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I’ve spent the last month working (and playing) with Straight Talk’s Samsung Finesse r810c (available for $329 from Straight Talk, here). I’ve written up my final conclusion about the phone, below. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section at the end of this or any post. Now, on to my review summary.
First, let’s start with the Pros of the Finesse:
- The screen is big (3.2 inches diagonally), bright, and very attractive. Indeed, the phone as a whole is sleek and pleasant to look at.
- The phone includes EVDO data access, a full html browser, and large screen make the browsing experience much faster and more usable than the other Straight Talk phones.
- The camera is better than that of the LG 290c or the Samsung r451c, and includes video recording ability.
- Battery life is good for a phone with so many features, and the phone charges quickly.
- It’s easy to transfer files to/form Finesse using USB cable or bluetooth.
- Email access on Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo is fast (mobile versions work best).
- Audio quality is very good.
- Expansion memory card slot allows you to carry a lot of pictures, songs, and even videos.
- Straight Talk offers very affordable plans.
And now, for the Cons:
- It’s expensive – currently $329 for the phone alone.
- You cannot “tether” a laptop to this phone for internet access on your laptop.
- YouTube, and other streaming video sites I tried, do not work on the Finesse.
- There’s no ability to add applications from other sources.
- The contact list does not have fields for your contact’s address or other note sections such as birthday, etc.
- The mp3 player sounds great, but navigation and organization in the player is poorly designed.
- Signal reception is poorer than the LG 290c and 220c, and I experienced a couple of dropped calls with the Finesse but not the LG models.
- It doesn’t seem to support syncing of contacts or calendars from Outlook.
- The Samsung Finesse lacks wi-fi support.
Conclusion:
I think that Straight Talk made a wise decision when they decided to offer the Samsung Finesse. It’s much more expensive than any of the other models offered by Straight Talk, but offers features not available on those other models. I think they really needed to have a phone like this to get the attention of people who might have had contracts and, therefore, better phones in the past. The large screen, full html browser, and EVDO access are very helpful, perhaps even necessary, to take full advantage of the unlimited data access offered with the $45 monthly plan.
That being said, I can’t say that I fully recommend this phone. It’s probably a good bet for people that are always on the go and want constant access to their email and occasional web browsing. But true business users will probably be disappointed by the limited address book features and lack of Outlook syncing.
Others will be disappointed with the inability to add third-party applications. That’s not to say that there aren’t any such apps that should work on this model; it’s just that Samsung (or maybe it was Straight Talk) decided to prevent this phone from installing them. Samsung touts the “widgets” as a way to make the phone more useful, but in reality those widgets are just shortcuts.
Activating the Facebook widget, for example, simply loads the web browser and opens it to your Facebook home page. Sure, it will save you a few seconds clicking through the menus, but it’s a far cry from the Facebook application available for other platforms such as the iPhone/iPod touch.
If you’re looking for a device that can do what the iPhone does, this isn’t it. The Finesse falls short of the iPhone in so many ways, I doubt you’ll be happy with this phone if you’re comparing it to Apple’s phone. That being said, you’d be saving a LOT of money over the course of the two-year contract you’d be required to sign with AT&T to get an iPhone.
Indeed, the low-cost plans offered by Straight Talk are the main attraction of this phone. As I said above, I think the Finesse r810c is probably a good bet for prepaid users that are always on the go and want to stay connected. If that describes you, don’t be too hesitant to buy this phone. Just be sure to read through my review and know what to expect. If you don’t expect too much, you won’t be let down.
But if you want more flexibility and functionality, here’s what I’d suggest:
Instead of forking out $329 for the Finesse, go with the Samsung r451c (if you want a qwerty keyboard) for $100 or, better yet, the LG 290c for $80. You might even consider going with the $30/month plan, as you won’t be using the web as much on the smaller screen and slower connection offered by these alternatives. Then take the money you’re saving, and buy yourself an iPod Touch.
