TracFone LG 600G Review Part 3
Posted on | February 12, 2009 |
LG 600G Review – Final Thoughts
This phone may be perfect for some users, but the w376g might be a better choice for others
This is a follow up to my previous posts about this phone. So, if you haven’t yet read the first two portions of the review, you might want to check them out by clicking on the links: Part 1 or Part 2. Also, this phone is now available for $46.99 from TracFone. Click here for more details.
Earlier, I discussed the camera and web browser. Rounding out the “entertainment” section of this review are the games. A version of Sudoku and an interesting game called “Reversi” are included on the LG 600G. One cool thing about the Reversi game is that it has the option of two-player, head-to-head play. So it could be fun for you and a friend to pass time occasionally.
The bluetooth feature also makes available another interesting option on this phone – it is possible to download games from the internet to your computer, then transfer the game files to the LG600 via bluetooth. I tested this out with a free version of Tetris, and was surprised at how easy it was. I probably won’t use this feature again until I learn a little more about the potential risks (I don’t want to ruin my phone by installing malicious software). But it’s nice to know the feature is there.
One feature that isn’t available on this phone, though, is an FM radio. It’s an option on the w376g, but not on this one. I won’t miss it much, but others might.
LG 600g
Before reading any further in this review, you may want to click on the picture above for more technical details about this phone.
Finally, there are a few more organizational tools that some people might like. I like to stay organized, but at the same time travel as light as possible, so I really like having these features. The calendar offers the option of setting appointments (up to 100 storage slots) and adding daily tasks (up to 50 total). The alarm clock is another nice feature, with the option of setting different tones for different alarms. Both the appointments and the alarms can be set to repeat in various patterns.
The phone book has a very large capacity of one thousand entries. Within each entry are fields for mobile phone, home phone, email address, group, picture, ringtone, anniversary (I’m assuming this is a poorly translated reference to birthday), and memo. I should point out, though, that the picture assigned to a particular contact will be displayed as the caller ID only on the INTERNAL screen, but not the external screen. Still, though, I think the phone book on this model is very robust.
Rounding out the list of tools is a notepad feature, calculator, tip calculator, world clock (tells the time of various cities around the world), stop watch, and unit converter. I won’t take the time to explain these items further, as they are pretty self-explanatory.
Finally, here are a couple of other random tidbits that I could have included in the previous sections of this review, but I didn’t discover until after the relevant portions were posted:
- The alarm function continues to work even when the phone is turned off. This really seems to be a handy feature to me – if you set the alarm for something, it must be important, right? So it should work even if you forget to turn on your phone.
- The ringtones could be a little louder for my taste. It seems that the Motorola w376g ringtones are quite a bit louder. Further, the LG 600G has no “Vibrate & Ring” mode. You must choose either vibrate, or ring, but not both. This doesn’t make much sense to me.
- The voice recorder can record up to 10 minute segments. I was able to record a 9+ minute segment and then transfer it to my computer using bluetooth (in under a minute). It’s not CD quality by any means, but for dictating notes or reminders, it worked really well. You even have the option of renaming the file after it’s saved on the phone.
- The battery life for me, on fairly heavy use including a some bluetooth, is coming in around 3 days.
- Also worth mentioning here: this phone is also available for Net10, as I discussed here.
Overall, I am pretty happy with this phone as an all-around device. I guess the biggest compliment I can give it is this: for almost 4 years, I’ve held on to my trusty Nokia 1100 and passed up many opportunities to upgrade to new phones that I tested. Of all those phones to have come out since the 1100, this is the first time that I have very seriously considered replacing the old blue Nokia. And I think I will end up making this my “primary” phone.
But, there are some pretty important negatives that might make the LG 600G a bad deal for people who use their phones differently than I do. Here is a rundown of the positives and negatives about this phone.
The Negatives:
- Sound quality is inferior to the recent round of Motorolas (w175, w260, w376g)
- Doesn’t ring as loudly as I would like
- The viewing angle of the screen is limited (image is distorted if viewed from too great of an angle)
- The charging and headset cables are not universal – must buy cables specifically for this model.
