Tracfone Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas Gift Giving Ideas with Tracfone

With Christmas and the holidays fast approaching, it can sometimes be very challenging to figure out gifts to get friends and family. Well we are here to help! This is our 2013 Christmas(or for any occasion) Gift Ideas Guide.

Tracfone Gift Guide for Christmas by TracfoneReviewer

This guide will help give you ideas and share some of the newest and best cell phones and accessories available from Tracfone. Use this guide to get a heads-up on some of the newer stuff available from Tracfone.

For those who might not know, Tracfone is a low cost, prepaid cell phone company that offers phones for $100 or less, and prepaid minutes in varying amounts.

In this guide, we will cover the latest and greatest Tracfone cell phones, cell phone accessories, and prepaid minute cards to give you a jump on what to buy others (or yourself...) for Christmas.

So let's get to it!

Cell Phone Christmas Gift Ideas from Tracfone

These phones are some of the best and newest available from Tracfone. All use Android OS, making them powerful, functional, and full of great features including tons of apps from Google Play.

A Tracfone cell phone can be a great gift for young teens, or anyone who doesn't have a cell phone and either wouldn't use the phone too often, or needs to learn not to talk and text all day!

These Android powered prepaid phones are each around $100 (some even less) and come with everything you need to activate them right away. You can even use an existing number if you want.

Here are the four Android Tracfone Christmas gift ideas:

ZTE Valet

ZTE Valet - With great features like Android 4.1, WiFi, and Triple Minutes for Life, this is one of the top Android phones from Tracfone. Some users report low signal strength on the WiFi, and you can read our complete review of the ZTE Valet to learn more. It does come with a free 4 GB Micro SD card. The Valet can be found in many stores and online, but we found it on Amazon at $15 off!

Huawei Glory - Running Android 4.0, the Glory has many of the same great features as the Valet, and even has an FM Radio! Check out our review of the Huawei Glory for complete features and specs. It can be found on the Tracfone website, or from many other major retailers.

Samsung Galaxy Centura - A great phone from a well known brand, the Centura also runs Android 4.0, and has WiFi, Triple Minutes and much more. Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura for all the details, including how to check your balance from the phone. The Samsung Galaxy Centura is available in many stores and websites, but you can get it on Amazon for $30 off!

LG Optimus Dynamic - Last but not least, this phone resembles the LG 840G in some ways, but comes with many more features, most notably Android 2.3. Get our review of the LG Optimus Dynamic for more information. The Dynamic is available in many places online and in store. We even found it on Amazon for just $60! (prices are current at time of posting, but may change!)

All four of these phones will make a great gift. But if you're looking for something that just does the basics like calling and texting, you might be interested in the LG 840G or the Alcatel 382G.

Cell Phone Accessory Gift Ideas

With cell phones, it is always nice to have plenty of accessories, whether that consists of car chargers, touchscreen covers or sturdy cases, below are some of the best options for your Tracfone device.

Tracfone Covers - A cover for your cell phone is one of the best ways to protect it form scratches, and even from dropping it. Covers come in many different colors, costs and levels of protection. Be sure to get the right cover for phone, as they come in all kinds of different sizes.

One easy way to find covers for your cell phone is to head over to Amazon and then search for the name of your phone, followed by 'cover' or 'case'. There should be plenty of options to choose from.

Charger and Accessories - Sometimes it's nice to have a car charger, or other accessories that make your phone more convenient to use. Some cell phone bundles come with extra accessories, but you can also find lots of options on ebay or Amazon.

Tracfone Prepaid Refill Cards

A 1 year/400 minute card

Let's not forget about the prepaid minutes! If you know someone who uses Tracfone, one of the best gifts you might be able to get them is a prepaid refill card that will give them extra minutes for talking and texting.

Tracfone refill cards come in sizes ranging from 60 minutes for $20 to 450 minutes at $80.

One of the best deals is to get the 1 year/400 minutes card which gives the user 1 full year of service with 400 minutes.

You can find Tracfone prepaid minutes in most stores and online.

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We hope this gives you some new holiday gift ideas to help find something for your friends and family!