You can get the 8GB iPod Touch for $185
January 19, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Hi, Thank you for all the great thorough reviews. Do you know anything about the Finesse being discontinued? That’s what it says on the Walmart website. I’d hate to buy the phone only to have it discontinued. Thanks for any help you can give.
January 19, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I haven’t heard anything about that. I do know that the Finesse is still showing up on Straight Talk’s site. Maybe it’s just that Walmart is sold out, or their stock is low? Could you provide a link to where it says it’s discontinued?
And if it is, I guess I”m not sure how this really affects your decision about purchasing this phone. New phones come out every six months or so, so no phone is ever going to be “top dog” for long. Just because there are newer phones available doesn’t mean the old phone won’t continue to work.
January 19, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Thank you! I just went to check and it’s all back to normal, no more discontinued comment in blue. I am going to order it right now. Can you just help me with one thing- do I cancel my current service first or do I port the number and then cancel?
Thanks so much for all your help!!!
January 19, 2010 at 11:47 pm
I apologize if this wasn’t the place to ask questions, but I didn’t see a dedicated area for it. I’ve come to the conclusion I am getting this phone, but I had a few questions that are just going to bother me until it comes in that I was hoping you could help me with.
Ring tones: Could you do a video about the ones the phone comes with, and tell us if you can make then from MP3.
MircroSD: Are your pictures or media that is uploaded on the phone via. MicroSD organized in folders? I mean, can you have background images in a folder, and family in a sub folder—all under pictures, or does the Finesse not offer that kind of support?
Widget: What widgets are on the phone?
I’ve been searching online for these answers, and haven’t been able to find any. So far your are the only person who has video reviews of the samsung finesse from straight talk.
Thank you for all that you’ve done!
Ashley
January 19, 2010 at 11:53 pm
can I ask a question here? You’ve done such a good job with this site. I can’t find anyone who has the finesse from Straight Talk online. It’s too new, I guess.
How is the text messaging conversations set up? Do you have to open the texts individually to read them, or is it set up like an instant message?
Also, is there anyway to IM on the phone?
One more thing: Is there a way to have email accounts, like the Finesse from Metro PCS? I’ve seen a video of a girl who has two email accounts on the phone, but the straight talk doesn’t have an email icon in the menu. I didn’t know if there was a widget. I understand from your previous posts that you can go to the browser, I was just curious if this phone operated in a more… smart phone way.
Jonas Leigh
January 20, 2010 at 1:48 am
Hi Jonas
Thanks for the compliment on the site. Regarding text messages, you can decide whether you want your message history displayed as separate messages, or “conversation” style, like IM logs.
There’s no way to load IM applications on the phone, at least not that I’ve figured out. Most messaging services, I think, have a way to integrate with phones, though. So you might want to look at your favorite IM platform and consult the FAQ or help section (search for “mobile”) to see if there’s any way you could get your messages sent to your phone. If you are on the unlimited plan, getting your IMs as a text isn’t a big deal, I guess.
Same with email – Straight Talk’s version does not include an email program, and I couldn’t figure out a way to make one work. But, I could use the browser to log in to hotmail, gmail, and yahoo mail to check and send messages. Also, I have my email accounts set up to send an alert to my phone when I get new messages – I can’t read the whole message in text message form, but I usually get the first few words, enough to see who it’s from and determine whether I need to respond quickly.
January 20, 2010 at 1:52 am
Hi Ashley
I’ll do my best here:
It comes with a few ringtones, and you can definitely add your own mp3 files to the phone for use as a ringtone.
On the MicroSD, the phone will set up folders for you to organize your media according to what type of file it is – video, music, pic. I haven’t tried setting up subfolders, but I feel like it probably wouldn’t work.
The widgets aren’t all that helpful, there are a few shortcuts to websites including facebook, myspace, twitter, flickr, lonely planet, and I believe one or two more. There’s also an alarm widget, a music player widget (simply opens the music player). Basically, all the widgets are is shortcuts to something you might actually want to do. They’re not very helpful, in my opinion, and I really wonder whether Samsung created them hoping to trick us consumers into thinking the phone actually could have apps.
