The LG 290c is a nice little CDMA phone that came out to the fall of the 2009. It was a long time previous to that since TracFone and Net0 introduced a new CDMA phone. For that reason lot of people are eager to try out these new phones. A lot of people have been using the same CDMA model for as much as 5 years and they are ready for something new. So this one was much anticipated.
When it came out it was first introduced for TracFone and then shortly followed up with the other two America Movil brands - Straight Talk and Net10. Across those three brands, the phone is pretty much identical; the only difference being whether it has airtime think. For example the Straight Talk version has no onboard minute counter, but the TracFone Net10 versions do.
Moving beyond those minor differences, the phone is really nice. It has excellent battery life, excellent reception and excellent call qualities. Those are three pretty important factors for people who are deciding on a new phone.
The LG 290c also has a camera; it's the only of the three new cdma models to include a camera. The camera actually takes really nice pictures for a 1.3MP device. The pictures are really sharp and really clear. Of course it's going to work better in well-lit situations because, like most camera phones, the 290c does not include a flash. As a result, any dark settings will result in kind of grainy pictures. So you're not going to rely on that as your only camera by any means, but its definitely really nice little feature to have there.
At first glance it doesn't look like there is a way to get the pictures off the LG 290c except for emailing them. However, some people did discover a way around that, and I published it in a post in my blog. Basically you need to enter "##program290," spelling out the word "program" with the numeric keys, then press send. You'll then be taken into the menu where you can open up the unrestricted bluetooth. So there is a way to get your pictures from there.
The camera is the main "extra" feature. If you're looking at the TracFone model, it DOES include double minutes for life, which is definitely a money saver for people who talk more than handful minutes a month.
Aside from that, it seems it's really well-constructed with quality materials and it's durable, so its going to last in a while. And the bluetooth is nice - I was able to transfer my phonebook to and from the LG 290c using bluetooth. That's a big headache eliminated. I know a lot of people with some of the older phones ran into problems when they tried. They could not find a way to easily transfer their phonebook and that's a big hassle for somebody that has a lot of entries in their phonebook. So it's nice to know with this model, if you have an older bluetooth phone or you could get phonebook of your old phone onto your computer, then you can transfer from your computer to the 290c using bluetooth.
The prices on this model are $49.99 for TracFone and $59.99 either Net10 or Straight Talk. The Net10 versions does include 300 minutes at activation, just like all the other new hand sets do. For both the TracFone and the Net10 models, there are couple of ways to get discounts and free shipping if you are ordering at their respective websites.
The Straight Talk model is easist to find on the company's website. It's also sold at Walmart, but it seems to be sold out in a lot of stores. So the best way to get it is through the Straight Talk website.
To recap it's a phone that works great; battery life is amazing, signal reception and audio quality are both great. You won't be disappointed in any of those aspects. If you're using it as mainly as a phone, the LG 290c is a great way to go . Of course it does lack a qwerty keyboard and mp3 player, which are included on the Samsung R451C model. I've done reviews on that and also have a full review of the 290c at my website. Click on the following links for full reviews of both phones:
