The Fone-Review.com TracFone Blog

Straight Talk Samsung R451C Review - Overview

For my Straight Talk Samsung R451 Review, I thought that I would break the review up into several parts.  That way I can go into more detail on each aspect of the phone without creating a monster review for you to wade through.  Plus, it lets me level out the workload over several days.

So let's get started with an overview of Straight Talk Samsung R451C.  The first thing you'll notice is that it has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, which comes in real handy for entering text message or website URLs.  

The keyboard also makes the phone look a lot like a smart phone, which can be good or bad.  It can be good if you're trying to impress your friends with your fancy new phone, but it can be bad if you expect it to have full smart phone functionality.

For instance, when I first took the phone to work, my buddies said "cool, can it synch to Outlook?"  Um, no.  When I showed it to my brother, he asked "can it open Excel and Word documents like my phone?"  Um, no.  I've had a couple of readers ask "can it run the Opera Mini or Bolt browser?"  Um, no.  Can it run Windows Mobile, Symbian, Droid, etc.? No.  Can it tether to a laptop?  No.  

In short, you can't expect to pay $100 with no contract and get a full blown replacement for your Blackberry, iPhone, Sidekick, or any other smart phone.  And no, you can't port your smart phone over to the Straight Talk service, since only Straight Talk phones will work with their service.

So what can you expect?  You can expect a decent prepaid phone that has the slide out QWERTY keyboard, and 1.3 Megapixel camera that takes OK pics but no video, an mp3 player, bluetooth, MMS picture messaging, voice recording and dialing, and a bunch of other standard features that you can find on the Straight Talk website.

Of course, one of the best things about all Straight Talk phones is that they work with the excellent prepaid no contract service plans offered by Straight Talk:

• $30/month for 1000 minutes 1000, text messages, and 30 MB data
• $45/month for unlimited

I cover more details in my Straight Talk Prepaid initial review and Samsung R451C first look (be sure to read the comments for a lot of questions and answers).  

To close out this overview, I will say that I've been using the phone a couple of weeks now, and overall I'm pretty happy with it.  The keyboard makes it MUCH easier to enter data of all types into the phone, which is a big reason why this phone will be attractive to many people.  No, it's not as full-featured as a smart phone, but it's also not as full-priced as a smartphone, and you don't have to lock in to a 2 year contract to get your hands on one.

Stay tuned over the coming days and weeks as I continue to add more installments to this review by covering the phone's features in much more detail.

Straight Talk Samsung R451C

The Straight Talk website has recently added the Straight Talk Samsung R451C to its online store for $99.99.  Why is this news?  Because the R451C is the the first QWERTY keyboard phone to be offered in the TracFone family of prepaid wireless services.

I don't have my hands on one of these yet, but along with the slider QWERTY keyboard, it has a 1.3 megapixel phone, an mp3 player, and bluetooth.  I won't list all of the details here, because you can find them on the Straight Talk website, but it's not a bad feature set for a prepaid phone.

Of course, you have to activate the phone with either the $45/month unlimited plan or the $30/month 1000/1000/30 plan, so factor that in to your initial outlay of cash to get this phone.  The website lets you purchase the phone in a bundle with one of the airtime cards to make it easy.  Plus, they're throwing in free shipping right now too just to sweeten the deal.

If you're new to Straight Talk, you can read my initial Straight Talk Review to get a better idea of how it works and how it's different from TracFone and Net10.

Update:  The curiosity was too much, so I checked my local Wal-Mart to see if they had any Straight Talk phones in stock yet.  Alas, they did not.  Not to be deterred so easily, I ordered a R451C from the Straight Talk website with the overnight shipping.  Stay tuned for pictures and hands-on details in a few days.

Update 10/26:  I've had a chance to test out the R451C a bit over the past few days.  I'll get a full review posted in a few days (hopefully), but I'll go ahead and post a few highlights now.

I was able to successfully connect both via bluetooth and via a usb cable to my computer and move files back and forth between my computer and my phone.  The usb cable and microSD card are NOT included in the package when you buy the phone.

I was able to copy a mp3 file to the R451C and both play it with the music player on the phone and set it as a ringtone.

I've been able to send mms picture to and from the R451C both to another phone and to email.

I've been able to browse to any website I want.  Here's a pic of my phone logged in to m.facebook.com

I was able to record a message with the voice recorder and set it as a ringtone.  You can set different ringtones for different contacts, so now when I get a call from home, my ringtone is my wife telling me that I'd better answer!  :-)

I was able to copy files from the internal memory to the SD card.  I went with a 2GB card because it was the cheapest.

I haven't seen any way to sync your contacts with outlook or any other way to download them from the phone.  I was, however, able to log in to my gmail account from the browser.