January 20, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Have you tried to use any of the google mobile apps, or do they only work on android phones?
January 20, 2010 at 4:39 pm
I am new to mobile devices w/ web browsing capability. Does the finesse allow for listening to online music sites such as Pandora? How about podcasts?
January 21, 2010 at 11:25 am
I was unable to install apps of any kind on this phone.
January 21, 2010 at 11:26 am
I tried pandora and one other music site, I think it was slacker, and neither worked. I don’t think it’s possible to stream audio at all, but you could definitely use iTunes to download podcasts and then transfer the podcast audio files to your phone either via USB cable or bluetooth. I think that would work quite well, actually.
January 21, 2010 at 12:19 pm
thanks this really helped me! but I’m really wanting to know if you can play games on it,download them or come’s with anything? can you play games from other sites like myspace or facebook? I would hate to spend that much money and be disappointed THANK’S FOR YOUR HELP
January 21, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I haven’t been able to download any applications at all. I didn’t try facebook games, though, unfortunately. Right now my service is inactive due to a screw up on my part combined with a screw-up by Straight Talk, but I’ll try to check into that once I get things straightened out.
January 23, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I been tring to see if this cell can login in to the web of my bank,, my bank security dont let me use all cell. At the moment I am using Iphone, I need to know if can log to bofa.com,, thank for any information
January 24, 2010 at 2:39 am
Jaime – I don’t have a BOFA account, so I can’t help you there.
January 24, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Ok,, If you can try to login to BOFA, the system will tell you in the login page if the cellphone if support for security or not,,, I will appreciated thanks….
January 25, 2010 at 12:53 am
Hi I was just wondering if you can download ringtones onto this phone from myxer.com or any other free ringtone sites?
January 25, 2010 at 2:01 pm
KRey – yes, you can download ringtones from sites like that. There are a lot of different sites and I didn’t test them all, but most should work to download directly to your phone and for those that don’t, you could download the ringtone to your computer and transfer it to your phone either by bluetooth or USB cable (or maybe even email it as an attachment).
January 25, 2010 at 8:22 pm
does the touch screen ever seem to lag?
do you know if it ever gets out of sync to where it wouldn’t work?
do you think using a stylus pen would prevent the screen from messing up and losing sync or would a screen cover be more effective?
January 29, 2010 at 6:16 am
Did any one experienced any difference for this phone as far as carriers? Metro PCs Vs straight talk- Do they both share the same network Verizon ?
I currently have an Iphone and blackberry from nextel and I am thinking about giving up blackberry for the finesse phone . The plans price sounds great . $ 50 Vs $ 109.
Does Metro pcs and Straight talk run on same network ? Any feed back will be appreciated -
January 30, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Hello, I finally got the phone for my husband. I think it’s great, thank you so much for all your input and this website. I also got the R451C for myself- I personally like the finesse better. After playing with the touch screen, it’s disappointing to press on the r451c and have the screen do nothing. Can you help me with one more thing? Are the Finesse and the r451c able to use a microSD HC card or is the standard one the best bet? Thanks!!!
January 30, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Great reveiw. I like your suggestion of using a prepaid plan in combination with an ipod touch. I use my ipod touch (purchased of ebay) just as you have suggested – in combination with a prepaid phone (on another mvo). This works great. I had previously owned several “smart phones” and none compare to the ipod touch (i am sure the iphone is great, but i am not going to pay the contract price per month).
January 30, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Hi,
I agree with everyone else that you do a great job of reviewing multiple options.
One question I have is: what do you do when you want to check e-mail via iPod Touch, but you don’t have access to free Wifi? Do you know of any pay as you go service for online access via iPod Touch?
Thank you!
