Motorola Tracfone W175 Review: Design, User Interface and Performance

Motorola Tracfone W175 Review: Design, User Interface and Performance
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Motorola Tracfone W175

The Motorola Tracfone W175 is a basic, compact and simple phone that provides long battery life at a low cost and basic call and text messaging functions. It is one of the cheapest phones available on the market and should be enough for people wanting a no-frills mobile phone.

Design (3 out of 5)

The Motorola Tracfone W175 is a small and lightweight device with dimensions of 4.45 inches in length, 1.65 inches in width and 0.55 inches in depth. It weighs just 2.96 ounces, and should fit well in most pockets. The device is made of plastic and is colored black. The Tracfone W175 may be light but it feels solid to touch, and durable enough to survive the usual bumps and bruises. The backlight comes in a nice blue background, and it has a vibrant and bright screen.

On the side of the phone is a headphone port, with a port for charging and data transfer placed on the lower part of the device. The phone makes use of an internal antenna.

Overall, the design of the Tracfone W175 is not the fanciest, but should be good enough for the not-so-demanding mobile user.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

With its simplistic design, the Motorola Tracfone W175 also has a very simple user interface. With its candybar style, the phone can be easily controlled and utilized by any mobile user. It has an LCD display with a less than advanced 128x128 pixel resolution. The phone can support 65,000 colors. The keypad is very easy to work on and comes with a rubber coating to protect it from the usual damages. The trademark shiny and round dial of Motorola is present on this phone which also comes with a menu button located in the central part of the dial. The simplistic wallpaper of the phone contributes to the energy efficient ways of this device, consuming less battery power than an animated backdrop.

Performance (4 out of 5)

Although lacking in eye popping features, expect the Motorola W175 to provide reliable performance day in, day out. For instance, it has a very long battery life. The talk time can last from 6 to 7 hours, creditable enough compared with the battery life of other mobile phone handsets. In terms of standby time, the battery life is a lot longer - up to 18 days, a lot better than the normal standby time of 10 days of most simple mobile handsets.

The phone also features the advanced noise reduction technology and volume enhancement functions of Motorola, which simply means enhancing the audio quality by blocking out ambient noise during voice calls. This technology, called Crystal Talk, is very useful for those who often find themselves in very busy areas like coffee shops and malls, as it filters out the ambient noise and adjusts the volume depending on the surrounding noise.

Features (3 out of 5)

Given the cheap price of this handset, users should not expect a lot of features from the Motorola W175. However the device still has a good array of simple functions that should be enough for calling, text messaging and basic entertainment purposes.

The phone comes with basic text messaging, multimedia messaging or MMS and voice calling features like voice mail, caller ID and call waiting. Users who prefer to text their friends and family members will love the inexpensive charges that this phone has.

The phone has a contact list that can store about 500 entries, similar to the capacity of other high end phones available today, and higher than those of other basic phones allowing only 250 entries. The ring styles are very basic, with about 35 ring tone styles to choose from, although it comes with a vibrating alert option that ensures users will not miss a call.

The Motorola Tracfone also comes with a speaker phone function that is not usable whenever the user is in a car, since a separate wired and hands-free accessory is needed for this function. In activating the hands free, simply turn on the speaker during the call by pushing the Select Key where the words SPKR ON are indicated.

The phone has a basic FM radio that compensates for the lack of music transfer and music playback capabilities. It also has other practical features like an alarm clock, calendar, calculator, and stop watch functions.

Verdict (3 out of 5)

Overall, the Motorola W175 is a no-frills phone that may be short on multimedia features and very plain-looking but makes up for it in terms of performance. The phone has the basic necessities that one requires from a phone - good call quality, basic text and multimedia messaging, and long battery life. This may not be the most advanced of mobile phones, but the W175 is worth every penny.

For the newest Motorola phone, you may consider reading the Motorola Backflip Review and The Best Motorola Flip Phones. Also, you may want to add fun to your mobile phone by downloading these five amazing free games for Motorola phones.