TracFone LG 600g Review
Posted on | February 8, 2009 |
Another Bluetooth TracFone
[Edit: this phone is now available, with a free accessory kit, for $46.99 from TracFone. Click here for more details. The Net10 version is available for 54.99, and includes 300 free minutes on activation as well as the free accessory kit. For more details on how to get the Net10 version, click here.]
This is the second bluetooth-equipped TracFone, after the Motorola w376g. Both phones debuted in the summer of 2008, and I bought both so that I could review them for my blog. I wanted to write my reviews in great detail, so I’ll be breaking this review into three parts. You can click on the following links for the other parts of my review:
Now, on to the beginning of the review. First, let’s go over the features that set this apart from other TracFone models:
- Flip Phone design
- VGA Camera
- Bluetooth Capability
- Handsfree speaker
- Phonebook with up to 1000 entries
- External display
- Double Minutes for the life of this phone upon activation
LG 600g
Before reading any further in this review, I suggest you click on the picture above for more technical details about this phone.
There are a handful of other features that may be important to some, and I’m skimming over them initially. Basically, though, this phone pretty much includes all the features of previous TracFone models, as well as those listed above. I’ll get to all of the extras later on in the review, too.
Appearance
Much like the Motorola w376g, the appearance of this phone is far better than any of the older TracFone models. I really like how this phone looks. I personally prefer it over the w376g, but that definitely is a matter of your personal taste. The LG 600G is slightly wider, and maybe 3/8″ shorter, than the w376g. They are about the same thickness, and the Motorola is slightly heavier. The color, shape, and external screen on the 600G are the biggest differences in the appearance. The Motorola is silver and rather narrow looking, while the LG is a glossy black design with smooth, rounded corners and edges.
Another nice feature is the external screen, which allows you do view the status of your phone without flipping it open. This small screen displays a lot of info in a small space, including date, time, signal strength, battery meter, new message indicator, and ringer volume level.
As I said above, I am really impressed with the visual appeal of this phone. In my review of the w376g, I wrote “…this phone looks less like a TracFone handset than any other model offered by the company.” Well, that distinction for the w376g didn’t last long, as the 600G surpasses that model attractiveness, in my opinion. And, it’s important to some to know that you won’t find the word “TracFone” anywhere on the outside of the device. (When the 600G is flipped open, however, you’ll see the TracFone logo below the main screen).
Functionality
Speaking of the screen, I found that the internal display to be nice, but not equal to the screen on the w376g. The reason is that, when viewed from an angle slightly above or below “straight on,” the colors tend to become distorted. This is similar to earlier LCD or rear-projection TVs, where if you stood too far to either side the colors would be skewed. I would estimate that, on this phone, there is a range of 20 degrees either up or down where the colors are perfect, and another 20 degrees in each direction beyond that where the image is still viewable. If you “tilt” this phone any more beyond that, you’ll still be able to read the text but the wallpaper will look pretty distorted. This isn’t a big deal in my opinion, but it’s something I wanted to point out.
Regarding the keypad, I found it to be good, but not great on the 600G. I actually slightly preferred the numeric keypad on the Motorola. Whereas the Motorola has raised ridges separating the number keys, the 600G offers glossy, rounded keys. However, the arrow pad and the clearly marked “OK” and “clear” keys on the 600G definitely worked better for me than the equivalent keys on the w376g. So I consider it a toss up in terms of the usability of these two keypads.
But in terms of the ease of texting I have to give a slight advantage to the Motorola for a reason that might at first seem like a disadvantage. As I pointed out earlier, the Motorola is a little heavier. This actually seems to work better for me when I do one-handed texting and other uses of the phone, since the w376g seems to balance more steadily in my hand.
However, the major weakness of the w376g in terms of texting is the use of the iTAP predictive text system, compared to the T9 system employed by the LG handsets as well as older Nokia TracFones. If you’ve never used either of these, or have always used iTap, you might not notice a difference. But if you’ve used T9 a lot, you’ll definitely prefer it to iTAP. So in that area, the advantage goes to the LG.