- Cost – at the time of this writing, $47 for the LG 600G vs. $27 for the w376g
- Web browser is restricted to what TracFone offers (same as w376g)
- Mp3 ringtones cannot be downloaded from TracFone
- No FM radio
The Positives:
- Very attractive design
- Lighter and sleeker than the w376g
- Excellent signal reception
- External display
- Bluetooth can transfer files to and from other BT devices
- Camera works well for my needs
- Hands-free speaker phone
- Phone book is flexible and stores up to 1000 entries
- Double Minutes for the life of this phone upon activation (same as w376g)
- Flexibility to create your own ringtones in a couple of different ways
- T9 predictive text editor (much better than the iTap offered by Motorola models
- Good organizational tools such as calendar and alarms
Summary:
As you can see, there are plenty of positives AND negatives abou this phone. Because of that, I can’t give it a whole-hearted recommendation because it all depends on how you use your phone. If you’ll use your phone only as a phone, and don’t care about custom ringtones, transferring pictures to your computer, or texting, I recommend the w376g because of its superior sound quality and lower cost.
But if you want the T9 editor for texting, if you’ll take a lot of pictures that you’ll want to get off your phone, if you want to create custom ringtones, if you’ll make great use of the organizational features, or if you just plain love the look of the LG, then this phone may be for you. I fall into the latter category. When I initially bought the phone, I had planned on testing it for a while and then selling it on eBay to recover some of my cost. After carrying it around for a few weeks, though, I don’t think I can part with it.
Comments
30 Responses to “TracFone LG 600G Review Part 3”
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March 11th, 2009 @ 4:13 pm
[...] LG 600g review part 3 [...]
April 11th, 2009 @ 1:52 pm
I recently bought one of these phones from Net10, and I love it.
Is there ANY way to get it to access the internet outside of the company website? It won’t browse any other sites through it’s own browser, and I installed Opera Mini, and it still blocked outside websites.
Just a note of interest:
I found an application this afternoon called Tequilacat BookReader that converts text books into Java applications you can read on your phone. It’s very useful!
April 15th, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
I don’t think it’s possible to get outside TracFone’s site with any of their phones, yet. Some people seem to have phones that have a ‘glitch’ in the firmware that allows unrestricted web browsing, but those are rare.
That reader application sounds pretty cool. Were you able to install it successfully?
April 16th, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
You said
“Further, the LG 600G has no “Vibrate & Ring” mode. You must choose either vibrate, or ring, but not both. This doesn’t make much sense to me.”
I have the NET10 version of this phone and it has
1:Ring
2:Ring and Vibrate
3:Ring After Vibrate
It’s Under Settings, Audio & Ringtones, Alert Type an then you can select Ring or Ring and Vibrate or Ring After Vibrate.
April 28th, 2009 @ 9:00 am
Hi, i got a quick question. My LG600G seems to go into “Sleep” mode if i dont push any buttons. If i attempt to make a call after not using it for a few hours my call instantly drops because i have no bars. But about 10 seconds later, i have 5 bar and can make any call i want.
April 29th, 2009 @ 10:14 am
That is correct, I made a mistake with that. Thanks for pointing it out.
May 3rd, 2009 @ 11:48 am
Hi - Do you know if there is any way to change the wallpaper or design of the external display on the LG 600G? Mine is the default gray, and I was hoping to change it to something more colorful. Thanks!
May 5th, 2009 @ 2:49 am
I too have been using a Nokia 1100 for over 4 years. I’ve decided to get the LG600g. I like the clamshell case, the extra features, PC BT connectivity and the battery life.
May 5th, 2009 @ 6:39 am
I don’t think there’s any way to change that, but I could be wrong. If I am, I would be happy to hear about it, so please share if you figure it out. Thanks!
May 5th, 2009 @ 6:41 am
I haven’t encountered that problem personally, but I’ll keep an eye on it in case I see it myself or come up with a solution. Does your phone receive calls when in sleep mode?
May 8th, 2009 @ 12:03 am
You said
“Further, the LG 600G has no “Vibrate & Ring” mode. You must choose either vibrate, or ring, but not both. This doesn’t make much sense to me.”