January 30, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Despite not having a lot of the bells and whistles of the IPhone and other phones in that vein, I have to say that the Finesse is a great deal with Straight Talk. You mentioned in your review that the phone is great for people on the go who need constant email access and the like and that’s exactly how the phone works for me. I am constantly needing to sign into sites and check emails and the Finesse allows me that in a much better format than previous phones I’ve had. Not only that, the unlimited Straight Talk plan works prefectly with the phone in terms of texting and data – the plan with AT&T for something like the IPhone is nearly $50 more expensive each month. I’ve had great reception in my calling area on the Straight Talk Verizon network and no problems thus far with the phone. I wasn’t expecting the IPhone or those type of high-end functions so I wasn’t at all disappointed with the Finesse. Personally, I feel that the phone is an awesome fit for Straight Talk and prepaid customers who want a little more flash with their phones.
Thanks for such an in-depth review.
February 1, 2010 at 3:04 pm
The touch screen has just a tiny lag, and I only notice it because I have an ipod touch, which is extremely responsive. When I showed the Finesse to other people, only those that had used an iPod touch before thought the screen was lagging.
There’s also a setting in the phone that you can choose to “recalibrate” the screen, so make sure that the screen is correctly sensing where you are touching.
As far as extending the screen life, I don’t think a stylus would help much, although it might be more convenient depending on your preferences. I’m sure a screen protector of some kind would help, although I didn’t spend any time looking at what covers work for this model.
February 1, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Hi Waqar –
MetroPCS runs on the Sprint network, while Straight Talk uses Verizon.
February 1, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Hi Lucy
I’m not sure about the microSD vs. HC. I think that the HC should work, but I’m not positive. It seems to vary by device. There’s nothing in the manual that specifically says it supports microSDHC, but I would think that being such a new device, it should. Maybe it would be worthwhile to take the phone to Walmart and ask the clerk in electronics about it? Maybe they’ll know, maybe not, but if not you could probably buy the HC version and see if it works. If not, I believe they have a pretty forgiving return policy there.
February 1, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Hi Cyan,
The Touch only has wi-fi, not any other data receiver, so you’d have to be in range of some kind of wi-fi for that to work. I’ve used my Touch at a variety of locations that offer free wi-fi (restaurants, hotels, bars, libraries, truck stops), and sometimes I’ve even found random open hotspots around town (although be careful about internet security when doing this).
Another option is to use your phone’s browser to check important emails when away from a computer.
I have my email account to send a text message alert to my phone every time I get a new email message. When I get a text from that number, I know there’s a new email in my account. If I’m near a computer, I delete the text without opening it, and I’m therefore not charged for the text (on my Net10 phone, which only charges when you open a text, not when it arrives on your phone). If I’m away from a computer, I open the text message to get more info about the email. The text only shows who the email is from, as well as the first few words of the subject line, but usually it’s enough to tell whether I want to spend the time checking the full message on my phone’s browser. This setup works well for me, since I’m usually near a computer, and when I’m not I don’t get many urgent emails.
February 1, 2010 at 3:45 pm
This is totally off topic, but is there any way to download a phone app to the ipod touch? Thanks
February 1, 2010 at 8:13 pm
I have been researching this phone and smart talk all day. It sounds good according to some. But more than 50% of people have significant down time, and lose their numbers a lot. I don’t want to have to lose my number and get a new one all the time, or worry about going 6 hours or a couple days without a phone. Even the reviewer said his is not currently working. If they can work these kinks out I think I will try one. Thank you for your helpful review of the phone. You have even been responding to peoples questions which is very kind of you. Take care everyone.
February 1, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Hello
I should just point out that the reason my phone is not on right now is because I let the service lapse – it was no fault of Straight Talk’s. Regarding the downtime, I have heard people say that getting their number ported from another carrier could take a day or two, but I wasn’t aware of anyone having problems with downtime AFTER the phone is all set up. Could please point me to evidence of that?
