The new phone, Samsung r355c, is now available with Straight Talk and Net10's Phones. For Net10's lineup, the novelty is that this model is first to be on CDMA network technology as well as being the first full, slab-style, QWERTY keypad cell phone. Unlike the previous texting models R451C and T401G, this model reminds a lot of the ever-popular Blackberry or other smartphones. However, that is exactly where similarity ends.
The primary feature of this phone is easy texting capability. Thanks to full QWERTY keypad and the shape and spacing of the keys, user will be able to text really quickly. If you consider phone's shape, which is slightly tapered, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, you will realize that it is easy to handle the phone with one hand. If you want to text with two hands, which enables you to text even faster, you can do it easily thanks to few things. Nicely rounded corners, slim and glossy design on one side and the sides of the phone and the keyboard made of slightly more "rubbery" plastic on the other side, prevents slipping and helps in handling the phone more easily and typing faster. Its lightweight, weighing just 3.6 ounces, helps a lot with handling it with easiness.
If we take a look at display capabilities of Samsung r355c, comparing to some other models as LG 290c, r355c has a lower screen resolution of 176 by 144 pixels. However, that does not affect that much what you see. And that is a beautiful full color screen measuring 4.42" x 2.4" x.50", sufficiently bright, that will work just fine in direct sunlight as would any other phone with a glossy screen.
What is the strong side of Samsung r355c is the reception and signal strength. These capabilities have been very impressive comparing to Samsung r451c and Finesse or LG 290c and 220c, whose performance is very good. The voice quality is good but call volume loses a little clarity at the highest volume settings.
The R355C comes with a 1.3 megapixel standalone camera, full MP3 player that together with expandable SD card slot with up to 16 GB capacity and Bluetooth allows you to store plenty of songs. In addition, it does not require any special adapter or headphones to listen to music. The novelty to Net10 is the alternative to connect to your car via Bluetooth and being able to listen to the callers instead of looking at the screen, which makes your family and you safer while driving. Standard features include reduced texting rates, call forwarding, call waiting, caller id and voicemail.
Battery life lasts up to 6 hours of talk time and up to 200 hours or 8 days of stand by. However, if you are using MP3 player, it discharges the battery rather quickly. And when browsing is in question, the r355c does not have a full HTML browser but WAP only.
If you text a lot, want a large screen and enjoy the Blackberry like design rather than sliders, this is the right choice for you. Do not forget that this phone comes with affordable prepaid plans with which you cannot go wrong.