Dallas said
I have the NET10 version of this phone and it has
1:Ring
2:Ring and Vibrate
3:Ring After Vibrate
It’s Under Settings, Audio & Ringtones, Alert Type an then you can select Ring or Ring and Vibrate or Ring After Vibrate.
I said
Yep, it’s the same on the Tracfone as well.
Just have to dig to find it.
May 19th, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
Can you see who a text message is from before you open it on this phone?
I currently have the LG225 where you must first open (and pay for the text) and that is one feature I strongly dislike.
May 24th, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
I just bought this phone from Net10’s website a week ago, which makes this the fifth new Net10 phone I’ve bought. I’ve always had full reception bars at my house and work with all the other phones and this phone is no different, but I do have a major problem with dropped calls. The most calls I’ve made without a drop call is three, and they are always in the first thirty seconds. My other Net10 phones have had a total of maybe five. Could I have a defective phone, or could it be something else?
June 1st, 2009 @ 8:53 pm
It could have something to do with the underlying carrier. It’s possible that your older phone had an ATT-based SIM card (though still a TRacFone SIM Card, but based on ATT’s network), and now you have a T-Mobile-based SIM in your new phone. That might explain the dropped call issue, and it’s something that can be resolved with a call to TracFone. Here’s a long explanation that I’ve used several times in the past:
To figure out what kind of sim is in your phone, navigate to the “prepaid” section of your phone’s menu, and look for the “SIM Serial Number” option. Select that, and look for the first six digits of the serial number. If it starts with “890141,” you have an AT&T SIM. If it starts with “890126,” then it’s a T-Mobile SIM. If I had to guess, I would say that your new phone probably has a T-Mobile SIM. Assuming that’s the problem, the good news is that you can call TracFone and request a free AT&T SIM to replace the T-Mobile SIM in the new phone, if you tell them that the T-Mobile SIM results in unsatisfactory performance. Try this number: 1-800-339-9345. Be persistent and tell them that you are not happy with your phone using the current SIM card. They may resist at first, but if you persist you can get what you want.
June 1st, 2009 @ 8:56 pm
My 600g is currently inactive, so I can’t say for sure, but I think that it is similar to the 225 in how it displays incoming messages.
June 19th, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
My question concerns the PC connection capabilitys of this phone. Of interest is the capability to send SMS messages from a PC via the phone and download SMS messages from the phone. A few Motorola phones have a modem function that respond to AT commands that allow these operations. Just wondering if downloading text messages from the phone to a PC is possible.
June 27th, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
I want to switch from a contract phone to prepaid, and I like the Tracfone and Net10 deals—but I really want a flip-phone with a camera that can download the image files directly to the PC. Tracfone used to offer the RAZR, but it seems to be unavailable. Would the Bluetooth capability on this LG model do the same thing? If I have to pay to upload every image to some proprietary site before moving them to my hard drive, I’ll never use the camera. The whole point of prepaid is to save money, right?
June 27th, 2009 @ 9:42 pm
Zoom - I don’t think that you can do the text via pc setup you described. I think that the only application for which the PC connectivity works is to transfer files such as ringtones and pics.
June 27th, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
hndymn - This phone can transmit pictures to a computer via bluetooth. With other TracFone models, the only alternative is to send a pic as an MMS to your own email account. Each picture sent as a text message costs 1.5-2 minutes of airtime.
If you plan on taking a lot of pictures, you might also be interested in the most recent Net10 phone, which was released earlier this month. Check it out at the link below:
Motorola EM326g
June 28th, 2009 @ 7:48 am
thanks for the help!
October 16th, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
I have had L600g for about 4 months and do not recommend it. I am comparing it to an older NOKIA 1600, battery life 7 days and I used extras all the time on that phone. Receptions poor, cuts out most of the time and have to have call back on land line, why have a cell phone that has that poor of reception, not just when using bluetooth, can only post a few pics in phone book, battery life is poor at best, have to plug it in every day and I only use the phone for calls about 10 minutes a day at most, not enough volume, no speaker phone or I can’t find it if it is there. Good points able to google, bluetooth photos to pc. It’s tough dropped it many times. I like Net10 prepaid as my wife and I use cell phones very little but would use it more of it worked better and had WERTY keys. Looking at SAMSUNG l401g and waiting for more reviews before I buy one and hope to get to play with one first or at least get my dirty little hand on it.
