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LG 420G Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone with Bluetooth - Black Unlimited double minutes!

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LG 420G Pre-Paid Cell Phone for TracFone with Bluetooth - Black Unlimited double minutes!

(43 customer reviews)

SKU:

pe2125

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Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Our Price:	$20.00
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Product Details

Product Length:	1.9 inches
Product Width:	0.7 inches
Product Height:	3.6 inches
Product Weight:	2.87 pounds
Package Length:	10.1 inches
Package Width:	6.3 inches
Package Height:	1.7 inches
Package Weight:	0.65 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 43 reviews

Features

Service Provider: TracFone
Phone Type: Flip Phone
Calling Features: Phonebook
Telecommunication Features: Backlit Keypad
Display Features: Service Balance
Talk Time: Up to 7 hours
Standby Time: Up to 80 hours
Screen Size: 1.7 "
Built-In Digital Camera: Yes
Video Resolution: No Built-In Video Recorder
GPS Enabled: No
Wired Connectivity: Wireless
Wireless Frequency/Band: , 850/1900 MHz
Wireless Technology: Bluetooth Enabled
File Formats Supported: WAV, MP3, WMV, WMA
Input Method: Physical QWERTY Keyboard
Battery Cell Type: Lithium-ion
Includes: Battery Charger
Not Included: Service Plan

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 3.5

( 43 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 found the following review helpful:

Good Phone Sep 11, 2010 By J. Williams
I bought the LG 420G Tracfone at Walgrens last night. It was on sale for $14.99 and it comes with double minutes for life. I still have an open-faced Nokia 1100 Tracfone that I bought in 2006 and which still works perfectly. I got the LG because I liked the camera and the speaker phone features, plus it was on sale and has the double minutes.

There is a folded red activation card that says Start Here! It gives 5 steps to follow for activation. However, DO NOT do the steps without looking at the inside of the activation card. You do not learn that there is more info inside until after you read step 4, and you need that inside info to do steps 1-3. The inside tells you how to open the port covering the charging dock, which you will not know if you try to do the steps without looking inside.

After charging the phone all night, I called Tracfone and gave the computer the serial number, and was told that phone would be activated in less than an hour. However, it wasn't and when I called back, the computer gave me several codes that I had to enter in order to get the phone programmed. I have no idea why that wasn't done ahead of time. The computer then told me that the phone was now activated, but it wasn't. I finally had to talk to a live person, who told me to turn the phone off and back on. Once I did that, it was activated.

I have been playing with the LG all day and it seems to work fine. The sound is clear and everything seems to work the way it is supposed to. However, the Services Guide is very incomplete and is almost useless. I have been using trial and error to figure things out.

The Services Guide does not mention the speaker phone at all. It cannot be found on any of the menus. To access it, you have to make a call or receive a call, then hit the options button, and scroll down to "speaker on" to turn it on. Once you hang up, it is automatically turned off. That is very handy, but it would have been very helpful to have been able to see it in the Services Guide.

The camera seems to work all right and will probably be handy to have, but only time will tell on that.

I could have transferred my old Nokia Tracfone minutes to this new LG when I activated it this morning, but I am going to keep the Nokia at least until I am sure that this LG is worth the money and I am sure that I can get used to it. As I said, that old Nokia still works great even though it is a very basic cell phone with no bells and whistles like this LG has.

So far, I consider the LG to be a good phone. If you get one, watch out for the pitfalls that I mentioned above in getting it charged up and activated. Also, be aware that the Services Guide will not help much. If you would like a pre-paid flip-phone with a camera and speakerphone and a color screen to look at, this might be a good buy for you.

Update (11/7/2011): The phone did not change the time when we moved the clocks back an hour this weekend. It was an hour ahead after the change. If that happens to you, just turn your phone off and then back on, and the time should be corrected. I have been unable to find a manual way to change the time and this seems to be the only way to fix it.

52 of 53 found the following review helpful:

A bargain phone for the casual user Dec 05, 2010 By CGScammell
I've been with Tracfone for several years now, always using a new phone model when an older model dies, which seems to be 10-16 months. This LG 420G has been my favorite so far in terms of aesthetics, use and function. It's a basic phone with web access and camera, although I use neither. Unlike the photo depicted here, mine is nearly all black.

The nice thing about the LG420G is that for under $20 you get a carrying case and a car charger with this (along with the standard wall charger). You also get "Double Minutes for Life," a benefit that for older models has been an extra charge. The carrying case is a clip-on vinyl case that is attached to the belt loop. One has to use careful force to turn the swivel from a vertical position to a horizontal position. The fasterner is a flimsy magnet. Twice now I've lost the phone while sitting down. Luckily both times I found the phone stuck deep in the couch. I now wear a brown hair band around the case to keep the handle from popping open and to provide added security.