To lock the keypad on the R451C, you hold down the * key.  It took me a while to figure that out.  To unlock the keypad you press the left soft key and then the * key.  Sliding out the keyboard also unlocks the phone.

You find all the official specs on the Straight Talk website and here's a link to the manual, which I was surprised to find in printed form in the box.  In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away on an official review, but for now I'll say that in general I like this phone and haven't found any major disappointments.

Update 10/31:  While waiting around for trick-or-treaters tonight, I thought I'd post a couple of link you might find helpful.  The first is the official R451C page on the Samsung website.  Be sure to click on the tabs across the middle of the screen to find more details about the phone's features.

The next link is to some Samsung R451C tutorials on the Straight Talk website.  If you don't have the phone yet, these tutorials will help you explore the features on the phone.

If you have found the information on Fone-Review more helpful than the sales clerk at your average big box retailer, please help me to continue helping everyone!

Straight Talk Prepaid Wireless Coverage Map Update

In an earlier Straight Talk coverage map post, I mentioned how the actual coverage area seemed more extensive that what was shown on their official map.  Well, the good folks at ST have now posted a new coverage map that much more accurately reflects true coverage area. 

This is good.  ST has been in test mode with TracFone and Verizon for the past several months, but it looks like they are ramping it up just in time for the Christmas shopping season.  

There can be little doubt now that Straight Talk has passed the test and is going to be a long-term part of the TracFone family.  This gives me better warm-fuzzy feeling about buying one of their phones, since I can be reasonably sure that the service isn't going to be pulled any time soon.

New Straight Talk Service Plan - Unlimited Talk & Text for $45

Straight Talk Prepaid Wireless is now showing a new service plan on their website:  $45 for 30 days of service, unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 30 mb of data.  A very attractive prepaid offer indeed! 

You can read my initial Straight Talk Review to learn more details about how the service works, and I've also written about the Straight Talk coverage in my area to give you a little more insight in what to expect.

Their phones are still sold exclusively by Wal Mart and on the Straight Talk Website, and they still have the same 3 phones available, but I've seen rumors that new phones may be available soon.  No rumors, however, on when or if the phones will be available at retailers other than Wal Mart.

Update - The rumors were true!  There are now new Straight Talk phones, including a QWERTY keyboard phone.  See the Straight Talk Website for more details.

On slight gotcha is that MMS text messages do count towards your 30MB of data, according to the fine print.  So you can't send and unlimited MMS messages, but 30MB is a LOT of data when your talking about MMS messages.

One thing that makes this unlimited plan especially enticing is that it basically makes nights and weekends plans irrelevant.  There are no time-of-day or day-of-week gotchas in this unlimited plan.  

It's encouraging to see TracFone continue to improve the Straight Talk service.  Their $30 plan (30 days, 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, 30MB data) is probably enough for most people, but for you heavy cell phone users out there, this $45 plan may just prove too tempting to pass up!

Update on Straight Talk Prepaid Coverage Area

In my initial Straight Talk Prepaid review I mentioned that although the service is powered by Verizon Wireless, the service area shown on  the Straight Talk coverage map is clearly much more limited than the full Verizon coverage area.

Is the coverage map outdated, or is the coverage area really that limited?  Today I had a chance to find out.

Springfield, MO is within the Straight Talk service area, but Buffalo, Missouri is not.  If you enter the zip code for Buffalo (65622) when looking at the details for one of the phones on the Straight Talk page on walmart.com, it says that it's not operable in that zip code. 

Buffalo is, however, within the Verizon prepaid coverage area.  My parents were heading up to the lake today, and the their route takes them from Springfield, through Buffalo, over to Pomme de Terre lake.  I loaned my Straight Talk W385 to my dad and asked him to test the coverage along the way.  I explained how it probably wouldn't work in Buffalo, but to give it a try anyway.

I was in a meeting today at work, and my pager kept going off because of messages being left on my voicemail.  

The first message was from my dad calling on the W385 as they were passing through Buffalo.

The next message was from my dad calling on the W385 as they were passing through Mohawk Corner, which is basically just a crossroad community out in the country.

The next message was from my dad calling on the W385 as they were passing through Pittsburg, MO.

The last message was from my dad calling from the living room of their lake house.  Interesting.  My TracFone Nokia 2600 on At&T does not have coverage there.  In fact, the only cell phones that do get coverage there are on Alltel.  My dad mentioned that the Straight Talk W385 seemed to have the exact same signal strength as his Alltel phone.

Tonight I had him open the web browser on the W385 and browse around on www.fone-review.com to make sure that the data services worked there also.  Worked like a charm. 

So does this mean that Straight Talk has coverage on the post-Alltel-merger Verizon network instead of the pre-Alltel network as is implied by the coverage map?  Well, that's hard to say.  It certainly seems to be true for the lucky residents of Buffalo, Mohawk Corner, and Pittsburg, but I can't say for sure that it's true for anywhere else in the country.

