LG 840G Prepaid Phone with Triple Minutes (Tracfone) (White)

I've tried to include tidbits of all kinds of useful info if you are considering buying this fun little bargain of a non-smart phone that actually has wifi AND video! Its not perfect- its got some issues, but most can be worked around.Basics: The phone arrived on time and I had absolutely no problem activating it via the tracfone website which I highly recommend using. Also be sure to google tracfone "free minutes", as there are some promos that are regularly offered by tracfone to supplement the airtime you will be buying. I bookmarked the pages with these codes because it appears they are always available.(Short background) This review is coming from someone who has owned quite a few cell phones for both business and private use and I've bought some as gifts. I needed a couple backup phones in my household and I recently picked up one of these for myself (two more as gifts) and also an LG 505c tracfone. I run my household from my no-contract Samsung Galaxy S2 from Virgin Mobile (love VM-been with them for years) and before that a Blackberry- justifying the cost by cancelling my landline. I have a great many good things to say about this phone but it could never be my one and only phone. Some reasons I've listed below.Aesthetics: It does NOT look and feel like a cheap phone. Its very solid, nice looking, slim enough and has a good combination of gloss and texture. A relative actually picked it up accidentally to leave my house then realized it wasn't hers: she owns a white i-phone.Functions: Yes, you can look at your e-mail from it - the built-in widget proved very unreliable though, repeatedly telling me it failed to send my email, even with wifi on- and it outright ignored attachments--but at the exact same time, when I logged into the same e-mail from the browser on the phone, it sent just fine and I was able to open the attachments when logging into email from the browser. What I was not able to do at ALL so far is send a photo or video from e-mail. The phone has the capacity to do so, but with no explanation reads it has "failed" to send and that I should try again. Using the browser numerical keypad is annoying- so you can save your e-mail login page as a "saved page" and just enter your user name or password to look at your mail. But then good luck replying to any e-mail with that crazy keypad. Perhaps there is a cut and paste solution if you must use this tiny phone to write emails. There is a qwerty via the phones built in e-mail "app" but like I said, it often just doesn't feel like sending mail and sending-receiving from the phone's browser via wifi ALWAYS worked. Opera mini is unreasonably small to type out emails on unless you know how to make a stylus out of a toothpick and the right kind of rubber. I tried the tip of a rubber band (ha ha ha) and it didn't work. And there is absolutely no security on this phone. There isn't even a lock code so you can leave it laying on your desk charging etc. There is 'one' lock function if you are in a pinch - but it requires you to reset it every single time your screen goes dark - which is ridiculous. Also -it doesn't really work- press enough buttons and the "lock" just mysteriously goes away- weird. Just the prospect of throwing it in my purse or pocket without a lock code makes me nervous I might automatically dial someone. (See my solution* below). Is this a tracfone ploy to squeeze out more minutes? I don't know, but my extra bargain phones of the past had codes, oh and notification lights! There isn't one of those either.Bottom line: seriously, for 29 bucks- this phone is pretty amazing. I think its the only bargain phone I know of that lets you surf wifi - no, there is no real app store, that's true - but having wifi opens up a lot of possibilities - and you can always pick up a "Kyocera Event" from Virgin Mobile for $40 bucks )don't activate it and do your mobile banking-do voice activated browsing-goof off at the play store with Ice Cream Sandwich 4.1 to your hearts content - watch hulu and netflix, almost everything--without getting involved in data plan pricing--anyway back to this little gem.People say I sound "fine" but a just little more tinny than my regular cell. And I have to say I'm impressed with the MP3 player- it sounded better than I expected (album art gets transferred as well as the music, it sorts by album, artist, song and makes playlists: no equalizer) and the video camera and camera aren't all that bad either. Yes, they are low MP, and they will get grainier when you view the videos from a larger screen on a computer, but connecting this phone to my laptop via standard micro usb and sharing music, photos and videos was a snap (nothing funky there) and the outdoor movies I took in daylight looked pretty good -indoor photos: sorta okay during day, grainy in the evening. There is no flash, of course, but just having that video camera in your pocket is so much better than nothing. The pics and video are completely comparable to an average Blackberry experience. Not too great- but in a pinch, nice to have. And you get both color and black and white which is nice-sepia too. You can increase the brightness while taking a video or picture to compensate a bit for the lack of flash when indoors. The images opened well with Quicktime, if that helps anyone