Prepaid Carrier Straight Talk to add Prepaid Android Phone
by Joe Pawlikowski on August 23, 2011
Soon the question will be: which prepaid carriers
don’t offer an Android smartphone. We saw the bigger prepaid carriers, such as MetroPCS and Cricket, offer Android handsets in the second half of last year, and apparently it’s started a trend. Plenty of prepaid carriers have followed suit. Left in the dark, to this point, has been Tracfone and its two subsidiaries: Straight Talk and Net10. Straight Talk seemed the most primed for an Android, since it offers unlimited everything for $45 per month. Starting in September, that will become a reality. According to a report filed at BTIG Reserach, and reported by
FierceWireless, Straight Talk will get the Samsung Galaxy Precedent next month. And you can
pre-order it right now exclusively on the web. Yep, Straight Talk is already
taking pre-orders for the No-Contract Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Precedent
through their website. Add a
Straight Talk prepaid service plan and you’re ready to go. The handset itself is much like the Galaxy Prevail, which hit Boost Mobile earlier this year. That handset runs Froyo and features a 3.2-inch screen and an 800MHz processor. This would make sense for Straight Talk, since it could offer the handset at a price lower than other Android handsets, despite not offering a subsidy. As BTIG tells it, they will indeed charge $150 for the device, which is as reasonable for an unsubsidized handset as it gets.
About the Author
Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.
6 comments… read them below or add one
It makes me eager to want this Samsung galaxy more. Ive been eying on it from time to time now and I would definitely bring one next month with this kind of feature.
Stay Away from this phone!!!! It only works on the Sprint network. Trying to return mine after I couldn’t even get a signal. They are trying to sell this phone hiding the fact that it’s on Sprint because it’s worthless in most of the country.
Played with one, seems just like any other android phone. Runs android 2.2. Didnt have to much time with it. But i wouldnt mind it if i didnt already have a android phone
I’m pretty leery of ST’s TOS – they expressly state that “unlimited data” does not include “uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video or games” – that pretty much puts the kabosh on using it to view someone in a video chat, using Youtube, listening to Pandora radio, downloading games from the App market (goodbye Angrybirds), using your phone to do video blogging, etc. Other TOS seem to say you can’t use it to send your pics to Facebook, etc. Seems they want to sell you a device that’s crippled by their TOS. To quote their TOS:
Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation, the following: (i) continuous mobile to mobile or mobile to landline voice calls; (ii) automated text or picture messaging to another mobile device or e-mail address; (iii) uploading, downloading or streaming of audio or video programming or games; (iv) server devices or host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; or (v) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services and/or redirecting television signals for viewing on laptops is prohibited. A person engaged in prohibited uses may have his/her service terminated without notice or a refund.
My husband and I purchased these phones…WE LOVE THEM! They work wonderfully and they are easy to navigate. We have no problem uploading anything, downloading anything, surfing the web, importing..it’s all a breeze! Would recommend this phone in a heartbeat! Love, love, love this phone…get one! lol
I need purchase one