you just need a basic model for low use, or just to keep for emergencies. I've had the big phone contracts, but now, I do not need that and I cannot justify paying that bill every month for a phone that I rarely use. I previously had a samsung katalyst and before that a samsung flip phone, I love the samsung phones they are really good quality and stand up to a decent amount of abuse. This particular phone is a cheaper model, but is similar to the Katalyst that I just finished up with. So far it's been good, sound quality is good. I also want to touch on tracphone's customer service. I had to call them because the minutes I placed on my phone didn't show up on the phone after several attempts to retrieve them, Customer service was excellent! They walked be through what to do and problem solved, they were very polite and curtious as well, all around a great experience. Did have to wait on hold either; my call was answered quickly and efficently. I'm definetly happy that I decided to go with the tracphone!!!

Very light in weight. (my 7 yr old can slap it in half easily) Voice is crisp and clear while talking. The speaker phone is clear but needs to be on the highest setting. The browser button is badly located. Accidentally press it couple of times. You cannot change the menu. (Menu and Browser) You can change the shortcut buttons. Fingerprints on screen of course. Easily slide opened. Limited access to the web. Tracfone locked some of its feature I believe. You cannot email of Google. It is great standard phone for making calls only.

This phone is darn good EXCEPT, the browser is tied to the back button. So if you press the back button too many times, $.50 gets deducted when the browser is activated. No warnings of money to be taken. Unbelievable design flaw. Or maybe a scam by design. Otherwise, for the $30 I paid, its very good. I'm returning it now. No more samsung for me. FOLLOW-UP 1/25/2011: Apparently this flaw which prevents me from NOT getting this phone is NOT samsungs fault. I ordered a different replacement phone from TracFone/Net10 (same co.) and it does the same thing. They are programming these phones to do this. The manual says the key is attached to the contact list where the TracFone/Net10 version is attached to the Web and not re-programmable. So its not the phone. Sorry about that. It is a good phone otherwise but not with the Tracfone/Net10 folks. I left it at one star so folks can read the caveat if they use it with Tracfone/Net10.