Straight Talk Nokia E71 reviews

The addition of the Nokia E71 device to Straight Talk's lineup in October of 2010 has produced a great deal of talk among the pay as you go mobile crowd. This device is, in my opinion, the best-equipped device sold for any pre-paid service at the time of its release. Most publishers of Nokia E71 Straight Talk reviews seem to agree with me when I highly recommend the E71.

A robust device like this is something that customers of Straight Talk and their sister businesses, TracFone and Net10, have been inquiring about for a long time. Until now, parent company America Movil seemed to be extremely unhurried to include new features in mobile handsets, leaving consumers mainly rudimentary models to go with. These kinds of phones generally wound up giving the impression of a product that may well have been available on a contract (postpaid) service plan many years earlier.

And even while this Nokia also has been available from other service providers for several years now, it really is a highly advantageous option for prepaid wireless consumers as a result of all the functions it offers.

Most significantly, it supports addition of apps, which can easily be downloaded by way of Nokia's Ovi app store. Even while this store obviously is lacking in the quantities of applications around for the iPhone or Android devices, you can find greater than 5000 possibilities available, spanning nearly all functions you might really want to do while using a smart phone. A large number of these applications are free, too, which is nice.

You will also get a great deal more powerful web browser with the E71 compared to those on previous Straight Talk offerings. This browser allows for full-screen web browser, streaming music, plus even flash video through sites including youtube.com. And in the event that the provided browser does not do the job for you, there are a few additional highly-recommended browsing applications offered in the Ovi store that might want to test drive instead.

Many applications and internet browsers also depend on efficient data connections, and Nokia's E71 fits the bill in this subject too. The 3G connectivity will certainly provide high-speed information while you are while on the road. Furthermore, if you're at home or in the vicinity of another wifi access point, the built-in wireless radio can provide even swifter transmission speeds (without making use of your mobile data plan).

An additional functionality which prepaid consumers have asked for is a cell phone which can easily synchronize with a Personal computer to combine schedules, contact lists, and media files. Nokia's Ovi Suite program allows for this functionality as well.

These are just a few of the excellent functions provided on the Nokia E71 for Straight Talk. As expected, you'll also acquire an incredibly high-quality mobile. Nokia is renowned for their excellent reception and audio superiority, and this device excels in these areas as well.

I've hopefully given a good summary of the characteristics of this phone, but actually there is such an abundance to comment on that there's no chance I will have space in this short report. To get the whole story, visit my E71 Review webpage.

Samsung T401g Phone Review

Net10 has sold the Samsung T401g for about a year, after first releasing it in October 2009. About half a year later, Straight Talk added this device to their list of phones as well. I have worked with the t401 extensively, having carried it as my primary phone for nearly a year, and found some noteworthy features. Here are a few of the highlights from my Samsung t401g phone review:

This phone is one of the few models for either Net10 or Straight Talk that features a QWERTY keypad AND video recording capability. (Just a few days ago as of this writing, in October 2010, Straight Talk has also added two new Nokia handsets that include these two features as well.) Additionally, it includes an mp3 player and decent 1.3 mp still camera.

The QWERTY keyboard slides horizontally from the body of the phone. When the slide-out is collapsed, there is also a 12-key numeric keypad so you don’t need to slide the phone open to make a call. The screen rotates when you slide out the keyboard, so the screen is always oriented in the right way to according to which keyboard you are using.

I struggled a bit initially using the qwerty keypad. IT seemed cramped, and since it was my first QWERTY phone I was not used to the layout of the keys. Fortunately I was able to quickly adapt, and in just a few days I really liked the qwerty keyboard. I was soon able to tap out messages much more quickly than I previously had using a 12-key pad.

The left side of the phone (as you face the phone toward you) includes a volume switch to adjust the volume of ringtones when on the main menu, or call volume while on call. Below that is the microSD card slot. Inserting memory card will let you store extra files such as pictures, videos, and mp3s. This phone will accept cards up to 16gb, which is room for plenty of media.

On the right side you’ll the multi-function port used for the charger, headset, and USB cable. I really don’t care for this layout because the Samsung-branded connector means you have to use an adapter or special headset to listen to mp3s, which means you’ll end up paying more money if you want to use it that way. I was able to find an adapter fairly cheaply on Amazon, but I still believe it’s a hassle to users. Farther down the right side is the button to launch the camera, and this button also will snap a picture when in camera mode. This key only works when the phone is unlocked (open), so you don’t have to worry about taking unwanted pictures.

The quality of the camera is pretty good for a prepaid phone. The video recording function is also handy, but to be honest the video is grainy when played back on the phone’s screen, and even more so if viewed on larger screen.

I also noted that the music quality of the mp3 player on this phone is better than that on the Motorola EM326g, which was the first Net10 phone to offer a music player. The music sounds fair through the built-in speaker (compared to what I was expecting) and better when using headphones. Also, it appears that you have the option to play songs through Bluetooth stereo, although I don’t have a stereo Bluetooth headset to test this out.

I’ll close here with a few more features I was impressed with: long battery life and good reception. Further, the sound on voice calls is very good. In conclusion, I’ll score this model at 9 out of 10. Of course, the value depends on how much you are spending on the phone. Pricing on this particular model varies depending on a few different factors.

I discuss pricing and give much more detailed info in my Samsung T401g review.

LG 620g Review - What I don’t like

I’ve had the LG 620g for a month now, and there are a handful of ways in which I’ve been disappointed. I discussed more issues like this in my LG 620g review, but ultimately I’ve concluded that I will keep the phone since it performs very well in some areas. But first, here’s what I don’t like about it:

The LG 620g does not have voice-activated dialing. I feel this is a safety issue. Many states now prohibit or somehow limit the use of phones while driving, and with good reason. One way to make them safer is through the use of hands-free headsets and voice-activated dialing. That way you wont’ have to look at the phone to make a call. Unfortunately, this model falls short. I don’t make calls while driving, but I know there are many people that do, and for this reason it’s a safety concern to omit this feature.

The headset connection is not standard. That means you’ll need to either buy a special headset made for LG phones, or perhaps find some kind of adapter, if you want to use a wired headset for calls or for listening to music. This means it will end up costing you extra money.

The shortcut keys cannot be customized. Most phones allow you do change which function is activated by the shortcut keys (usually the left, right, up and down keys from the home screen).

The keys used to change the volume during a call are the up and down keys on the face of the phone, rather than dedicated keys on the side of the phone. The vast majority of current cell phones have a couple of keys or a rocker switch on the side of the phone to make it easy to increase or decrease the volume during a call. On most phones, these keys also allow for easy adjustment of the ringtone volume.

Speaking of ringtone volume, it can be difficult to change the ringtone volume. If you want to shut of the ringer completely, you can do that easily by holding the * key for a few seconds. If it’s already off, holding the * key will return it to the previous setting before it was muted. But if you want to simply increase or decrease the ringer volume a few notches, you’ll have to navigate through several menus.

The keys on the directional pad (up, left, right, and down, right below the screen) are flat. This makes them more difficult to use compared to if they were slightly raised.

I found that the menu navigation sometimes lagged a bit behind my keystrokes, which can lead to some confusion until you get used to it.

As you can see, that’s a fairly long list of complaints. When you look at it, though, they are all fairly insignificant. What I failed to mention in the brief LG 620g review above is why I LOVE this phone. It is excellent at all the things that are most important for a phone. Signal reception, battery life, and audio quality are all very good. The screen is nice and this model has a few features that most Straight Talk and Net10 models do not.

Get more details on all of this in my LG 620g review, which you can find here: http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/lg-620g-review/