As far as I know, a little “downtime” when porting from one carrier to another is not at all uncommon, even when the company you’re switching to is a contract service like Verizon or AT&T.
February 1, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Brandee, I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but you can definitely put apps on an iPod touch. Apple’s app store has something like 120,000 apps, probably 95% + of which can be put on the iPod (some are iPhone-only). Does this answer your question?
February 2, 2010 at 1:21 am
Hi Everyone-
Just wanted to share my experience with purchasing a Samsung Finesse. I actually made up my mind because of this blog site by you Pbushxz!! My boyfriend and I both purchased this phone last Thursday from a local Walmart after thoroughly reviewing this site as you chronicled the usages of this phone. We had no problems activating the phone through the Straight Talk website and was receiving calls and browsing the internet within 20 minutes of setting both phones up. We did not port our phone numbers in fear we would run into trouble, so it was no big deal to get a new one. The phone works great. Good reception, bright screen, fast html browser. I am able to log on to Bank of America, Ebay, and lots of other sites with ease. Didn’t really care that the Youtube videos would not play, but was a little sad I couldn’t listen to Pandora, but the MP3 player makes up for that. Transferring music, ringtones, and pictures was a breeze. You were right and that if you know upfront and in detail what the phone offers, you won’t be disappointed. I am certainly not. I’m am quite excited especially since the plan is only $45 unlimited everything! You can’t beat that especially since its on Verizon’s great network. I admit the phone was expensive for me, but I figured if I upgraded a phone with Tmobile, extend my contract another two years, and still pay $200 for a web enabled phone, it would still be a better deal spending $328 for the Finesse. I actually used the Finesse more in the last few days browsing the net, than I’ve done on my laptop. I was not looking for a “smartphone”, I have no need to replace my laptop with the capabilities of a phone. We are both very pleased and this phone fits our needs just perfectly. Stylish and the monthly service is dirt cheap!
February 2, 2010 at 2:03 am
I cannot remember where the reviews were, maybe cnet. But many many people will lose service after they try to add their second months service. I think it sounds like a great phone and I would really like to try it. I’m just skeptical. I have a number that I don’t want to lose, and I’ve also read that smart talk will give away your number to other people. It may not be the norm. Maybe those people were just unlucky. I have not tried it, and therefore I am not trying to discourage anyone. If I knew it would work without down time, and I would be able to keep my number forever (I have a number I chose myself) then I would certainly give careful consideration to this phone as it is half the price I am currently paying! It is a nice looking phone. And I’m very surprised that it even does threaded messaging? Did I read that correct? Once again, great job reviewing. I may have to try it out next time I go to Augusta.
February 2, 2010 at 2:08 am
I found the link. It could very well just be that unhappy customers are far more likely to write a review than a happy customer is! http://www.prepaidreviews.com/straighttalk.html
February 2, 2010 at 8:14 pm
I bought this phone on Jan. 25th in Orlando, FL from Metro PCS after reading your review. It was only $149 after $50 mail in rebate until Feb 15, 2010. I’m sure I wouldn’t have paid anywhere near $300 for a phone but at $199 minus $50, I think it’s an awesome deal.
That being said, I LOVE this phone. It does so much more than I thought it would and I am so excited to be only paying $50/month (including all taxes) for unlimited talk, text and web.
Prior to getting this phone I had a T-mobile plan with 600 anytime, free nights and weekends with texts costing .20 each. I had an HTC MDA phone that I couldn’t even utilize all the functions of since I didn’t want to pay for unlimited text and web for it.
I was paying $39.99/mo which came to $48.60 after taxes. So for less than 2 bucks more I have unlimited EVERYTHING. I’m so blown away that a company could offer such a deal…that really says something about how much these other companies are bilking their customers.
I’m fixing to list my MDA on Ebay now. Thanks for making this website and thank you Samsung!
February 2, 2010 at 8:54 pm
I just went back and read all of the comments and I have a few to add about MetroPCS since that’s the carrier I use my Finesse on.
