Tracfone Motorola W376g Review

Bluetooth capable prepaid camera phone

Tracfone Motorola W376g

The stylish new Tracfone Motorola W376g would be a great new prepaid cell phone for you if you don’t already have one or as an upgrade from the one you have.

Why you need one?

Are you wondering whether you really need your own cell phone? Well, let's say it's the day after a birthday party, the children are back in school and you're off to work or in town after a busy weekend. The teachers or the school may need to be able to reach you. Maybe they ate a little too much cake yesterday or caught a bug from one of the kids or whatever.

So in case you don't currently have a cell phone or are considering cutting it off, there are good reasons to keep at least a TracFone.

Let’s go over it all and see whether it's worth it.

The W376g adds two great features to the still pretty good W370 released last year. It has a camera, and you can use a wireless Bluetooth headset with it.

The second feature makes it great for a car, where you no longer need a messy wired hands-free headset or have to rely on the speaker phone – not an easy thing to do with the traffic noise.

Let's start with some standard features . . .

Text messaging

In addition to using your phone for talking, it's nice to sometimes be able to send those quick messages when you don't have time for any small talk or catching up.

Voice Mail

Tracfone has improved its voice mail system so that you can check messages quickly without using up too many of your minutes.

Listening to one short message now uses only about one unit, because you no longer have to navigate a boring phone menu. Tracfone just starts playing you the messages.

This means it’s easier to screen your calls without worrying about long messages from ex-boyfriends who’ve dialed the wrong number.

This is possible because they also have . . .

Caller ID

So you don’t have to answer a call unless you want to.

You can read the number on the . . .

Color Display

Well, it’s nice to add a tiny bit of color in your life.

And you can store it easily because it’s a . . .

Compact Flip Phone

So, it fits in your purse or pocket. And because the Tracfone Motorola W376g is a flip phone, you don’t have to get a separate holder for it so that you don’t end up accidentally pressing the buttons.

When you take it in the car or when walking about town, you have to the option to use its . . .

Bluetooth Capability

You can use a Bluetooth headset when in your car so you’re free to answer those calls even when you’re not stuck in traffic.

You won’t miss any important calls.

That’s right, you, too, can have an electronic insect (that’s what the Bluetooth headsets look like to me) in your ear.

At least they’re visible. You don’t want people to think you’re talking to yourself.

Hands-free speaker phone

You do have the option of not using a Bluetooth headset. You can use the speaker phone built into the Tracfone Motorola W376g when you can’t use your hands.

And, of course, when the kids are gathered around to sing Happy Birthday is also a great time to use it.

Along with the other new feature added to the phone . . .

Camera

Yes, it’s got a camera with VGA-resolution – good enough for emailing. You can take pictures of events so you’ll have something to remember them by even if you didn’t bring your regular camera.

It also comes in handy if you need to document or witness something.

If you forget your regular camera, you can still record your daughter’s face painting at a party because you know it’ll start to wear off by the time you get home.

Also, god forbid, you’re the person needing help after an accident, using your Tracfone Motorola W376g, you can immediately document the damage and the position of your car.

Plus there’s . . .

Cost

So we've gone over some of the major features. There are more features to consider below, but this is a good time to look at how much it costs. The phone used to be priced at a premium, but you can now get the Bluetooth-enabled Motorola W376 for $29.99 and receive double minutes for life FREE. That's what the W370 originally cost and you get the camera and Bluetooth capability.

MMS Picture messaging

Using MMS Picture messaging you can immediately send those photos along with a message to your insurance agent.

Of course, you can also use picture messaging to share any especially good pictures you take with your friends and family.

FM Radio.

Yes, an FM radio.

Okay, I know this won't exactly be a priority when you’re decidng whether to get the Tracfone Motorola W376g, but you’ll take it.

It can come in handy such as when you’re waiting in a long line somewhere with nothing to do.

Or when they’re playing music on the intercom that’s not exactly your favorite.

External Call and Message Icon

You don’t have to open up your phone to find out whether you have a message or who’s calling.

Hearing-aid compatible Rating: M3

Good to know if you really need this capability. However, you might want to look for a phone with an M4 rating as that’s would be better.

Now that you’re eager set up your phone with all of your friends info you’ll be glad you can . . . .

Store 500 contacts in the SIM card

You can have up to 500 contacts which are stored in a SIM card of your Tracfone Motorola W376g. Usually this means that if you have to switch handsets in a couple of years, you wouldn’t have to re-enter your contacts if you use the same SIM card on the new Tracfone, but, unfortunately, that's apparently not the case. I still think it's a good phone and service but you should know this in advance.

As long as you take care of your phone and battery, it should last a couple of years, at which point, if not before then, you may want to upgrade again.

Here’s a hint to maximize your battery life.

Long battery life

The Tracfone Motorola W376g battery gives you up to 7.5 hours talk time and 10 days of standby power. With that much standby power, you don’t have to worry about charging it every day to keep your battery from running out.

Hint

Lithium batteries actually love to be charged every day. So if you want your battery’s charge-holding capacity to last, it’s actually a good idea to plug it into the charger every night.

It's also a good idea, because it probably uses a little more energy if you set your phone's ring to . . .

Vibrate

Ah, yes. Not every place or everyone loves the sound of ringing cell phones. You can set it on Vibrate.

Even better is the Vibrate and then Ring setting – which makes sure you don’t miss that call, and still gives you a reasonable shot at answering before or on the first ring.

Speaking of rings, you can choose from . . .

23 Polyphonic ringtones.

You’ll find one in there that you’ll like.

You will.

Or see above.

Alarm clock

There’s an alarm to make sure you wake up on time. Great backup if you have to keep up with the kids schedules.

Games

The Tracfone Motorola W376g has a few games which probably aren’t the kind you’ll obsess over, but are another way to pass the time when you need to.

Along with the FM radio,you’ll have something to do if, I mean, when you get stuck at the airport.

Or I suppose you could play with your . . .

Calculator

Figuring out how much more you should be making.

Stopwatch

OK. Unless you want to time a 100 yard dash, this won’t get all that much use.

But it’s always good to see how long your next presentation or speech will take. You can practice your two minutes of public comment for the next school rezoning or property tax hearing.

At least these features don’t use up your . . .

Tracfone Airtime Balance

Your Tracfone Motorola W376g airtime balance is displayed right there on your screen.

Unlike other plans, you don’t have to call or send a text message to some special number to figure out how many minutes you have left.

And if you prefer not to display that info, you can always turn it off.

Double minutes for life

After activating your Tracfone Motorola W376g, you get double minutes for the life of this particular phone – which will significantly lower your costs. And remember that Tracfone offers free . . .

Nationwide Long Distance

Okay this is standard. And there are no roaming with single-rate Tracfone like this.

No activation fee

This is great. It’s quite annoying that some other companies charge you for becoming their customer.

This is especially galling because there’s . . .

No contract,

This is the second most important reason for going with a prepaid phone.

No monthly bill,

You decide when you want to buy airtime (though you do have to keep your service active or it will expire)

And no credit checks

OK. You probably don’t need this feature, but if you do, it’s another reason not to have a high-priced cell phone plan.

The End

You can out find even more (than you probably wanted to know) about the Tracfone Motorola W376g(pdf manual).

Did I miss anything? Please feel free to leave feedback.

And thanks for reading this review.

You can check out deals on the Tracfone Motorola W376g and other . . .

footer for tracfone motorola w376g page