Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy PrecedentNo-Contract Android Phone on Unlimited Data PlanWith 3G/WiFi, Touchscreen, 2MP camera, Music, and GPS
Questions such as . . . Would you get access to all the cool apps? Could you make the most of the 3G and WiFi capability? What about the touchscreen, 2 MP camera, and music player. Would the GPS navigation really work? We'll get to all that, but one of the best things about getting an Android phone on this plan is . . . the plan. Unlimited Minutes Messages Data$45 per month Straight Talk PlanThe Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent requires the $45 monthly plan which includes unlimited voice minutes, messages and data. While you may have hoped to use it with the $30 plan, the reality is that if you like using apps, surfing the web and keeping up with Facebook, then the $30 plan probably wouldn’t have been enough for you anyway.Still $45 per month for a plan which includes unlimited data is a really good deal because unlimited data isn’t even currently available from any AT&T or Verizon contract plan. Straight Talk was able to provide this by arranging . . . Coverage on the Sprint Network
To find out the coverage area for actually using the phone, you get a better idea by checking the coverage on Sprint's site. There you can see both the voice and 3G data coverage down to the street level. You might want to check out the locations where you'll be spending most of your time, such as your home, work or school. Android Apps and GamesYou’re getting this phone so you can run Android apps and Games so you may want to know what you can install. The Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent arrives with version 2.2 of the Android operating system installed. I’ve found that you can install most of the apps and games available.Install top AppsNielsen published a list of the top 20 Android apps based on user-research. I took a look and saw that about a third of those were pre-installed on this phone, and I was able to find and install the rest. All of them installed fine on this Straight Talk Android phone. Only the Barcode Scanner app (# x on the Nielsen list) didn’t seem to work properly on this phone – I couldn't get it to recognize any bar codes - I’m not sure why. I was able to install a QR-code reader however that works fine. Everything else from the Kindle to Pandora to the Weather Channel worked.. . . and GamesMany of the most popular Android apps are, of course, actually games. There are tons of games to choose from. I installed the standard Angry Birds and Angry Birds Rio games just to see that everything was working fine. After finding the apps, it took just a few moments before I was catapulting those birds at the pigs.After a fine round of runnings apps or games you might want to take a break and . . . One CaveatNote apps do crash and games do freeze from time to time. When that's about the happen, the phone tends to vibrate a couple of times before the app goes down. Not to worry, you can just restart it. If that's a big issue with you, you may want to try the LG Optimus Q.Listen to MusicThe music player on the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent almost gets lost amongst all the other great features, but it’s there. You can listen to your favorite songs on the built-in music player. You can organize your favorites by artists, albums, songs and playlists. These songs are stored on the SD card.If you want to listen to music online instead, you can download separate music apps such as the (free) Pandora app or the (paid) Napster app. Watch YouTube VideosThe YouTube app is pre-installed on the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent and allows you to watch YouTube videos. Videos play pretty smoothly though if the signal is weak, they can take a while to get to the point where they play nicely. It's even better if you have access to a WiFi network.Record and Upload to VideoNot only can you watch videos, but you can also upload the videos you take directly to YouTube using the YouTube app on the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent. This is not your only option, however. There are other apps you can download that let you do this as well such as SocialCam.These Android apps are optimally designed for sharing, so you may want to be careful about what you upload. Once it's on the internet, you can’t really get it back. Of course, you don’t have to just take videos, you can take photographs with the . . . Two Megapixel Camera
I tried the camera out recently taking the kids to a couple of festivals. The first was the National Book Festival in Washington DC. One of the exhibits there was a recreation of the Magic School Bus. While holding a book festival bag and a dog on the leash on one hand, I managed to take some pretty good pics with the phone on my other hand. The second was the fall festival at a local wildlife refuge. Someone from a raptor rescue group brought along a red-tailed hawk. Location InfoIf you enable location-gathering in your settings, you’ll also store where the photo was taken down to the street level. For example, I took the picture below on a family visit to a farm in Virginia:
The phone captured the location as "Snowden Rd, Virginia". Once you take your pics, you can share them. Share on FacebookThe Facebook (Android) app works well on the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent. In fact, if you haven’t tried it yet, you may find that you prefer checking out Facebook on your phone rather than on the computer. It feels less cluttered and more immediate when you see the updates coming on your phone.Upload Photos Directly to FBThere’s a camera icon at the top left of the home screen. When you touch that you can upload photos from your gallery and take a new one with the camera for immediate upload.Of course you’re not limited to FB. Many of the other popular sites also have Android apps that you can install if you want to or just access the sites themselves. Full HTML BrowserThe full HTML web browser allows you to check out pretty much any site on the internet. There is a default homepage that’s pretty much the same across all Straight Talk/Tracfone/Net10 handsets, but you can reset the default home page in your settings to whatever URL you want or even leave it blank.Gravity Sensor/AccelerometerThe browser uses the gravity sensor to orient the screen no matter which way you’re holding the phone. You can use a pinching or spreading action with your fingers to zoom in and out on the page so you can even read pages that are not laid out well for mobile browsers.But no FlashThe only drawback seems to be that you can’t view Flash animation. There is an Android Flash app by Adobe, but it is only compatible with a small number of phones, and this is not one of them. I tried downloading a third party flash viewer that came up first in the search results in the Android Marketplace, but it was a piece of junk.Practically, this means kids can't play the Flash games on sites like PBS Kids or see sites that use Flash-based video players. UpdateEven Adobe has announced they're abandoning Flash for Mobile devices.Email and GmailThe email and Gmail apps work very well. It’s easy to get started. You just need your email and password for popular services like Yahoo! Mail. You can install other email accounts including your work email on your Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent as long as you know the incoming and outgoing server settings. You can schedule how often to check email. Both these apps are hooked into the notification system, and give a small beep when there’s new email available. Don’t worry, you can turn this off if you want.GPS and Location based ServicesThe Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent has a GPS receiver which enables location-based services and apps. This lets you do lots of cool things. For example, as mentioned above, you can store when and where your pictures were taken.Google MapsThe Google maps application can map and give you directions, and now with the phone’s location feature, it knows your starting point. But wait, there’s more. You don’t just get directions, you also get navigation.GPS NavigationOnce you get a set of directions, you can click on “Navigate” on your Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent to get spoken turn-by-turn directions just like a normal GPS. This feature is presented as “beta” so there might be a few glitches, so you do need to be on the alert for that. However, I haven’t had any problems with it so far. This feature works really well with the Google Places app. The navigation voice sound very computer-generated, but hey, it gets you there.I especially like the integration with the voice search. So you can say the name of the place you want to go to. The search will bring up the location and then you can navigate to it. This is actually an advantage over my clunky old car GPS. Google PlacesUsing Google Places on your Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent lets you locate nearby restaurants, coffee shops and other local places of business, and once you find them, you can use the GPS navigation feature to get spoken directions there. While this is useful in your cars, it’s really useful if you’re walking around in the city in broad daylight, because you don’t have to worry about trying to ready the screen in the bright sun.Although, I guess it will mark you as an out-of-towner. DisadvantagesSo as you can tell, the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent is really a great phone, but are there any disadvantages?No Physical QWERTY Keyboard.The virtual QWERTY keyboard works great, but if you’re a heavy texter, you might prefer a phone with a physical keyboard. In that case, if you still want to use make use of Straight Talk’s unlimited plan which includes unlimited data, you should consider one of the LG Optimus Q or one of the Nokia smartphones they offer. The Nokia phones also run apps, but they're from the Nokia OVI app store.Sell your SoulJust kidding. Actually, to take full advantage of all the features of the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Precedent, you need to create a Google account. This does probably mean sharing some info with Google, though I suppose you can create a separate account just for this phone if you want. If you're fanatical about sharing you might want to think it over. Otherwise . . .Manual and TutorialQuick ReferenceThe phone itself comes with a quick reference guide. However there's more extensive info available online:ManualYou can download the Samsung Galaxy Precedent Manual (pdf) here. This is a fairly complete manual and should come in handy.Online Interactive TutorialsThere's also an online tutorials that show you how to perform many of the common tasks on this phone.Get One?If you’re interested in getting an Android smart phone but want to avoid expensive monthly plans, then the Android Powered Samsung Galaxy PrecedentGot One?Already got one? Great, tell us about it!Your Samsung Galaxy Precedent Reviews and QuestionsShare your opinions and questions about this phone! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
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