Definitely go check out our Tracfone Promo Codes if you don't already know about that!

You might also be interested in learning about the Difference between GSM and CDMA Tracfone devices (and which is right for you).

Thanks for visiting, and leave a comment with your top gift ideas, or any questions you might have!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Samsung Galaxy Centura Review - Tracfone Smartphone

Review of the Android Powered Centura from Tracfone

This review by TracfoneReviewer will cover the Samsung Galaxy Centura, one of Tracfones first Android smartphones. There are several newer and better phones available, and you can see them in our Cell Phone Reviews page in the menu above.

Samsung Galaxy Centura Front

The Samsung Galaxy Centura is one of several new Android smartphones released by Tracfone for their wireless prepaid customers.

Tracfone is a prepaid wireless cell phone service provide that offers low cost phones and service. They only recently began selling Android smartphones, and the Samsung Galaxy Centura is one of the first available.

The ZTE Valet, Huawei Glory and LG Optimus Dynamic and Dynamic II are the other Android phones also available. Follow the links to read our reviews of each phone.

If you're looking for more phone options with Tracfone, be sure to visit our Tracfone BYOP page where we give all the details on bringing your own smartphone to use with Tracfone.

Visit our Android Tracfone List, which contains all the Android phones available form Tracfone, including several newer and better phones than the Samsung Galaxy Centura. At this time, the Centura is fairly out of date, and you are probably better off going with one of the newer options, like the LG Ultimate 2 or Moto E.

Now let's get to the full review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura.

Review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura Smartphone

The Samsung Galaxy Centura is a touchscreen smartphone running on Android 4.0 operating system. It can be used exclusively with Tracfone prepaid wireless service, meaning you can't buy the phone and then try to use it with other service providers. The Centura uses the CDMA network, running on Verizon towers.

You can read more about the difference between GSM and CDMA, and how to determine which is right for you, in our recent post on that topic.

Before we get to far, let's take a look at the features and specifications for the Centura.

Samsung Galaxy Centura Features and Specs

• Android 4.0 OS
• 3 MP Camera and Video Recorder
• 3G speeds
• WiFi connectivity
• Bluetooth Wireless
• Mobile Web
• MP3 Player
• Instant Messaging
• GPS Capabilities
• Gravity and Tilt sensors
• Hearing Aid Compatible
• Hands free speaker
• Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting
• Comes with Battery and Charger

Now let's look at the technical dimensions and specifications for the Samsung Galaxy Centura:

Samsung Galaxy Centura Dimensions and Specs

• 3.5" Touchscreen
• Dimensions: 4.4 x 2.4 x 0,4 inches
• 4.4 ounces
• 800Mhz Processor
• Internal Memory: 4GB NAND
• 512MB RAM
• Compatible with up to 32GB external MicroSD Card
• Battery Standby 10 days
• Battery Talk time 7 hours

The Centura is a phone from Tracfone packed with more features than any other non-Android phone. You can surf the web on 3G or for free on WiFi. You can use thousands of apps from Google's app store. The possibilities are greatly expanded with the Android OS.

To give a balance of the pros' and cons' for the Samsung Galaxy Centura, let's take a look at TracfoneReviewer's short list of Likes and Dislikes about this new touchscreen smartphone. While we don't cover every good or bad thing about this phone, we do strive to highlight enough information to allow you to make a more informed decision when buying this phone.

So let's get to the review.

Samsung Galaxy Centura Review - Likes and Dislikes

We will begin by taking a look at some of the things we really like about the Centura, and then move to some features we didn't like, or thought should have been included.

Likes for the Samsung Galaxy Centura:

There are many features that come with this phone that make it a great value compared to other Tracfone cell phones.

Samsung Galaxy Centura Back

We like that the Centura comes with WiFi connectivity, 3G speeds, Triple Minutes for Life and a 3MP camera.

WiFi access on the Samsung makes it possible to surf the internet for free when connected to wireless internet. 3G speeds means that when you aren't on free WiFi, you can still be online at decent speeds using the phone's data.

