Comments for Pay As You Go Cell Phone

Comment on T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) by GI

GI — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:23:30 +0000

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

Great Phone for T-Mobile Prepaid Customers, January 9, 2011

GI (USA) -

This review is from: T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

I've been a T-Mobile customer for several years now. They have the best prepaid (pay as you go) plan in my opinion. The minutes do not expire for a year, and T-Mobile notifies you via text message a few days before expiring, so you can add time and roll over your prepaid minutes. Take that AT&T! I typically use about a 1000 minutes per year ($100.00).

I previously had a RAZR phone (which I loved), but wanted a device with more features. My favorite thing about the RAZR was that it's size and weight were very comfortable in my pocket (a guy thing). This phone is just a tiny bit larger and heavier than a RAZR, but it's not noticable. I can walk around with this phone in my pocket all day and not even notice it. I just removed the SIM card from my RAZR, and inserted it into this phone. Your phone number, prepaid minutes, and account don't change.

Now to the phone. I've had this phone for about 6 weeks and I'm very happy with it. Like I said, I keep it in my pocket, but this phone has a glass screen so your keys etc won't scratch it. No screen protector is needed. Also, the fit/finish on the phone is very good. The battery door shuts tight (no rattles), the buttons seem firm, and the connectors (micro usb and headphones) are tight and connect well. My only complaint would be the placement of the volume buttons. When I first got the phone, I tended to press them whenever I held the phone, but this is something I'm getting used to.

The call quality is great, and the speakerphone is easy to use. The phone also supports an in call dialer so you can enter PINs etc during a call.

The main reason I got this phone was to replace my MP3 player. The phone OS (Android) has a built in music player and FM radio. Both work very well. The device is easy to sync up with your PC music libraries, you just connect the phone to your PC with the provided USB cable, the phone prompts you to turn on USB sharing, and the SD card shows up as a removable device on your PC (like a USB drive). You can use windows explorer to copy, delete, and move files on the phones SD card. If you wish you can also use Media Player or a similar software package to automatically sync your music libraries. One thing to note: the phone comes with a 2GB micro SD card. This will probably only hold about 40 albums or so. I upgraded the card to a 16GB one.

I also have set up the device to acess my WiFi router at home. I was able to set up my email accounts (hotmail was almost automatic, att.net a little harder). I don't use the phone for email on a regular basis, but once the accounts are set up, you can access email whenever you connect via WiFi, or buy a one day data plan. I suggest you also get a gmail account, with this you can backup your contact list to your gmail account. If you ever lose the phone, or it breaks, you won't lose all that valuble contact information.

Web browsing is reasonable, but expect to scroll around quite a bit, the screen is small. Text entry is a little challanging (again small screen), but if you flip the phone to landscape it is much better, even with my fat fingers. And certainly, it's much easier than the RAZR which used the old numeric pad entry system.

Android runs pretty smoothly, I haven't noticed any lag on the phone, and the WiFi connection is fast and stable. I can use it anywhere in my house.

As far as battery life, smartphones can drain batteries quickly if you don't configure them correctly. I suggest turning off Bluetooth, WiFi, and background sync (a real killer), and only enable them when needed. This is very easy to do (system app, settings). Also, don't use live wallpapers. They are cool to look at, but drain your battery. When I'm only using my phone, I don't have to charge it for several days. If you use WiFi or Bluetooth, be prepared to charge the phone daily. Also, when I use the music player at work, I charge the phone daily. All smartphones are like this. You just have to be aware.

Overall I recommend this phone noting the limitations I discussed above. The phone is a great phone :), the music player and WiFi connectivity are a big plus, and the size is just right if you don't want a brick in your pocket.

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Comment on T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) by A Customer "customer12345657"

A Customer "customer12345657" — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:57:06 +0000

101 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

Good enough to be called good, and for a fair price, December 2, 2010

A Customer "customer12345657" (USA) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

The Comet is probably what a lot of people are looking for.

Most "smart phones" I have previously tried had annoyed me by being either a little too cheesy or way too expensive. There are a lot of impressive touchscreen phones which always made me think, "that thing could be WAY cheaper if only they toned down the features somewhat." There are also some super-cheap touchscreen phones which made me think, "this phone could be a lot better with only some minor improvements".

The Comet seems to be in the lonely area right in the middle, where the the quality is just barely good enough to handle the most work likely to be thrown at it by most people. And for that, the price is well below all of those "Cadillac-of-phones" phones.

The Comet's acceptable features:

Display:
It's not a very high resolution (240x320), but the pixel size is larger than average. So it isn't as large and sharp as better phones, but you still get a good deal more physical space than "normal" phones.

Touchscreen interface:
It uses the "capacitative" type, which means it is a completely solid surface which (somehow) knows when fingers are physically touching it. It does not use the cheaper "resistive" type, which have a flexible surface which must be pressed down to work. It isn't quite as perfectly sensitive as an iPhone, but much more reliable than resistive screens which have different levels of resistance in different locations.

Keypad/text entry:
The medium screen size might be a little annoying for tapping, but this phone uses "Swype" typing. Plunk your finger on the first letter, then drag your finger all over the keyboard to each letter you want, and the magic Swype system figures out which word you want to spell. It works way better than you think it will. Other than the brilliant invention itself, the cool thing about Swype is that it is completely compatible with simple letter tapping if you don't want to use it. Either type one letter at a time, or "Swype" the whole word. You don't need to "change modes".

