ManicMobile

Samsung T401g  mobile phone was released in mid October, and is currently available only at Net10.  Below is a short  over view of it’s features:

The T401g  has drawn a lot of interest from prepaid users, as it was the first Net10 model to offer a QWERTY keyboard.   The phone also offers an mp3 player, a 1.3 megapix camera, and also  first time on a Net10 phone, a camcorder.

The phone  includes a slide-out keyboard, which I really like. It  has three rows of keys, with a little space between each of them.  

What I like about the screen is that it rotates when you open the slider, so the screen is positioned correctly for use with the QWERTY keyboard. 

Now let’s take look around the rest of the Samsung T401g. On the left side you’ll see the rocker switch to adjust the volume, either for call volume if you’re in the middle of a call, or for ringtone volume if you’re not connected.

A little lower on the left side is the microSD card slot. You can use these cards to store mp3s, pictures, and videos. I’ve heard of people using up to 16gb cards in this phone, and it also seems that MicroSDHC cards work too.

At the top of the right side is the connector that is used for the charger, headset, and USB cable. This is something I didn’t like. Since the connector here is something that is found only on Samsung phones, you’ll have to either buy an adapter or buy a special headset if you want to listen to music or make voice calls using a wired headset. I was able to find an adapter for $6 on Amazon, but it really bothers me when manufacturers do something like this.

Moving on now down the right side, you’ll find the camera shortcut key. It doesn’t do anything when the phone is locked. If the phone is unlocked, it loads the camera function.

And just to give you a quick look at the camcorder, click on menu and select camcorder, then press either the center key on the directional pad, or the camera shortcut key to begin recording. Press it again to stop recording, and then you’ll be able to replay your video or even send it in an MMS message.

The video recorded with this device is not the highest quality. It looks a little grainy even on the screen of the phone, and a little worse on a bigger screen. You won’t want to do any serious video with this recorder, but it is fun to have available.

One more thing I wanted to discuss – the mp3 player is nicer than the Motorola EM326g. It actually doesn’t sound too bad through the built-in speaker, which surprised me. But if you’re listening for any extended period of time, you’ll definitely want to use headphones. And bluetooth is also an option, if you have a stereo bluetooth headset.

Well, there’s a quick overview of the Samsung T401g. To sum it up, I’m having fun with this model. It’s a little bigger than what I’m used to, but I guess that’s necessary to accommodate the keyboard, camcorder, and mp3 player. Battery life and reception are very good, and the screen is big and bright. It doesn’t sound quite as clear for voice calls as the EM326g, but it’s still pretty good. All in all, I like it. I would give it 4 stars out of 5.

It’s currently selling for $80, but you can currently, as of this writing, get it for $72 using a few discount codes. To find the current discount codes, check out the links in the resource box at the en of this article. I’ll keep those pages updated with info about where to buy it, including news about sales and discounts, and you’ll also find links to my detailed reviews and photos of this model.

Check out the detailed 3-Part Samsung T401g Review.