out there.Yes, you can load a micro sd card into this phone ( I think its up to 32G) so it pays for itself several times over just as a reasonably sized MP3 player- you have to take off the back of the phone-its under the battery -but that's easy enough. It comes with a 2G card.Texting is pleasant enough on this phone since that is one of the few functions where the phone provides a touch qwerty. Its a comfy sized qwerty - not too small or too big either. But if you are a heavy texter, just know that for some reason the designers decided to use pretty large lettering overall, and so you can only see the titles- of THREE texts before needing to scroll down in your inbox. The LG 505c, for example, is an even smaller phone but you can see much more info on one screen. There is no threaded texting. Again, not practical for someone who has several contacts they text daily- although you CAN sort texts by contact once opened- so there's that.Yes, you can watch a teeny little screen of Youtube on this phone. It is SMALL- like ONE INCH SQUARE! but it works, and fairly well, and its loud enough and clear enough )for example) for two people seated on a couch to giggle over funny videos. I only tried it via wifi by the way. And because this is not a smart phone and has no apps running etc. navigation around the web on wifi is pretty darn fast- which is really unusual on a cheap phone-actually it can be unusual on more expensive phones too. Its not a really weird looking or dated mobile browser either. But again, it can't render all the pages - IE you can't actually look at HULU. But you can do Google searches to find the info you need while out and about and you can use the web to check e-mails from several sources for example- which allows you to erase the browsing history and keep your e-mail private.Battery life is good- then again I'm used to battery hog phones so I'm biased.The screens are a little cartoonish - for the price, who cares, but while I'm reviewing it I might as well say - the icons are set on a baby blue background- which makes it easy to see, but it isn't exactly slick. The LG 505c I ordered (also a serious bargain here on Amazon- refurbished) has nice, black screens and classier icons - reminiscent of Android smartphones-but no wifi. Also the lettering is rather pixelated compared to the LG 505c which has really crisply defined print- this LG 840g has grainier lettering both on the screens and on the browser- the browser fonts remind me of the Blackberry browser I had several years ago if you are familiar with those.I installed "Opera Mini" but the keyboard is SO MICROscopic that I think even a stylus would keep hitting the wrong letters. That's one of the only real bummers about this phone- the weird numeric touch keypad for certain web functions instead of a qwerty. Very odd. Browsing can be time consuming unless you have your favorite-frequently used pages saved.One thing I highly recommend is before you click on "browser" on this particular phone, get in the habit of clicking on "wifi" first to see that you are still connected. I go a step further and slide the wifi onto "off" for a few seconds and then onto "on" and on more than one occasion, the phone said it could not connect (I reset my router and that resolved it). If the phone loses the connection to wifi for whatever reason, you WILL get charged for accessing the web- even if you quickly press buttons to exit.Also- you can e-mail yourself wallpapers from a PC or a cool wallpapers app from a friend's android (or family photos etc.) to put on this phone for free. And no, you can't stream Pandora, but with Wifi, you can at least play songs and playlists and entertainment from Youtube for free - the headphone jack can plug into any stereo system with a 5 dollar audio cord purchase.Also- I bought these as gift for two people who have cars old enough to have cassette players above the cd players. If your car has either this, or a jack for an MP3- this will turn your LG 840g into a car-wide stereo speakerphone controlled by your car's volume so that is really nice. You just need to buy the little cassette tape converter (amazon sells them for 8 bucks and up I think). You can listen to music via MP3 and answer the phone if it rings with the press of a button as the music goes off automatically. Very nice and safe feature that works with most phones with mp3s.One odd surprise was the stock clock alarm- - instead of beeping it has this soothing morning mixture of birds chirping etc.- and whimsical graphics--though you can choose other sounds of course.There's a reasonable selection of pleasant ring tones- several I would describe as "classy."inadvertent call solution: *So I bought a squishy cover, under which I hid a thick slice of a wooden teriyaki stick on either side of the screen-on button at the top so you really have to dig your finger in to activate the touch screen- its working to prevent inadvertent calling so far.Well I hope that helps some of you out there considering this phone. Remember- you can always buy an Android and not activate it if you want lots of access to apps or way better pocket-sized access to email - but this is the only phone I've come across that can offer talk, text, camera, and touch screen combined with video and wifi all on the same device for under $10 a month. Its really a unique offering.