Sound quality:
Not bad, and not great. Kind of right in the middle, which is fine.

Physical build:
It's not slim like the latest Apple or HTC products. At exactly 0.5 inches, it is right about the same thickness as most normal phones. However, it feels very solid and has no creaks or squeaks (yes, even the battery cover holds still). The various body panels also fit together fairly close with no excessive gaps.

Camera:
Well, the camera kind of sucks. Sorry. At least it captures pictures fast.

Processing and stability:
Most of the time, it operates just fine with no annoying delays. If too much stuff is going on, like multiple browser tabs loading or too many background applications, it starts to drag a bit. But it never quite freezes or crashes like the Nokia Nuron, which is probably the next closest option for a cheapish touchscreen on T-Mobile.

The Comet is manufactured by Huawei, the same Chinese manufacturer of T-Mobile's older Tap model. The Tap was actually not bad for its price range, but the Comet has a sleeker design, stronger processing, better touchscreen technology, and of course the more competent Android operating system.

Recommended add-ons, free from the Android market (icon on the home screen):
1. Opera Mini or Opera Mobile. Similar (Mobile is the "better" one) alternative web browsers to the standard Android browser, although Android's is pretty good too. If you try one of these and like it, Android is smart enough to let you set one of them as the "default" browser.
2. Any application killer/manager. These things are just little programs that let you view a list of applications running in the background, and close them. For some reason, almost all "smartphones" are idiots when it comes to managing currently-running applications. A bunch of different managers are available as free versions.

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Comment on T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) by G. Lorge

G. Lorge — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:51:51 +0000

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

Fantastic deal, December 23, 2010

G. Lorge -

This review is from: T-Mobile Comet Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

Between home and the office, I spend a lot of time within reach of a land line and a computer with internet access. So as much as I may have wanted a smart phone previously, I just haven't been able to justify spending upwards of $80 a month for one. I've been waiting a long time for a carrier to offer a smart phone with a pay-as-you-go pricing model - and after about two weeks of use I can say that I am very happy with the T-Mobile Comet.

I've been using T-Mobile's 10 cents per minute pre-paid plan for several years - previously with a cheap, extremely basic Samsung t209 phone. While I wouldn't really call T-Mobile's call quality or coverage "great", I would definitely say that it has been "good enough" for me while living around Boston and San Francisco, and the price has certainly been reasonable. Historically I have spent about $10 to $12 per month on average on my cell phone bill. I also have family members on the same plan who spend even less.

A lot of reviews that compare the Comet to iPhones or other Android phones that can be purchased for $100 to $200 dollars (or even for free) along with an expensive post-paid plan and a two year commitment really seem to miss the point. A $100 phone on an $80 dollar per month plan is going to end up costing more than $2,000 over the lifetime of the two-year commitment. On the other hand, a person who purchases a $200 Comet and spends about $20 a month on average in prepaid minutes and web access is going to spend about $700 over that same period. Is there *any* smart phone out there that's good enough to justify the 3x price difference? For my needs, definitely not.

The real utility of this phone and T-Mobile's pricing structure is the ability to purchase a "Web Day Pass", which gets you 24 hours of data access at the cost of $1.49 on the days you need it. As I mentioned before, I don't need internet access on my phone most days - but there are times when it can be a real life saver. For example - when you're out on the road in an unfamiliar city, use it to look up restaurant reviews and save yourself an unpleasant experience. Or use it to get directions if you're lost. Check prices and reviews on Amazon when you're shopping, or retrieve some important piece of information from your inbox or the web that you forgot to write down before leaving the house. Having access to the web in any one of these situations is well worth the $1.49 cost.

I should note that if you're a bigger talker than me (i.e. you have friends) and worry that paying 10 cents per minute would add up pretty quickly, then you might also want to look at T-Mobile's pre-paid $30-per-month plan which includes 1,500 minutes and 20 MB of data access. 20 MB isn't a lot, but you could probably stretch it a long way if you were to lay off the youtube and use it sparingly. If you do happen to use up your 20 MB before the month is over, then you can resort to buying Web Day Passes to get you through the rest of the month.

I should also note that for a few dollars less you can buy a Nokia Nuron, which probably offers a roughly equivalent set of features, but without the advantages of running Android or having a capacitive touch screen (I've read that browsing the web and using the touch screen in general on the Nuron can be quite painful). Or, for a few dollars more you can buy an LG Optimus T which according to CNET is considerably nicer than the Comet. Both of these phones should work on the T-Mobile prepaid plans, and therefore offer excellent value.

A couple of other features that I have found useful are the ability to make Skype phone calls over Wi-Fi, the Google Voice Search feature (it's surprisingly accurate), and the ability to store and play mp3s (it comes with 2 GB of storage, and is expandable to 32 GB. Sound quality over headphones is not as good as an iPod though). One negative that you should be well aware of is that the camera is a piece of junk. This is something that I read about in almost all of the reviews - but even then I was surprised at just how bad it is. Think late 1990's web cam, and you should have an idea of just how bad this thing is.

Overall, though, I think that this phone and especially T-Mobile's pay-as-you-go plan is a fantastic value, and would highly recommend it to anyone who is a) not a millionaire, and b) doesn't have their monthly cell phone bill paid for them by their employer or parents.

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