The phone itself is well-made. I recently left it in my jeans pocket and it was submerged for about five minutes in hot water during a wash cycle. When I realized the phone was in water, I immediately fished for it in the barrel, dried it out, removed the battery and placed it in indirect light. A few hours later it was working again with no signs of water damage. Whew! My Sprint phones were never this good.

Activation is easy and fast. I prefer to do mine over their website.

One nice feature is having a voice recorder on this phone. It's not high quality but it's great for leaving myself notes. There's also the standard stop watch, calendar, quick dial settings, an alarm clock, notepad, "secret notes," calculator, world clock, stop watch.

My one complaint about Tracfone is that whenever you buy a new phone and want to transfer your number, you have to call their customer service number and talk to some Indian guy with a heavy accent. The last one who worked with me on transfering the number was downright rude. It also took me three days to get my number activated from another phone that had died on me. (On a previous number transfer it only took me a day.) Luckily I was able to get by with my other phone that I keep handy for these emergencies.

I could have transferred my number on-line via the Tracfone website but the last two times I tried that I noticed that not all my minutes were going to transfer over. I didn't want to lose 500+ minutes so I had to endure that rude guy from India. Hopefully this phone will last me a year so that I don't have to keep calling India whenever a phone dies. This long ordeal is my one complaint about Tracfone.

Other than customer support being questionable at times, I do have to praise the company for offering budget plans for the frugal-minded. I get by with under 200 minutes a month so my 60-minute cards (which are doubled, remember?) usually last me. The 60-minute card, however, only gives you 30 days of service. I can handle that for $12/month and not have to worry about an outrageous Sprint bill every month, an experience that turned me off to Sprint and on to Tracfone. I can add minutes with a quick visit to the website, or I can buy time via my phone. Because I have been a loyal customer for several years, I also get additional deals via email for reduced minutes, etc.

For no additional fee I also have international access so I can chat with my brother who lives in Germany.

I live in SE Arizona and have no problems with reception at home or in town. Although Tracfone shares towers with Verizon, I don't always get service in remote areas, but that's OK with me. There are only two things in life that require my immediate response and chatting with friends or co-workers is not one of them.

Overall I am very pleased with Tracfone and their products. I like this LG420G model as well. I dinged the company a star for their unfriendly (at times) customer service. But for anyone looking for a bargain, someone who doesn't chat much or who hates being tied down with an outrageous monthly cellphone bill, who's not much into texting, you may want to check out Tracfone. You can check for local availability via their website.

29 of 29 found the following review helpful:

It works for me. Aug 09, 2010 By gotta_hava_dog
I just got this from Tracfone and am enjoying it very much. It's easier to use than my last Motorola, plus it has a nice camera and can connect to the web. The appearance is indeed black and shiny, but that hasn't been any problem for me. I've used Tracfone for many years and always had excellent customer service, no problems connecting, and nice inexpensive phones. If you don't use a cell phone very often, this is a good choice.

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:

A Fine Phone for it's application Jul 31, 2011 By John "Old Guy"
A few years ago this would have been a GREAT phone :) And for 20 bucks including shipping and bonus time/gift card its hard to beat. My old Motorola C139, about the most minimal phone possible was failing. This one is a major improvement over that.. of course it won't hold a candle to my son's touchscreen, web-browsing, GPS-linked phone for over $50 a month, but what do you expect?

I've been a Tracfone user for several years. For low-usage phone users getting reasonable cell phone service for about $8 a month is hard to beat. As your usage goes up, it becomes less cost effective, but I'd guess you have to be around 400 minutes a month before it becomes cost effective to use a standard carrier contract (not to mention the phone cost) This is true even though it is becoming pretty common for carriers to have $35/mo unlimited plans. I use about 30 minutes a month, so I find I am hard pressed to use even my minimal minutes. Tracfone's biggest problem is its customer service and interface.. they are painfully slow, but also normally gets the job done.. if you're not a patient person, I'd avoid them :D Otherwise, they fill an important niche in affordable phone service (see Tracfone comments below)

It's hard to separate the Tracfone service from the phone itself, but I'll try to be clear.