The 3 mega pixel camera will take both pictures and video recording at fair quality, especially compared to the 1MP camera's on many other Tracfone devices.

Triple Minutes for Life is the best deal offered by Tracfone. (Some of their older phones have only double minutes for life.) What this means is that for every minute you add to the phone, you get 2 more for free. So if you add a 60 minute prepaid card, you will get 180 total minutes!

The biggest like about the Samsung Galaxy Centura is the Android operating system which allows users to have access to over 700,000 apps from Google's Play store. Many apps are free, or a just a few dollars and provide huge features and functionality. You can use Google Maps, play thousands of games, or find time saving apps that make your life easier. Visit the Google Play store to learn more about the apps they have to offer.

There are a few things we are not such huge fans about for the Centura, which we will now cover.

Dislikes for the Samsung Galaxy Centura:
The first thing we are not huge fans about is the new system for splitting up calling minutes/texting minutes/data into three separate pots or pools. What this means is that when you add a 60 minute prepaid card, you will get it tripled into 180 calling minutes, 180 texts, and 180 mb of data.

For many, this will work just fine, and is even a better deal than the previous system where you would just get 180 total minutes for calling/texting/web browsing.

But for those who are heavy text users, this reduces the number of texts you get form a 60 minute card from 600 to just 180. That is a significant reduction. So if you tend to do way more texting than other activities, you may want to stick with older models. For the rest of us, this is simply a new system we must get accustomed to.

Another small dislike about this phone, and all the new Android phones from Tracfone, is that Tracfone Promo Codes won't work on them. You can no longer get extra minutes for free when adding a new prepaid card.

We also dislike that there is no Airtime display on the home screen, but you can quickly and easily find your minutes balance, which we will explain a little further below.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy Centura is on the expensive side compared to other Tracfone mobile devices. It typically retails for $130 in stores and on the Tracfone website. We will cover more on where to buy this phone, and how to get it for less, at the end of this review.

That covers the main likes and dislikes we found with the Centura, check out the comments, or leave your own, with more thoughts on the pros' and cons' of this phone.

We have received a number of comments from consumers reporting problems with the Samsung Galaxy Centura including the phone freezing and malfunctioning in other ways. These problems don't exist for every one, but if you are experiencing issues with your phone we recommend contacting Tracfone and working towards getting a replacement, or go with something better like the LG Ultimate 2, Moto E or Alcatel Onetouch Icon Pop.

How to Check Your Airtime Balance on the Samsung Galaxy Centura

This is a question/problem we have been seeing a lot, so we want to cover it here for your convenience. As we mentioned above, these is no display on the home screen, but checking your Tracfone balance is very easy.

The first option is to use the new Tracfone app, that will give you your balance. We haven't tested this very much, but you can go directly to the app on Google Play to learn more, and download it.

The other option is to follow this simple process:
To find out the number of minutes/text/data left, you'll need to log on to your Tracfone account and submit a balance request, OR set up a bookmark in your browser (on your computer or phone) to go to "https://www.tracfone.com/direct/CheckBalance?input_phone=1234567890" (replace 1234567890 with your phone number). You'll get a free text message on your phone with your balances. The service end date is not in the text message. It's only shown on the browser screen.

Overall Review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura

View on Amazon

The Centura is a powerful phone form a well known electronics company with a history of great devices. The Samsung Galaxy Centura is best suited for those who want their phones to do more than just text and call. With access to thousands of apps, this phones potential is nearly endless, limited only by what the user chooses to do.

For those who prefer a more simple device, check out some of the other phones we have reviewed at our Cell Phone Reviews page.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Centura is a great value and provides massive improvements over past Tracfone cell phones. It is one of the first true smartphones offered by Tracfone. The ability to surf the web for free via WiFi and use apps for entertainment, work or social make this a phone with multiple uses and functionality.

For those comparing it to the ZTE Valet, we suggest checking out our post showing the features and specs for both the Valet and Centura.

The Samsung Galaxy Centura typically retails for $129.99 in stores and online. We found the Centura on Amazon at a discount. And you can also read several informative customer reviews there as well.

