Probably not too popular around here, but here is a short review of a net10 phone

[episodic]

Hi,

I've been looking for a new phone that did more. I was beholden to the idea of a 'smartphone'. In my research, I found that having a smartphone is a fairly expensive proposition.

Everyone here knows the prices for the big 4 cell phone companies' postpaid divisions - so I won't even talk about that. Lets just say it was too expensive for me. I could afford it, but I felt like it was a huge waste.

My desire for a phone is fairly modest with one exception. I'd like to have internet access above all else when out and about. I really don't care about voice and text at all. I've often lamented if they'd put a 3g receiver in an ipod touch, it'd be my best friend.

So I looked at prepaid companies. I found a few interesting things:

Straigttalk now offers a Nokia Smartphone - the E71. It is a nice phone. Costs $190ish on walmart's website and has unlimited use for $45 a month.

Boostmobile has a blackberry for around 50 a month.

Virginmobile has an android device for about $25 a month with 300 minutes talk and unlimited web/text etc.

Unfortuantly, I had to rule out virginmobile and boost. If I lived in a bigger city, I'm sure I'd go with them. Sadly, sprint coverage is not so good where I'm at, and they seem to run off of sprint towers.

I was about to go with the e71 - even though I didn't really want to pay that much for a phone, then net10 came out with a new phone - the LG900g - it runs off of att towers here which is good for me.

It is not a full smartphone - but it satisfies my one desire just fine - getting online.

It runs at full EVDO speed - not 3g - but I live in a little town anyway, so even if I bought an iphone, it would spend a majority of time at this speed.

It allows the install of java apps. It has fully functioning bluetooth, I can push and pull files, etc. I can use my own ringtones, graphics, etc. It has an fm radio that works well. It has 3.5 headphone jacks. It has a decent mp3 player. It also has an sdcard slot. I have a nice java facebook app for instance. I also have the full latest opera mini running nicely and the 'bolt' browser I'm trying out. The web seems full and not restricted. It does not play streaming video though.

For those that know about net10, etc. This represents a big departure from phones that have been previously totally locked down.

It is a snappy little phone. The camera quality is 2megapixels. Sadly, no flash. It is a big step up from my old 'vga' camera phone. It really is a nice little phone. Best part, it was only $60.00.

Now, you are thinking 10c a minute. Well net10 has 2 new plans that work well with this phone.

The first is 750 units any way you want to use them. So I can spend 750 minutes talking. I can spend 750 minutes browsing the web. Text messages seem to be deducted at .25 of a minute on this phone. Picture messages take 2.5 units. These 750 do not roll over. It is a monthly plan for the princely sum of $25.

They also have a full unlimited plan which for me was overkill. But it is $50. I can also go back to the old 10c a minute anytime I want.

When you go to net10's site, this phone won't appear until you put in your zip code, and it will appear only if you are in a GSM area.

So it satisfies my needs for now. It browses the web well, uses opera mini, has a nice facebook app, multitasks (forgot to say that), and has a nice mp3 / fm radio player. The volume is also nice and loud.

If I move to a city, I'm sure I'd go with virgin's smartphone for $25 a month, but for now I found the low cost communicator I'm looking for.

 

[notposting]

Burn the heretic!


But seriously, that's awesome (getting what you want at the price you want).
And with the web access, you can get most of what a smartphone can offer in one way or another.

 

[railer]

I was about in the same boat as the OP last month. I had been a tracfone user for years, and I wanted a phone that could do neat tricks, play music, take pictures, etc.

I actually looked at net10, and I remember at the time looking at some Samsung model that looked like a Blackberry. There was no wifi, and I wasn't quite sure how the internet workeda, so I passed.

I ended up getting a "real", albeit old, smartphone, (Cliq XT) and am using it with T-mobile's prepaid plan. I mainly use the internet via whatever wifi I can find for free, and if I do need internet when I'm not in wifi range T-mobile has a web Daypass that you can buy for 24 hour unlimited net access, for either $1.50 or $2.00 per 24 hour period. Talk and text costs are fairly similar to what I used to pay for my trackphone, but I don't really talk or text all that much, so this plan works well for me.

I plan on upgrading to a Nexus 1 after x-mas, and I'll just pop my current SIM card out of my Cliq and into the Nexus, and have a full featured smartphone at a prepaid price.