Strong Positives:
*Flip-phone avoids the "pocket dialing" accidental numbers I had with my old "non-folding" or "bar" phone
*I rank the battery VERY GOOD.. standby for MANY DAYS and about 7-10 days of my normal usage. Even while I am playing around with it a LOT trying to learn it and set up numbers, taking pictures, etc it lasts many hours. (Note: Leaving Bluetooth on drains the battery faster.)
*Bluetooth allows use of handsfree headsets and linking to your automobile interfaces if you have one (see battery note)
*Two displays. Inside screen is not huge, but reasonable: bright, in color, and with decent resolution. A small outside display gives certain minimal info such as time and date, reception quality, phone settings, call & message status, etc without opening the phone.
*Bluetooth connectivity allows transfer of messages, pictures, and contact lists to a bluetooth enabled computer (you may need something like AZiO BTD211 USB Micro Bluetooth Adapter (Class 1, V2.1 + EDR) if you don't have bluetooth built into your pc) This avoids having to send them via "multimedia messaging" It even allows relatively sophisticated features like synching with your contacts, calendar functions, task and appointment lists, files, etc if you're into that kind of thing.
*Removable battery allows one to buy a spare so if you have limited access to charger/plugs just pop a charged one in when needed such as LG ce110 Battery - OEM Standard, Li-ION, 900mAh (LGIP-430A, SBPL0089901)
*Free wide-spread overseas calling without extra charges.. even allows a few numbers to be set up as "quick dials" (Tracfone service)
*Bluetooth transfers in theory allow getting ringtones, games, screensavers, etc online on your pc then moving to the phone... so far I've not found a site (other than rather obvious Phishing and Warez sites) that have these items. I am very reluctant to enter my phone number and allow charges direct to my phone due to security concerns

Positives:
*Talk and volume is decent and is easily turned up, down, or muted as circumstances demand
*1.3 Mb Camera is relatively sophisticated with zoom (digital), multi-shot, time-delayed, even "night lighting" settings which is also pretty easy to use. It has simple photo tools like edit, transfer, send, etc. I rate it average to plus for cell-phones
*Small and light, yet quite usable (under 4x2x0.75 inches and under 3 oz) with a clean, sleek exterior
*Several common "modes" for airline, mute, off, vibrate, etc as conditions demand
*Charging via "micro USB" looking interface (not a true USB port.. USB will neither connect nor charge this device) Just a note.. if this phone is OFF it seems to charge in about half the time vs when it is ON.
*One-touch "speaker phone" (does requires hands on for that as opposed to bluetooth headset)
*Average texting (incorrectly labeled as qwerty in the tech details above, but its the usual multi-press method of selecting letters, numbers and symbols) There is NOT a qwerty keyboard
*Allows cute things like being able to attach individual pic's and ringtones to Contacts, groups etc
*Has a browser which functionally I'd call about normal (I don't use it) It has the usual home, history, favorites, etc functions.. display and keyboard would both be marginal for browsing
*Uses modern "folded internal" antenna.. I rank reception as average .. better than my old phone, as good as many of my acquantances, but not superior. Of course this will depend a LOT on your carrier and specific location (Tracfone doesn't own an antenna system but leases bandwidth from various carriers. Tf you are in a poor reception area with the phone constantly looking for a tower will drain the battery faster.)
*Sturdy lanyard attachment to guard against loss or theft (no lanyard included.. you might look at BLACK Detachable Neckstrap/Lanyard. For Cell 'Phones/MP3/USB Flash Drives etc. SOLD INDIVIDUALLY or Canon Metal Neck Strap 1 for All Elph Cameras, 34" Length or this retractable one Tool or Key Retractor w/Slip Ring, 48" Retractor - Kevlar Cord w/ Carabiner, Key-Bak (1 Each))
*Lighted Keyboard makes dialing, etc simple (the "Navigation/OK keys" are not lighted and have poor "touch"-see below)

Weak Points:
*The up/down/left/right/select ("Navigation/OK" keys) are ok, but lack "feel". Knowing you're hitting "OK" is difficult and leads to many "goofs" especially in the menus. This can be pretty annoying as the "OK" key is probably the single most important on the whole phone based on how the menus work.
*It is hard to open on a call.. there is no place to get your finger under the flip. Gloves are probably near impossible
*Does not have GPS built-in. This is a "nifty" feature, but not really that important to me.
*Security guarding is awkward.. in fact I'm not sure I understand it totally.. among things poorly documented. I will have to call Tech Spt to find out. I HOPE it allows ANSWER "locked" phone without security codes, but to USE or to MODIFY ENTRIES to the phone WOULD require the code.. I'll get back with the result when I find out. (Touchscreen functions like MAGIC doing security signon... just a wave of the finger.. not on this phone of course)
*Documentation leaves a lot to be desired. Total written documentation is a "quick start" guide, and a "service guide" mostly about buying and setting up time and minutes. Online support at tracfone.com does include a "Tutorial" for all phones including this one if you navigate through the site to get to it (under Service and may require an account to access it). Guided by "common sense" plus these helps, you can absorb what you need fairly easily, but for example the Security features (very important, IMO) are totally without documentation!
*The Tracfone "Hassle factor" when you DO have a problem.. luckily day-to-day usage is rather routine
*Allows PIN entries for two PIN's for use to buy or approve purchases online.. however until I learn about the security features, I'm very leary about putting anything of this sort into the phone.
*No external antenna connection if that's important to you