You may also want to check out eBay and HSN.com for phone/minutes bundles that can be a good deal.

We would suggest you look into getting a case and/or screen protector to help keep your phone in good shape. There are lots of cases and screen protectors for the Centura on Amazon.

This concludes our review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura. We hope you found this useful. Be sure to share this with others who might like it, and leave a comment with any questions, thoughts or corrections.

You might enjoy reading some of our other recent posts such as Where to Find Tracfone Prepaid Cards or perhaps the Summer Sales and Discounts on Tracfone Cell Phones (2014)

Thanks for Visiting!

Resources:

Interactive Tutorial

Samsung Galaxy Centura User Guide (pdf)

Android Powered Cell Phones Coming to Tracfone

Will Tracfone Finally Have an Android Powered Cell Phone?

Details are still a little murky, with lots of rumors and anonymous claims, but they all have one consistent aspect, and that is that Tracfone might be on the verge of releasing Android powered smartphones for their customers.

**UPDATE**
This Post is out of date! Tracfone has released four new Android Smartphones, and you can read our review of each one below:

LG Optimus Dynamic

Samsung Galaxy Centura

ZTE Valet

Huawei Glory

You can also view our Comparison of the Samsung Galaxy Centura and ZTE Valet to learn more.

***

Tracfone Released the Samsung Galaxy Centura Android for Tracfone available to purchase at HSN.com.

Samsung Galaxy Centura Android
 for Tracfone

You can see the Samsung Galaxy Centura at HSN.com to learn more (although it might be sold out by now).

The Samsung Galaxy Centura has been around for Net10 and Straight Talk users for a little while, but Tracfone has never had a smartphone, or an android powered phone. The closest thing was the LG 840G.

This Samsung Galaxy Centura will be able to use apps, browse the web via Google, use Google Maps and other Google products with ease. It is an exciting direction Tracfone is heading.

At this point, HSN.com is the only place we have found selling this new Android Tracfone, but we will keep you updated if other options become available!

EDIT: We have also found the Samsung Galaxy Centura on eBay, although the price is not great, and getting it from HSN.com is a better deal at the moment.

Possibly Four New Android Tracfone Cell Phones

If you read this forum post from HowardForums it suggest that there will be four new Android powered cell phones coming to Tracfone, as well as special data cards you can purchase from Tracfone.

Many of the details are still unclear, like when these phones will be available or what they will cost. (or how the data charge will work). But the phones look pretty exciting. The phones that possibly will be available for Tracfone are:

• LG L38C Optimus Dynamic with Android 2.3 (see Tracfone tutorial)
• Samsung S738C Galaxy Centura with Android 4.0 (see Tracfone tutorial)
• ZTE Z665C Valet with Android 4.1 (see Tracfone tutorial) 
• Huawei H868C Glory with Android 4.0 (see Tracfone tutorial)

Samsung Galaxy
Centura

While we don't have confirmation that these phones will be available for Tracfone users, it seems very likely. What we do know is that Android powered cell phones are finally coming to Tracfone.

EDIT: The ZTE Z665C Valet has been spotted in stores! At this point it has only been found in Best Buy retailing for $99. It is the only one of the four mentioned above that has been found in store for sale, but it is a pretty good sign the rest will soon follow!

EDIT 2: Both the ZTE Z665C Valet and Samsung Galaxy Centura are now available at Tracfone.com under 'cell phones'. As are the Hauwei Glory and LG Optimus Dynamic!

ZTE Valet

One thing to note is that all of these phones appear to be for CDMA networks, which would be Verizon. Learn about the Difference between GSM and CDMA and which is right for you.

Check back often as we will try to keep everyone updated as more details become available.

While this is exciting news, for many Tracfone users, this won't change anything. You can still use your current cell phones for whatever capacity you choose to, and prices should stay the same. In fact, some older Tracfone cell phones are actually going on sale for great low prices! Check out our recent post with the Best Tracfone Deals in September!

Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment with your thoughts or questions on this exciting development of Android smartphones coming to Tracfone.