In December of 2009, I decided to go from using the Tracfone c139 to the Tracfone LG 600g cell phone. I wanted to use a phone with more features and get the double minutes, so I ordered the phone from Tracfone’s website. Even a year and a half later, I have not used every single feature on it. But I have used quite a few of the main features. So I thought I would give some information on this cell phone and it’s many features. This way, if you are looking into getting a cell phone from Tracfone, it can help you decide if you would enjoy this phone and the features. So without further ado, lets take a look at the Tracfone LG 600g cell phone.
Design.
First we will look at the design on the Tracfone. The Tracfone LG 600g cell phone is a black flip phone, about the same size as most flip phones. The front only says “LG” and “Bluetooth” on it, and does not have “Tracfone” on it anywhere (this is preferred by some people, it personally does not matter to me if anyone knows I use a Tracfone). The external (outside) screen does say “Tracfone” and includes the date, day, and time on it. You can use the external screen to check if the battery is full or not, or whether or not you have a text message or missed call. Now, the external screen only stay lit up for a few seconds, but you can press a button on the right side to light it back up. Remove the small cover from the bottom right buttons (not the same buttons for the light and camera, and the cover does not come all the way off) to use a head set or charge the phone. The back of the phone has the LG logo on it.
Voice Calls.
The voice calling is not too bad. I have personally not had too many problems hearing or understanding people when I call them or when they call me. However, I have had a few problems with dropped calls. I am not sure if it is just the area I am in at the time of the call, but I thought I would mention the dropped calls. When you call someone and they do not answer, you do not lose any minutes. You only lose minutes when you call someone and they answer, or vice versa.
Text Messaging.
On the Tracfone LG 600g cell phone, you can do both regular text messaging and multimedia text messaging. To send and receive a regular text message, it will use 0.30 minutes (not to be confused with 30 minutes. It is half a minute, not half an hour). To send and receive a multimedia text message, it will use one full minute, and possibly a little extra to download the multimedia received.
Double Minutes.
This phone not only comes with twenty minutes already on it, but it also comes with double minutes for the life of the phone. Which means if you buy a 60 minute phone card and put it on the phone, it will actually put 120 minutes on your phone. The double minutes feature does not expire, and will last for the life of the phone. However, this does not double the amount of days you put on the phone. But getting double minutes for the price of one phone card is not bad at all.
Camera Phone.
The phone has a VGA camera on it. You can find the camera button on the inside of the phone, on the right side and second from the top. The button has a logo on it that looks like a camera. You just press it and the screen will change to a camera. Then you press it again to take the photo. You can change the resolution, quality, and more. You can even set a self timer! You can also close the phone and hold down the bottom right side button and the camera phone will pop up on the external screen, to easily snap a self portrait on your phone. You can send the photo, set it as a wallpaper, or set it as a photo ID for a contact in your phone book. The photo quality is decent, not as good as a digital camera. But it is a camera phone and it does come in handy for taking a quick photo.
Ringtones.
If you do not like the default ringtones on the phone, there are a few ways to pick a new one. The first way would be to download one from Tracfone’s website, but this will cost you a few minutes from your phone. You can also find out your phone’s email (which you can do by sending an email from your phone to your email) and emailing yourself a ringtone. This will also use up a few minutes. You can use the voice recorder to record a song, but you will have to be sure you do so in a quiet room and that you start and stop the recorder on time. But I have done this, and it is a good alternative to sending yourself a ringtone without using any minutes. You can also use Bluetooth technology (whether it is a laptop with it built in or a Bluetooth dongle) to send the ringtones. Using the Bluetooth to send it is easy and does not use any minutes.
Wallpaper.
This is about the same as sending a ringtone to your phone. You can download a photo from Tracfone’s site or email it to yourself, which will also cost you a few minutes off of your phone. You can also use the built-in camera to snap a new photo and set it as our wallpaper. Once again, you can also use the Bluetooth the same way and send it to your phone. Using the camera or Bluetooth will allow you to send yourself a new photo to use as a wallpaper without using any of your cell phone minutes.
Bluetooth.
The Tracfrone LG 600g Cell Phone comes with Bluetooth built in. You can pair it to a computer or laptop with Bluetooth, or use a Bluetooth dongle (which is what I use, since my computer and laptop do not have Bluetooth). Bluetooth dongles are not expensive to buy. How you pair it and how long it takes will depend on which you are using and what the instructions say. I have learned that you can only pair this cell phone with one Bluetooth device at a time. Once it is paired, you can use it to send and receive ringtones and wallpapers between your computer, laptop, and cell phone. I believe you can also use it with a headset, but I have never personally tried it to know how it works.
Mobile Web.
The phone does have mobile web, but the internet is crippled and you can only visit Tracfone’s website. However, some people have found that they have been able to visit other websites outside of Tracfone’s website (even if they are not supposed to). Using the mobile web does use up phone minutes.
Here is a fun tip for those who love to send photos and status updates to Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, you should know now that Tracfone does not support short codes. However, you can get a mobile email at all of these sites, so you can just send an email to Twittermail, Twitpic, Facebook Mobile, and MySpace mobile. You MUST send a multmedia message in order to send an email, so I usually use it for sending photos to the sites, or I just send my update to Twittermail as an MMS, but I do not include a photo. I only do it from time to time, as it will take a full minute to send the emails, since they are multimedia messages. You cannot have updates sent to your phone, but I personally would not suggest that for a Tracfone cell phone anyways, as it will run your minutes down.
You do have to include a phone number when putting these emails into your phone book, so I usually just include my own home phone number. I am only using it for the emails to these websites, and not the phone number itself.
Phonebook.
The phonebook can hold up to 1000 entries. You can save each contact to your phone or SIM card in the phone. If you want to include email addresses, groups, and other information, then you will need to save it to your phone. However, there is an option for copying it to your SIM card. You can set specific photo IDs and ringtones for each contact.
Voice Recorder.
There is also a voice recorder on the phone. You can access it on the phone menu (under the “My Stuff” and “Audio and Ringtones”). This can come in handy for recording lectures, sound effects, or clips of music to use as ringtones. I have only ever used it to record music for ringtones. It is not the best quality, but it is not the worst either. Even though I have switched to using my Bluetooth dongle to send ringtones on my phone, I still use some of the ringtones that have been recorded on my voice recorder from time to time.
Other features include games, a calculator, alarm clock, stop watch, and more. I have not used all of these features yet to be able to tell anyone how to use them and how good they are (or are not). It can be noted that the manual can be found online at Tracfone’s website, as they do not send the full one when you order it.
But there you go, information on the Tracfone LG 600g cell phone and it’s many features. If you are looking at Tracfones phones and want a phone with talking, texting, and features, then this phone is a pretty good phone to consider. But of course, this will be up to you. Good luck on cell phone shopping!
Sources (other than the fact that I own and use this cell phone):
Tracfone’s Official Site: LG 600g Cell Phone