Before I move on, I’ll offer one more complaint about the keypad on the 600G. Just like the w376g, the 600G has the single-touch web browser key. This may be a problem for some because, if you accidentally press the browser button, the browser application will open and begin deducting units (on both this phone and the w376g). However, it is not as big of a deal on the 600G since the button only functions if you are at the home screen when you press the browser key. Further, if you do accidentally start the browser, the option to “cancel” is clearly available on the screen. Both of these last two points are improvements over the w376g. (I should point out, though, that the quickest way to quit the web browser with either phone is to snap the phone closed immediately. This will close the browser and keep it from deducting minutes unexpectedly.)
Now let’s get to the main purpose of a phone - talking. The sound quality on this phone is adequate, but not great. I compared the 600G with the w376g by calling some people first with one phone, then the other. In my testing, the Motorola produced clean, crisp audio compared to the LG, both for me and for the person on the other end of the line.
The LG was not bad, but in my opinion definitely ranked lower than the Motorola. The sound of the 600G seemed to pretty accurately represent the voice of both parties, and did so at an adequate volume, yet it sounded somewhat muffled - almost as if I were holding a thin layer of cloth between my ear and the phone.
Another area where I had difficulty was that the receiver on the 600G seems very sensitive to wind noise. I encountered this problem outdoors, obviously. But, more surprisingly, I also noticed it when having a regular conversation indoors. It seems that the microphone on the LG phone picked up the movement of air from my breathing. I’m a pretty healthy, physically fit person and I wasn’t breathing heavily or anything, so this really confused me. I’ve never had such a problem with any other phone, and it was pretty annoying that I could hear the noise created by my own breath. After a few minutes of use I was able to adjust the position of the phone to fix the problem, but it was still annoying.
Another point you may want to consider is that the 600G scored very well in the area of signal reception. Wherever there I found even the faintest network signal, this LG picked it up and was able to make and receive calls. It may even be a little better than the w376g. I give it two thumbs up in this area.
Now, after reading the last few paragraphs, you might be convinced that this phone is a loser. I don’t want to give that impression, though - if you plan to use your new phone only as a basic voice phone the vast majority of the time, then I would suggest that the Motorola w376g is probably going to be a better purchase for you - especially at roughly half the price. But if you are interested in other features, stay tuned for future installments of this review. This phone does have some great redeeming qualities beyond sound quality, but they’re not the sort of things that all TracFone customers will make use of. So if you’re deciding between these two phones you’ll have to make your choice carefully. Below is a list of the topics covered in parts 2 and 3 of this review:
- Bluetooth connectivity
- Ringtones and Wallpapers
- Camera/Voice Recorder
- Web Browser
- Games
- Calendar/Organizer
- Phone Book
If you want to continue reading about this model, you can click on the following link to read my LG 600g review part 2.
Comments
6 Responses to “TracFone LG 600g Review”
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February 10th, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
[...] TracFone LG 600G Review Part 2 [...]
February 12th, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
[...] TracFone LG 600G Review Part 3 [...]
April 12th, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
Which camera is better, this one, or the w376g one?
and can tracfones even send or recieve picture messages? lol
April 15th, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
I think the cameras are about the same. Both the 600g and the w376g can send and receive pictures messages. The 600g can also transfer pics to your computer by bluetooth, if your computer has it, which saves airtime.
July 26th, 2009 @ 7:23 pm
I just completed activation of my new LG 600g. I was able to port my old Tracfone phone number and get my minutes and date of service off the old phone — all went very smooth. But wow. You weren’t kidding when you said the sound quality was poor on this LG. I did some testing and I can hear the other caller on incoming calls fine, but on the receiving end, the other caller reports very poor sound quality — muffled, static, etc. I recorded a voicemail message for callers to hear and leave me a message — and it is also staticky and muffled as well. I now have to decide if I want to return this phone or not. I love all the other features on it but wow…this sound quality is absolutely horrible. Thanks for your reviews and all the time you put in. It’s appreciated.
December 14th, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
I just activated this phone. I lost my old cell phone so couldn’t keep my old number or minutes.
I find the volume fine. Maybe it’s because my phone is slightly newer than these posts.
What I don’t like is the noise (music?) it plays when you turn it on or off. Is there any way to get rid of it?