Yes, you can IM on the phone, hit Menu then Mobile IM. It will tell you it’s not set up on your phone yet and ask you if you want to install it. Then it will simply download the app for you. It’s free. This app allows you to IM on AIM and MSN, I wish it had Yahoo messenger too but it doesn’t look like it does yet.
Also, about games, go to Menu then @Metro, there is a MobileShop there where you can buy and download games like GTA and COD as long as you’ve added funds to your Metro Connect account already. I’m not buying any apps but it does tell you how to load money on it right from the phone.
You can also buy ringtones and pics from the MobileShop and FoxSports for $4.99 for live game play by play, audio highlights, color photos, news, scores and stats for your fave NFL, NBS, MLB teams and more.
I also saw there was Guitar Hero 5, Pac-man Fever, Avatar by Gameloft, Madden NFL and Sony Music Box available for paid download.
Under MobileShop there’s also a thing called @Sabor that has a ‘huge collection of Latin Real Music Ringtones’.
MetroNavigator is a GPS program that is free to download and install, it takes a few minutes but it’s an amazing program to use. It will tell you what street address you are located at and it can insert it into a text or email so you can send your location to a friend. You can use the GPS to find where all the movie theater near you are and what movies are playing and at what time they play. It also gives you a full page synopsis for every movie and you can even have it sort by Comedy, Drama or whatever if you want to know the closest movie of that genre to your location.
The GPS(MetroNavigator) even will tell you all the events happening near you up to a week or so in advance. This includes concerts, sports events and art and museum happenings. Each event shows the distance from you and sometimes the cost and lets you hit Send if you want to call the event venue.
The MetroNavigator will also tell you the weather currently and upcoming forecast where you are or in any zip code you type in as well as the weather for any airport code for example LAX or JFK.
Mail@Metro will let you connect to your email account, Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, whatever. It may let you connect to more than one mailbox but I have all of my emails forwarded to my one Yahoo account so I haven’t tried to add more than one mailbox to my phone.
I’m only a week or so into using this phone so this is the extent of my knowledge about it. I hope this was helpful to some other MetroPCS users.
February 3, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Thank you again for answering my question. I will try it!
February 3, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I think there was some confusion earlier. I found out that Boost Mobile uses Sprint as their carrier.
But as far as I can tell, MetroPCS is it’s own company and carrier and in no way related to Sprint, thank goodness because I was really upset and mad at myself when I read that someone said MetroPCS is Sprint.
February 4, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Have you tried yahoo messenger on this phone? If so how does it work?
February 5, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Hey there, first off, thanks for the review…very helpful.
Never Tried Pre Paid:
If I understand correctly, you are concerned that if you transfer to a pre paid service such as Straight Talk, and allow your service to lapse (even if only for a few days between refilling account) that your current phone number will be lost forever.
First off, with Straight Talk, you are able to port your current number over to their service from your current service with relative ease through the Straight Talk website. There will be a service downtime of about two days while this is happening.
Secondly, if you do not refill your account before your service end date, then you are correct, you will lose your number. However, Straight Talk does offer an auto refill option, allowing your account to be refilled automatically every month…basically eliminating that issue. This is what I am currently doing, and it is as if I have a contract service without the worry or contract.
The folks that you read about that lost their numbers, probably did so because they didn’t realize when there service date expired and tried to refill their account after that date.
Hope this helps.
February 7, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Hi Kisha
Thanks for your input. I agree with you on the “dirt cheap” aspect for sure.
February 7, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Karin, you are correct – I was confusing metroPCS with Boost mobile. I know Sprint uses the PCS 1900-MHz band, and I saw the PCS in MetroPCS and thought they must be a derivative of Sprint. I stand correct, and apologize for the confusion.
Still, the functionality of the Straight Talk version of this phone, which I am focusing on for this site, is much more limited than the Metro version. I don’t know why, but the Straight Talk version simply doesn’t allow some things that the Metro version does. At least not yet – maybe Straight Talk will provide downloads to maximize the potential of this phone in the future.
