- Prepaid, easily pocketable candybar-style phone with extra-long battery life
- Pay for only the calling time you use with minutes purchased from Tracfone–no annual contract required
- Stores up to 500 contacts, one-key access to text messaging, calendar, currency converter
- Up to 6.5 hours of talk time, up to 432 hours (18 days) of standby time
- What’s in the Box: handset, battery, travel charger, getting started guide, user manual
Amazon.com Product Description
The perfect complement to Tracfone prepaid wireless service, the sleek, lightweight Motorola W175 offers an affordable way to stay in touch with family and friends across town and around the globe via voice communication and text messaging. Optimized for your hectic on-the-go lifestyle, the affordable unlocked Motorola W175 cell phone offers a battery time that supports long calls and one-key access to text messaging. Type out texts quickly and accurately via SMS and iTAP predictive text entry and save the most important texts, up to 750 of them. The internal phonebook can hold up to 500 phone numbers so important contacts are never out of reach.
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Tracfone Service
Tracfone provides nationwide prepaid wireless service using the nation’s leading cellular providers to create a national footprint covering 99 percent of the U.S. population. This gives you connectivity everywhere cellular service is available. You can use your Tracfone across the U.S. and if you move, you can relocate your wireless number with just a phone call.
You can buy bundles of minutes (which must be used within a set time limit of between 90 to 365 days) from the Tracfone web site on your home PC or directly from your phone’s web browser. For example, if you purchase a block of 120 minutes of airtime, you’ll need to use that within 90 days of your first use. When you buy additional airtime minutes, your Tracfone service is extended automatically by another 90 days. Tracfone also offers international long distance calling to over 60 international destinations (including Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, most European countries, and many more), which deducts the same amount of minutes from your phone as when you make calls to destinations within the U.S.
This phone ships with a number of handy Tracfone services, including free voice mail, free caller ID, and free call waiting. And perhaps most importantly, the integrated TracFone Airtime Balance Display shows you how much airtime you’ve used and how much is left, so you can control your costs. You must activate your cell phone before use either by calling the Tracfone toll-free number or going to the Tracfone web site.
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Phone Features
The easy-to-use Motorola W175 gives you access to all of the tools you need–phone, calendar, text messages–via an intuitive user interface. The large display (128 x 128 pixels, 65K colors) and sleek keypad deliver an enjoyable navigation and viewing experience. This phone has a small amount of internal memory (70 KB), which is enough to store up to 500 contact entries with one phone number apiece.
This Motorola phone includes the innovative CrystalTalk technology, which automatically accounts for background noise during a call and adjusts the audio quality based on ambient noise conditions to provide the optimal conversational experience. CrystalTalk also reduces the volume of the background noise picked up by the microphone during a call, making it possible to be more easily heard over the phone while in a noisy environment.
If you need basic messaging capabilities, the W175 has you covered as support is built-in for sending and receiving SMS text messages. The iTap predictive text technology is built into the unit, which autocompletes text for you as you type on the alpha-numeric keypad and offers options for selecting the correct word.
Other features include:
- Tracfone Airtime Balance Display shows you how much airtime you’ve used and how much is left
- Personalize the calls you receive with 20 preloaded 32-chord polyphonic ringtones and 15 standard alert ringtones
- Compose text messagess with one key access and save up to 750 of them
- Speakerphone
- Organizer tools: Calendar, calculator, stopwatch, currency converter
- USB 1.1 connectivity for charging
Vital Statistics
The Motorola W175 weighs 3 ounces and measures 4.49 x 1.69 x 0.55 inches. Its 940 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 6.5 hours of talk time, and up to 432 hours (18 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies.
PRO:
-great battery life
-great call quality
-great speakerphone
-great reception
-holds a lot of text messages
-holds a lot of contacts
-can hold contacts on the phone or the sim card
CONS:
-only one phone number per contact
-cant send a text message to an email address
Rating: 5 / 5
The one thing the package doesn’t tell you is that the phone needs to be charged for 5 hours before one can activate it or use it. That was okay; I didn’t need it right away but it proves that even with an “emergency” cell phone a little pre-planning is needed.
Once I had it charged up and activated, it proved to be a handy way to have a “local” phone number while on vacation. Despite the affordable price, this cellphone comes with a full bank of features including caller ID, texting and the ability to store and auto-dial frequently used numbers. One buys a chunk of minutes either on a card in a store, from the Tracfone website or by calling Tracfone’s number. Every time more minutes are loaded on the phone, the service period gets extended so one can chose to keep this “temporary” cell phone going for as long as one wants. The service expiration date shows on the screen along with the time of day and how many minutes of time left.
The audio quality was excellent and there have been no dropped calls. When I changed time zones the phone updated the time display instantly. I’d recommend this as an excellent way to try out a cell phone for a child or senior citizen, to have an emergency or backup phone and to have a “local” phone number for a place where you frequently vacation.
Rating: 5 / 5
I was spending too much for cell service being I am a lite user. So I set out to buy the least expensive phone available and “pay as I go.” The Motorola W175 was the cheapest phone I could find. I paid $15 for mine and got “double minutes for life.” Which is really just a sales gimmick. Otherwise minutes from Tracfone are overpriced. You can buy a double minutes option from them, but that stand alone purchase is $25. I got the phone, double minutes for life, 20 mins of airtime, and 2 months of service for $15. You should get a similar “starter” deal. The Motorola W175 phone on sale here is NOT a double minutes for life phone, by the way. Just FYI.
As others have said, this sort of “pre pay” deal isn’t for the heavy phone user…or even the modest one. This is more for people like me who use their cell phone sparingly, and may even go days at a time without using it at all. And if you do have conversations, they are short. I mean think about it…a half hour conversation costs $3 to $5 with Tracfone. Depending how you buy your minutes. So if you have several or more of those half hour conversations a month, heck, you can get a pre payed “no contract” plan via Straight Talk with 1000 mins and 1000 text included…for $30 a month. Straight Talk is owned and run by Tracfone, btw. And Virgin has unlimited talk and text for $50. With Tracfone you get no “mobile to mobile” or “nights and weekends.” You simply get what you pay for. No ups, no extras.
So Tracfone (and the similar Net10) is for people who use the cell phone 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there…a couple minutes a day to talk to the kids, maybe? Or to have a phone around “just in case.” Maybe let the kids use it on sleepovers, etc. To “keep in touch” with home.
So far as the phone itself…its plain, sturdy, has good build quality, and looks decent next to similarly styled Moto’s. It has a loud speakerphone, a big text display, and keeps a charge well, also. The menus are simple and well laid out. It makes calls, takes calls, sends text, receives text. Thats it. The buttons feel nice, and it looks better in person then in the pictures. It is a simple, plain phone. 4.5in high, around 1.7in wide. Nice candy bar sized phone, lightweight but not cheap feeling. Service is reliable so far, good connection, calls are clear, none have dropped. The phone seems to get a strong signal here in the L.A. area, however it does take two or three minutes to find the signal when you power on the phone from OFF. I don’t know if that is a phone issue or a network issue? But its not a big deal to me.
For the phone, double minutes for life, 3 months of service, and 140 mins of airtime, I paid $30 total. Thats enough for me for a month and a half…maybe two. And if I need more minutes I can get more for a little bit of cash anytime to add to the phone. Pay as you go. It suits me fine. I was paying $50 a month before for a phone I hadn’t used much in almost 3 years. So this is great for me.
Rating: 5 / 5