If you enter your zip code on walmart.com and it says that the phone is not operable in your area, then I probably wouldn't risk buying one unless you know that it actually does work in your area.

If you have a Straight Talk phone and have the chance to test the coverage in areas shown as "no coverage" on the Straight Talk coverage map, can you please leave a comment with your experience?

Here's something else I just noticed on the coverage map.

 

Notice how the legend mentions service ACTIVATION area instead of service coverage area?  Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but one could almost read that to mean that the green areas are where you can activate the phone, not just where the phone has coverage.  Hmmm.... 

Straight Talk Prepaid Wireless - First Look

Earlier this month, Straight Talk Prepaid cell phones hit the market with the offer of 1000 minutes plus 1000 text or multimedia messages plus 30 MB of data in a 30-day plan for $30.  Not a bad deal!  Even better, they have now added a $45 unlimited plan.

Straight Talk is a partnership between TracFone, Verizon, and WalMart.  The plan is administered by TracFone, runs on the Verizon network, and the phones are currently sold exclusively at select Wal Mart stores and walmart.com, and on the Straight Talk website where you can enter your zip code to see if the service is available in your area.  If no stores near you carry the phones, you can order one online and have it shipped to your door or to your favorite Wal Mart store.  

One advantage of ordering from the Straight Talk website is that you can order a phone bundled with the airtime card that you will need to activate the phone.  Or you can always order the phone "naked" and activate it online.

Note that by studying the coverage maps, it's clear that Straight Talk is not available on the entire Verizon network.  Straight Talk has updated their coverage map now, but definitely look at the coverage map on straighttalk.com to make sure it will work in your area.  

(I've now had a chance to do a Straight Talk Prepaid coverage area test, and in Southwest Missouri at least, the phone seems to work on the full Verizon network)

Curiosity overcame me, so I went ahead and ordered a Straight Talk Motorola W385 on walmart.com and had it shipped to my house.  I'm working on a full review, but here's a quick first look at what I've found so far.

• Although Straight Talk is administered by TracFone, most everything works differently.
• Your account balances do not rollover.  When you add a new card or refill online, it's all reset to 30 days, 1000 minutes, 1000 messages, and 30MB.  So it's use it or lose it.  Of course, that's a non-issue if you do the $45 unlimited plan.
• They have an auto-refill option where they will charge your credit card and reset your balances every 30 days, which is kind of like a postpaid contract plan except that you can cancel any time with no penalty or fee.
• They added $2.58 in taxes and fees when I paid the $30 for my first 30 days. 
• You don't get any free time with the phone.  You have to either activate it with an airtime card or pay for your first 30 days with a credit card during the activation process. 
• You can't see your remaining balance on the phone.  You have to use straighttalk.com or call the 800 number. 
• The browser is not limited to only certain sites like with TracFone.  I was able to browse www.fone-review.com and any other site that I tried.  You'll want to access the mobile version of your favorite sites, though, because Straight Talk still uses the same Openwave browser as TracFone. 

  

• You are not charged based on the time the browser is open, but rather on how much data is transferred.  So once a page is downloaded, you can read it at your leisure. 
• I was able to successfully copy pictures from my computer to the W385 and from the W385 to my computer with the bluetooth connection.  
• I was able to send and receive pictures to and from another phone in MMS messages and also to and from my gmail account using my computer.
• I had on hand a usb cable with the right connectors to connect the W385 to my computer.  My computer downloaded some drivers from Windows update, and the phone will now charge through the usb port on my computer.  The phone does not, however, show up as a drive on my computer where I can transfer files back and forth.   I don't know if this is because TracFone has crippled the usb on the phone, or if I just don't have the right drivers.
• The W385 does not have a removable memory card. 
• The packaging and walmart.com say that the W385 has a VGA Video Camera, but the camera only takes pictures.  I can't find any way to make it take video, and I can't find any other references anywhere to this phone having video capabilities.    
• Part of the fine print on the back of the box says, "TracFone is selling this phone to you at a discount in exchange for your agreement that it will only be used on Straight Talk's wireless service."   Another part says, "This phone will only operate with the Straight Talk service plan...".

 Straight Talk claims to be "Everything you need in a cell phone without a contract", and although "everything" is a broad term, I must say I'm impressed with Straight Talk so far.  Nothing feels prepaid about it, things work like I expect them to work for the most part, and the price is definitely right for those who are at least moderately heavy cell phone users.  The $45 unlimited price is definitely right for heavy users!   Just pay attention to the coverage area and be aware that your account balances don't carry over on the $30 plan.

I'll keep plugging away on my full review, but in the meantime you can learn more about the service at www.straighttalk.com.

If you have found the information on Fone-Review more helpful than the sales clerk at your average big box retailer, please help me to continue helping everyone!