February 14, 2010 at 11:52 am
Hello –
I had the Finesse and sent it back because of a battery issue. Other than that it was a great phone. I want to be clear – the phone was fine and did what Pbushx2 has said it would do. The phone was likely overkill for what I need though.
Now to the return process that I have experienced. I got a return authorization number and sent the phone back over a month ago. I have the receipt of it being received at the “dock”. I still don’t have the refund credited to my credit card. I have been on the phone to Straight Talk a lot about this (estimate 4 hours total). The matter has been “escalated” to “corporate” and I am supposed to receive a call tomorrow about the matter.
Go to the Better Business Bureau website and look up Straight Talk. You will find it gets an A+ rating. Then look at the comments section – another story. There are other comments about problems with returns. I don’t understand this.
This is a good phone. But I would buy it at a Walmart store. Then if you need to return it you will avoid what I am going through. They have a very liberal return policy and your credit card will be credited right away. Wish I had done that.
I did purchase two LG220 phones for me and my wife. I am pleased with these and have not had any problems with service. Can’t beat the price with Straight Talk.
Another tip for those purchasing any Straight Talk phone. When you activate your phone do not enroll in the automatic plan for renewal at the same time. They charged me for the first month on the renewal plan even though I had paid for the first month when I activated. I evidently confused their computer. Just wait to sign up for the automatic renewal. They did refund the error though I had to be transferred to a supervisor to get this.
February 16, 2010 at 10:24 am
Thanks for the review.
Does it have a physcial plug to take a wire (non-bluetooth) head set?
This is important for those of us who are trying to limit radiation to the brain!
Thanks again.
February 16, 2010 at 11:41 am
The Finesse also has a standard headset connector (3.5 mm). I use mine with the headset from my iPod touch, which is also the same headset as comes with a new iPhone. Using this headset, the sound quality is fabulous for both the earphones and the mic (I had people tell me it sounded better than a landline).
Here’s the original: Apple iPhone 3G Stereo Headset /w Microphone (White)
And here’s a cheaper knock-off, that still gets decent reviews on Amazon:Apple Earphones with Remote & Mic
February 16, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Thanks for the info. Are you an affilate? Can I order through your site? You have provided valuable info saving me time, I’d like to buy through you. If I click on the StraightTalk banner I don’t see an affilate code on the URL.
February 16, 2010 at 4:00 pm
In answer to someone asking about unlocked phones..
No you can not..
My experience with support to find this out was a bit unnerving.. I called and was told no one was available to answer and to call back at my convenience.. Since Now was already convenient for me, I called back 3 times in 5 minutes and finally got put into the queue.. I was on hold for 10 minutes then I got someone who spoke broken english but he was finally was able to tell me that we “Must use Strait Talk phones, Unlocked phones not allowed”
Thank you for this site, your insight and reviews has been very helpful to me..
I understand people worrying about losing their number especially if they use it for business and have it on cards etc.. Auto Refill “should” take care of that, but if there was ever a problem with your account you would lose your number.. I would be Very careful..
Anyone else read the post about Strait talk being able to cancel your account if you use your phone to “vote” on tv shows???
Now I have to go read the entire contract before I make my decision.. I have voted on things maybe 2 times in my life but hey, you never know.. And that seems kind of an odd thing to cancel an account over..
February 18, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Hi Bob
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. The banner on the left side of the page is indeed an affiliate link. I have a system set up on this site to help me keep track of all the links, which is why it doesn’t show the code in the url. Thanks for asking!
Best,
Patrick
February 21, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Was wondering if the ring tone is always ascending, even if you put your own custom ring tone on it from an mp3 file. It sounds like the pre-installed tones are not adjustable. If always ascending, do you know of anything that could be done to change this(software, hack…) Great site, all the info greatly appreciated.