All-in-all, I'd say this is a decent, servicable phone for routine use. I'd recommend it for anyone who doesn't need a true browser phone and doesn't need touchscreen operation (in my mind touchscreen marks the boundary of the next "leap up" in functionality.. GPS is a distant second) I think it rates a solid 4-stars with caveats, but certainly not 5-stars.

Tracfone Service:
They are extremely slow-responding and even misleading about their products and features. I will illustrate by example. When my old C139 was dying and no longer would charge, I called Tracfone in advance and asked if I could order the LG420G and transfer my service, minutes and time from my old phone. They said "sure, no problem" so I ordered this phone direct from Tracfone. I received it a few days later and proceeded to move the service over.. it was fraught with issues.. wrong transfer info (wanted to short me by about 20% of my time, etc). Making a short story of it, after almost an hour of Tech Support time, several phones calls, MANY MANY email exchanges, several attempts at using their "MyAccount" Tracfone web interface, and about 2 calendar weeks including a few days of no phone service.. (one phone SIM disabled, the other still not given the minutes and service time) they finally got it straight and even credited me a couple extra months of service time. I am an easy-going guy and the phone is not critical to me, but many people would have exploded over this kind of incident. Admittedly this was the only real problem I had had over a 3 year period, it does show how dealing with them over problems works. My reading of issues with them on the internet confirms that this is not an atypical situation when problems occur. I am still dealing with them over total absence of documentation on their "security features" I find them acceptable only because of their very low cost of service and the lack of alternatives that are viable. You will have to judge for yourself if you could deal with this.

I cannot say that they are improving.. perhaps somewhat in "polite tech support", but not overall service. I base this on the fact that these Tracfone service issues have been true for a number of years and don't seem to be improving. This seems to just be facts of Tracfone service.

On a plus note, when you aren't facing a problem, they are routine.. that's good. Things like adding time and/or service time is very smooth and can be done on-line or via the phone.

I will say they were very polite on all calls.. although I was not aggitated either, so that may have helped.

There are many other nationwide "non-contract" services now available. I have no experience with them but based on what I read, they are neither better nor more effective nor cheaper than Tracfone.. So if you need limited, cheap cellphone service, pick your poison. I have read recently that these plans account for 25% of USA cellphones.. I was quite surprised by this. A web search for "no contract cell phones" or "pre-paid cell phones" will give you many possibilities. Good luck.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Free receipt of text messages on the Tracfone LG 420G Oct 31, 2010 By R. Lee
I love this phone. Besides all the other good things people say about it what I've noticed is it has the best graphics of any of the Tracfones I've had so far (my last was a W376G) with a 170X220 pixel screen. Durable, small, fast charging, and really really good battery life. Great reception but it does use the GSM (ATT) towers not the CDMA (Verizon) towers. If your friends with ATT phones can't get a good signal (like in small towns or way off the interstates) your reception probably won't be good either. If you need CDMA/Verizon coverage for your area the LG 220C is a really nice phone good for texting and limited web browsing but it doesn't have a camera. You can transfer wallpapers, small file size animated GIF files, and ringtones from your computer to the LG 420G using bluetooth but I haven't found any way to do it via hard wire data connection. Texting on this phone is easy and cheap, only .3 units to send an SMS text and 1.5 units to send/receive an MMS (picture or sound file). Receiving texts on the phone are free (unless they fixed the software glitch) but you'll have to follow the directions below:

Tip for receiving free text messages - When you receive a text message on your Tracfone LG 420G do not open the phone, instead hit the down volume button. The message will be visible on the external screen. Continue pushing the down button until it has opened all the pending messages and the time/date reappears on the external screen. Now you have opened all the pending messages, pulled them onto your phone, and it doesn't deduct the .3 units per message. After the time/date reappears on the external screen you can open the phone, go to messages and open them from there. Since they've already been pulled onto the phone and opened you won't get charged to reopen them. My phone was purchased around July 2010 so if yours doesn't work like this, giving you free messages, it means they must have found the software glitch and fixed it.

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