The Samsung Tocco Lite: Modest Phone, Gutter Prices

Samsung Tocco Lite Design black deals

There is something very likeable about the Samsung Tocco Lite, it has a simple charm from a bygone age... 3 years ago, that is (which is an aeon in mobile phone time). It's a touchscreen feature phone without 3G or wi-fi capabilities, so if that's going to put you off then you might as well stop reading now. However if you're looking for a phone that can do the basics well (calling and texting) but with a nice responsive touchscreen and a few widgets, then you can get some incredible phone deals on the Samsung Tocco Lite now.

Feature Phone

You shouldn't get the idea that this phone is only for calling and texting though, it's not that old. You can also play videos, connect to the internet, play music, all of that good stuff. It's just that you're not going to be able to download a whole lot of apps the way you can with an Android or iPhone device. If that's not something you'd be interested in doing anyway though, then you might as well go for budget phone such as this and save your money.

There's something you can be pretty sure about, if you're still able to get monthly contract deals on a phone three years after it was released, it has to be pretty good. Indeed, at the time it was one of the best phones of its type available. Its lack of 3G or wi-fi capabilities were, and are, disappointing but as we say, if you're not planning on using the internet too much then it's no great loss. Also, it's not as if you can't connect at all, it's simply that it is going to be slow. There are built in links and widgets for social networking sites such as Facebook, if that's something you're interested in.

It's a phone which is nice and small, easily fitting in to your pocket, the way phones used to be. Nowadays you can get phones that you practically have to carry around in a bag and hold in two hands. Well, this isn't one of those. It has a 3 inch screen, and no keypad so the screen dictates how big the phone is: not very. Again, if you're looking for a phone with a big screen, you'll have to look elsewhere.

As stated, this is a touchscreen. Looking at the specs and seeing that it is a resistive touchscreen might put you off, if you know about their reputation for being unresponsive, and needing a great deal of pressure to get the action that you want. Fortunately with this mobile, that is not the case, its responsiveness is fine and you don't even have to press down very hard. It's quality build means that it doesn't feel squidgy in your grasp either, it feels as if it could stand up to the odd knock here and there.

It's 3.2 megapixel camera is decent too. Nowadays you would expect at least 5MP even from a budget Android, but the Tocco Lite's camera performs well.

Perhaps most importantly, call quality is good and texting on the touchscreen is simple as well. What's more, not being a smart phone, the battery life is excellent. You can use it frequently throughout the day and for a few days after that until you have to charge it again. If you want to make smart phone users envious, just tell them that and see what colour they turn!

For the full specifications, check out Samsung's website.

Phone Deals

As long as you have modest needs from a phone, the Tocco Lite will satisfy them. However you don't need to expect a modest price because you can get some obscenely low SamsungTocco Lite Design black monthly contract deals now! As well as Samsung Tocco Lite Design silver deals too!

continue reading "The Samsung Tocco Lite: Modest Phone, Gutter Prices"

The Motorola Gleam: A Shining Example of a Budget Phone

Motorola gleam black deals

It seems that these days, with all the smart phones around, actually using a phone as a phone seems like the lowest priority on most people's list. If that is the case for you, then you're not going to like the Motorola Gleam. On the other hand, if you primarily want a phone for making calls and texting, then the phone deals on this the Gleam are well worth a look.

Design

The Motorola Gleam is made in a clam-shell design, the type that opens up on hinges. You don't see that very much these days of course, but the main reason that Motorola has returned to this design we suspect is to harken back to the days of the Motorola Razr, perhaps its most popular phone. This was in the days before smart phones, when a good game of snake was just about the height of mobile gaming and hardly anybody had even uttered the word “app”. Now, the Motorola Gleam doesn't go that far back in time, but it's not a touchscreen and you're not going to have any apps to mess around with.

Although the design is reminiscent of the Razr, the Gleam is made from plastic rather than metal so isn't quite as sturdy. It has an alphanumeric keypad with very large buttons, which take some getting used to but once you do, texting because very simple.

The screen is only 2.4 in. at the diagonal, which compared to smart phones is very small but for phones of this sort it's not bad.

Hardware

Even for for a budget phone such as this, we would have expected something better than a 2-megapixel camera. That really isn't very good quality, and the video it takes is quite bad as well. That's okay though because you're not going to be able to fit much of any pictures of videos with the 5MB internal storage. You can get a microSD card to beef up that storage capacity though, so that's not so much of a problem.

There's also no 3G or wi-fi capabilities, which is a bit of a disappointment. But then they probably figured that anyone who is going to want to a fast web connection on a phone will go for a cheap Android instead.

There is some good news with all of this, which is that the Motorola Gleam has an excellent battery life. It can go days without a fresh charge, whereas with a smart phone you're not always guaranteed a full day without having to charge it again.

Find the full specs on the Motorola website.

Summary

If you're nostalgic for the days when a phone was a phone and don't want all the fuss of a smart phone then you're probably going to love the Motorola Gleam. It's not flashy, but it has a nice design, it looks good and it gets the job done. If you're interested, check out the best Motorola Gleam black monthly contract deals available on the web.  Or if you'd rather something other than the black, you can find Motorola Gleam lilac deals and Motorola Gleam white deals.

continue reading "The Motorola Gleam: A Shining Example of a Budget Phone"

Nokia Asha 300: Low Cost Feature Phone

Nokia Asha 300 black deals

The Nokia Asha 300 is a simple feature phone, not a smart phone, so if you're looking for something to download apps galore on to, you're much better off getting an Android. However if you're in the market for a simple touchscreen phone that makes calling and texting easy, and even comes pre-installed with Angry Birds Lite, then it's worth checking out the great phone deals you can get on the Asha 300.

Display

The Nokia Asha 300 houses an alphanumeric keypad, ala mobile phones of bygone eras, but it still has a touchscreen for it's 2.4 in. display. That size of screen is fine for budget phones of this type but there is a problem with the touchscreen, in that it is resistive rather than capacitive. In effect what this means is that you're going to have to work a little bit harder to get things moving at your fingertips. If you're not careful it's easy to accidentally open an app when you are just trying to swipe somewhere else.

That's a shame because the phone is run by a 1GHz processor, which is more than a lot of lower end Android phones. The fact is though that you don't really feel that processing power in the speed of the phone most of the time.

Instead of Android you get Nokia Series 40 OS and it works fine, but as we say if you're looking for something that is highly customisable and that has access to a number of different apps then you'd be better with an Android or iOS device.

No Wi-Fi

The most disappointing thing about what is a fine phone otherwise, is that there is no wi-fi capability. It does connect to the internet though, through 3G services. If you want to use it on your wireless network at home however, that's not going to be possible.

In terms of web browsing with the 3G though, it is quite fast, as you would expect with a 1GHz processor running the phone.

Extras

You will find everything else you would expect from a feature phone on the Asha 300, including a bit more actually. A 5 megapixel camera, for instance, is an unexpected bonus. And as mentioned, it is one of the first phones to have a version of Angry Birds pre-installed. There's a music player of course, although not much room to store music with only 140MB internal storage. Having said that however you can purchase a microSD card to increase that up to 32GB.

You can find the full specs on the Nokia website.

Summary

If it weren't for the lack of wi-fi and a resistive rather than capacitive touchscreen, the review for this modern feature phone would be unreservedly positive. If you are able to see past these flaws then it's still a nice little simple phone, and it's well worth checking out some of the amazingly low Nokia Asha 300 black monthly contract deals that are available online.

continue reading "Nokia Asha 300: Low Cost Feature Phone"