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(More customer reviews)This is a slim flip style phone that you get the basic description up above. I will concentrate reviewing what may help you decide if it's right for you.
First go to the Tracfone website to do several things. You will input your zip code to see what phones are available in your area (on the buy phone tab). After confirming your city, carefully check the web address page that will appear in your browser. Somewhere in the string of characters there will be either a GSM5AT (ATT and Tmobile), GSM5 (Tmobile), or GSM4 (ATT). Those are the two providers that Tracfone currently uses. This code will tell you who is in your area. If you are lucky to be in a dual provider area, select your W260g (or actually any other) carefully by looking at the white label on the bottom of the box (if shopping in a store). The phones (and sim cards) are specific to only one provider. The top line of the white label will have a string that will contain either TFMTW260SP5PSDM (Tmobile) or TFMTW260SP4SDM (ATT). Pick a phone for a provider that you have better coverage with in the area that you will be using the phone most often. You cannot swap a P4 sim into a P5 phone and vice versa. They are sold married to each other only.
Second, select this phone in a "Bonus Pack" package only. It is only a couple of bucks more and includes car and home charger, a case, earphone and most important "Free Double Minutes For Life" (FDML). That is what the last two digits in the code above stand for. This means when you buy a 60 minute card, you will get 120 minutes, etc.
Third, always Google "bonus codes" and Tracfone when buying air time for current offers that will add even more minutes to your card/phone. I typically buy a 60 minute card, get double minutes up to 120, then get 60 additional bonus code minutes. So a 60 minute card can get you 180 minutes.
Fourth, activate on line on Tracfone website. You will get 10 minutes free.
Fifth, when you first get assigned a new phone number, be aware that someone may have had it before you. They may have had a "history", such as bad credit. If you don't want to load up your voice mail with unwanted messages, do not set up the voice mail for a couple of weeks, or have Tracfone "unset it" up for you. You can also set the unwanted caller numbers up as "ignore a, b, c, d etc" in the directory. You then hit "ignore" soft button (the one on the right of select circle)when they call, and not lose any minutes.
Now the rest of the review. The phone looks nice and modern with a sleek shiny black surface. Feels good in the hand. The charging and earphone openings have plastic covers that swing out of the way when needed. Unfortunately when you unplug the charger you tend to grab the both the plug and the cover, and the plug feels like it does not want to come out, or worse it does come out with the plastic cover.
The battery life seems optimistic at 6.5 hours talk time and 18 days standby. While futzing with the phone and all its features (not on the air, but with screen on all the time) I managed to run down the battery in about 3 hours. Not using the phone much at all I had to recharge it in 4 days. That is still good for a GSM phone.
Keypad is just OK, the circular pad is a bit small and I wind up occasionally hitting one of the arrows rather than the center circle.
The screen quality is good. You can only set the contrast, not the brightness. The various W260s I saw, had a good degree of variation between them some bright with a bluish tinge, some dimmer and yellowish. Both are very acceptable.
The reception and voice quality are good to very good (not excellent). I had both the Tmobile and ATT versions, and in my case the ATT had much better signal strength.
The supplied earphone (bonus pack) is single ear, pretty good quality, the clip on holster is very good, and both home and car chargers fully recharge the batteries in about three hours (updated information).
PS Tracfone customer support has been excellent. They answer on the first ring, sometimes are a bit difficult to understand, but get the job done.
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Motorola W260g Prepaid Phone (Tracfone)The perfect complement to Tracfone prepaid wireless service, the sleek, lightweight Motorola W260g offers an affordable way to stay in touch with family and friends across town and around the globe via voice communication and text messaging. Offering the best of the basics for work and play, the W260g provides easy access to your text messages, a unique external display with light-up icons that signal new messages, speakerphone, 2.5mm headset jack, and up to 6.5 hours of talk time.
Tracfone Service Tracfone provides nationwide prepaid wireless service using the nation's leading cellular providers to create a national footprint covering 99 percent of the U.S. population. This gives you connectivity everywhere cellular service is available. You can use your Tracfone across the U.S. and if you move, you can relocate your wireless number with just a phone call.
You can buy bundles of minutes (which must be used within a set time limit of between 90 to 365 days) from the Tracfone web site on your home PC or directly from your phone's web browser. For example, if you purchase a block of 120 minutes of airtime, you'll need to use that within 90 days of your first use. When you buy additional airtime minutes, your Tracfone service is extended automatically by another 90 days. Tracfone also offers international long distance calling to over 60 international destinations (including Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, most European countries, and many more), which deducts the same amount of minutes from your phone as when you make calls to destinations within the U.S.
This phone ships with a number of handy Tracfone services, including free voice mail, free caller ID, and free call waiting. And perhaps most importantly, the integrated TracFone Airtime Balance Display shows you how much airtime you've used and how much is left, so you can control your costs. You must activate your cell phone before use either by calling the Tracfone toll-free number or going to the Tracfone web site.
Phone Features Weighing in at an ultra-light 3.3-ounces, the super-slim W260g fits comfortably in your hand and flips open effortlessly to reveal a large and vivid full-color 128 x 128 screen and streamlined keypad. Instead of an external LCD, the W260g sports a series of unique, light-up icons that signal new messages, low battery, and other events. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's backlit control pad. Use the phone's stereo-compatible 2.5mm headset jack with your favorite stereo earphones or hands-free headset.
The W260g's internal phonebook can hold up to 500 contacts and includes picture phonebook options, and it will display the last 10 dialed/received/missed calls. It supports 32-chord polyphonic ringtones, and you can switch it over to vibrate mode when you need to keep things silent.
This Motorola phone includes the innovative CrystalTalk technology, which 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 basic messaging capabilities, the W260g has you covered as support is built-in for sending and receiving SMS text messages. The iTap predictive text technology is built into the unit, which autocompletes text for you as you type on the alpha-numeric keypad and offers options for selecting the correct word.
Other features include:
Tracfone Airtime Balance Display shows you how much airtime you've used and how much is left
Organizer tools: Calendar, alarm, calculator, currency converter
Speakerphone
Includes 35 ringtones; compatible with 32-chord polyphonic ringtones
Vibrating alert
Hearing Aid Rating: M3, T3
Vital Statistics The Motorola W260g weighs 3.17 ounces and measures 3.74 x 1.77 x 0.67 inches. Its 940 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 6.5 hours of talk time, and up to 432 hours (18 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies.
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