Recently, my old LG 300G from Safelink was starting to fail on me. As a person who didn't use his phone for much other than calls and texts, I figured that, since I lived in a more digital world, it was long overdue for an upgrade.So, after some digging, a little bit of research and one weekend later with an Amazon Gift Card, I bought this and something else for another piece of technology I own (which I am satisfied with the other purchase as well).If any of you are looking for a super-awesome smartphone that can download and run apps within minutes, just leave this page and look at what TracFone has to offer for Android phones. If you're looking for a phone that does only the simple stuff, you might be better off getting a flip-phone. If you're looking for something above the standard phone that won't break your bank,THIS is the phone for you.Already, this phone has proven to be above and beyond what I had originally expected. So far, I've toyed around with it for a little bit and found out that it comes with an MP3 playing function built-in to the system, a camera that doubles as a picture camera and a video camera, a voice recorder, WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, a browser, an emailing app, a notepad... so much stuff on one TracFone. I'm really only scratching the surface here, too.Most of you will be pleasantly surprised that this phone comes a 2GB microSD card already inserted into the phone's microSD card slot. I myself actually switched out that for a 16GB mSDHC card I had in my tablet that refused to work, so that worked out well - I've already octupled my SD card storage without even needing to do anything too big.If you wanna insert your own SD card, you just take off the back (mind you, I did it while the phone was turned off to avoid data loss) and the mSD card is right above the battery to the right. Slide that puppy out, put in your own and you're good to go. Currently, I've only been able to test a 16GB mSDHC card in it, but if it can handle that, I'm sure that, since it's within the same model of it, this phone can handle 1GB and 2GB mSD cards and 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB mSDHC cards. As of now, I'm not sure about mSDXC, but if someone wants to test that out, they're more than welcome to.There's also some phone internal memory, but I've been able to determine that the phone itself has secure, encrypt access to that storage as it doesn't appear in my computer when I turn it on. It doesn't really bother me much, but I think that it should be open for usability on your computer when you plug it in.Speaking of which, this phone CAN be plugged into a computer as a Mass Storage Device. However, to activate that function, I'm pretty sure that you need a mSD card inserted into your phone for that to work - so far, my tower's read both the preinstalled 2GB and my 16GB, so that works out well. The folders are already installed by the phone and are clearly marked, so there's no need to worry about what goes where. You just put it where you want it to go and you're set!As of right now, I haven't really been able to test out calling functions too well, but I'm sure this phone is great at it. Texts come off of it great, too - if I had one nitpick for texting, it's that I sometimes mispress on the keyboard and write the wrong thing. Not a biggie - keyboard comes with a backspace button on it - but I wish that the screen was just a smidge bigger so that could be more prevented. However, I do kinda have big fingers and thumbs, so... that may be just me. You'll have to find out for yourself when you get it.Any updates on this phone will be posted on this feedback as well as changing of stars (possibly) as time goes on. But, for now, I guess I'm done. Hope you have fun tinkering with the phone - I sure will :DOh, and to Safelink Wireless customers looking at this phone: This DOES work with Safelink. I've already transferred my minutes and plan flawlessly to the new phone from my old LG 300G after a bit of tinkering. Just a protip, though - that Serial Number you get with the phone? Don't throw that out. That's EXTREMELY important, so keep it next to the phone until you activate it, then keep it for future possible use. Just a penny for your thoughts.UPDATE 1** I've been able to test calling on the phone and OH, BOY, is it fantastic! The signal's just as strong as it was on my old LG 300G and the call quality is flawless! Protip, though: Don't have regular old headphones plugged into the jack when someone's calling you or they won't be able to hear you. I got a call from my brother while I had my Apple Earbuds in and he couldn't hear me, so that was a bit of a downer.Photos on the phone come out great, but I'm slightly saddened by the lack of a forward-facing camera. However, it's not much of a bother to flip the phone for pictures. You just can't see the screen, but the button to take pictures is next to the "Go Back" touchspace, so that does mean you have to ready your finger before you take the photo. Other than that, works fine for me!Another protip: Using the browser when you're out and about on the 3G signal'll drain your minutes pretty quickly, so be sparing in that and use the internet when you have a WiFi connection readily available.Bluetooth works somewhat, but not completely. This phone has trouble connecting to some Androids and Apple products, so if you get this, keep that in mind if you've got a Droid or an iOS device.