November 13th, 2009 @ 10:03 am
((The phone book has a very large capacity of one thousand entries. Within each entry are fields for mobile phone, home phone, email address, group, picture, ringtone, anniversary…))
Ok I can’t find the phonebook? If it is contacts/new then it does not allow me to save any emails??? I can save entries in contacts on my w376g for email and phone but this LG600g doesn’t have a section that I can find to save emails. I can only add them in as I go.. which is a pain to type all that text each time I want to send a text/pic to an email address.
Your review says there is a place to do this, so far I’ve searched through the phone and the manual and cannot find any phonebook, only contacts section.
All help appreciated.
November 13th, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Hi I thought I’d reply again to let you know I finally found out how to store the email addresses. It doesn’t say how to in either the pdf manual or the book sent with the phone. But it is in contacts you must change it to (save to phone) not (sim card) in order for the scroll option to appear in the bottom of the edit contact.
Thanks again for this site! it’s great and I love to read the new phone reviews.
Hope you and your family are doing well after your recent illness.
Thanks again.
November 19th, 2009 @ 8:05 pm
A “write error” message occured while trying to put a picture (graphic) into the frame of the individual’s contact. Why?
What is the purpose of having the person’s photo in their contact information? Does the photo appear when they call you or when you answer their call?
thanks!
November 21st, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
I think that function is actually a little pointless. I don’t think it ever displays on the external display, so I don’t really see why you’d want it. And the “write error” is a documented software glitch in this model. It’s something like if all your contacts don’t have pictures, none of them can. It seems to affect some, but not all, units.
November 23rd, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
I cannot receive messages with pictures (sent as multimedia), nor can I send one. I can receive a plain text, nothing more.
I frequently also get a “communication error” mainly, as well as “network unavailable”. Isn’t this almost the same thing?
I was excited to get this new phone, but now I am not impressed with it at all. Have had to change sim cards (due to Tracfone issueing to a different zip code) but still can only use the phone minimally and cannot use it to it’s full capacity.
Anyone experiencing this same problem?
November 29th, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
I have recently found your blog after I purchased the lg600g from tracfone and goggled to find out a little more information about the phone since the booklet you get is limited on the features the phone has to offer. Like most of the people have said this blog is great. Thanks for all the effort .As most tracfone customers have experienced calling customer service and getting quality information is impossible and usually you can not understand the person you talk to.
November 29th, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
I forgot to mention that tracfone is finally offering (.mid) ringtones for the lg600g.
December 22nd, 2009 @ 3:25 am
I just purchased a new LG600g and I’m pretty disappointed with it. First of all I couldn’t activate the phone on the tracfone.com web site so I had to resort to calling customer service. After 30 minutes of entering codes they could not get it activated either. They referred the problem to technical support, gave me a ticket number and told me to call back in three days if the phone still didn’t work. I finally got connected on the third day.
I’m finding that the phone’s speaker crackles, hisses, and cuts out. I downloaded a ring tone (a .amr file via bluetooth) and it sounds so bad I can’t use it. Even on the lowest ring volume it is distorted and crackles. Also I noticed the speakerphone sound comes out of the same speaker as when your listening normally. My Motorola W376g speakerphone had a separate speaker on the bottom of the phone. It was loud and clear. I can’t say the same for the LG600g. I am returning it tomorrow. Has anyone else had similar problems with this phone or did I get a lemon?
December 30th, 2009 @ 9:49 am
Ron, I’m very sorry to hear of your troubles with this model. Everyone has different preferences in phones, but in my opinion the w376g produces better sound and signal reception than the 600g, so it sounds like you’re in agreement with me on that one. That being said, I think that you might have gotten a lemon there. It’s hard to say for sure, though.
I would definitely say that if sound quality is your main issue in a phone, you’ll be happier with the w376g. It’s great in that regard; not so great in terms of bluetooth restrictions (can’t transfer data), and texting (input is slow and iTap predictive text is less user-friendly than the T9 prediction on the 600g).