New Tracfone LG Classic Flip L125DL Quick Review

[rpz1]

What carrier did you activate it on? I need Verizon, for coverage in my area.

PP is only Verizon.

[naranja]

...The phone is unlocked for use with any Tracfone sister company but locked for use outside the Tracfone family of companies...

I know this is Tracfones general m.o. but have you (or anyone) tried a non-trac sim to see if it is locked for sure? Thanks

[RavensRebel]

In rereading my review, I was too hard on the speaker volume. I shouldn't have put it in the dislikes section. It is fine.

Forgot to mention:
External screen. I like and dislike it. I didn't think I would like the slit but it displays all the info I need to see with one caveat. When a call comes in it just shows a call symbol. You have to press the volume button for it to display caller ID info. Why?!! Why must I press a button to see who is calling? Wholly unnecessary extra step. I want to glance at my phone and immediately see who is calling. Not fumble around pressing some button. This is very nonSenior friendly. Less buttons they have to press the better.

Update: Found an irritant

Notifications: You have to manually clear each notification or it will remain on the screen. Why this is most irritating is because as long as there is a notification displayed, the external screen won't display any other status information like the time or battery level indicator. All you will see are notification icons if you have had activity. There is also the notification message that remains displayed on the inside screen as well.

Only way to get rid of these annoying persistent icons and messages is to manually clear the underlying notification. If you constantly get activity notifications, it gets old real quick having to go to the notification page to dismiss it each and every time.

Notifications should automatically be marked as "read" when the phone is opened and then removed from the main display screens when the phone is closed. The notification can remain on the notification page forever but at least it won't be in the way on the main screens. I don't need to be persistently notified I have a missed calls or text after I have opened my phone to view that information. I fear my elderly father will not remember how to access the notification menu nor how to clear the notifications. Which means his notification icons and messages are going to remain there in the way.

This is my first major gripe about this phone. I hope it can be addressed at some point in a software update.

[SnowyWhite]

I know this is Tracfones general m.o. but have you (or anyone) tried a non-trac sim to see if it is locked for sure? Thanks

My friend and cell phone Mentor bought the Tracfone Doro flip phone and he said that he put a real T-Mobile SIM card in it and the phone is apparently unlocked to use with real T-Mobile.

He hasn't said if he has tried to use any other service with the phone or not but I was really interested in the being able to use the Tracfone Doro flip phone with real T-Mobile.

It would be interesting to see if this flip phone was also unlocked for use on another carrier.

Sent from my Monstrous Moto e5

[jeffs555]

Does this use the tracfone smartphone refills where voice text and data have separate buckets, and you can buy extra texts? Or does it use the older basic refills where you only buy minutes, and text and data subtract from the minutes.

I use a tracfone android smartphone. Wife still has an old tracfone CDMA flip, so need to get a VOLTE phone and she still wants a flip.

[shad72]

[QUOTE=jeffs555;17135244]Does this use the tracfone smartphone refills where voice text and data have separate buckets, and you can buy extra texts?

Yes, three buckets. (since I only use it for calls, the old method would have been preferred)

[naranja]

...It would be interesting to see if this flip phone was also unlocked for use on another carrier...

I got mine today, definitely locked, I tried a Truphone and Freeup sim and they both showed as "invalid sim". This does look like an "LG Folder 2" https://www.gsmarena.com/lg_folder_2-10186.php and folks are selling unlock codes for it. For now, I'm going to just use it with a tracfone sim.

For $27 a very nice replacement for my old 3g glovebox phone.

[naranja]

...
Contacts. Doesn't automatically import contacts. I really like that feature on the myflip. You could connect to your Google Contacts and it would automatically import them. This one, I had to connect the phone to my computer so I could copy the contacts vcf file from another device. Once I had the vcf file on the LG, I imported it into my contacts no problem...

Could you (or anyone walk through how to do this or alternative ways of getting google contacts to the phone. I was able to connect phone to pc and transfer ringtones and a CSV file with contacts but cant seem to do anything with the csv. Thanks

[jettable]

My friend and cell phone Mentor bought <snip>

Pardon my curiosity/ignorance - what is a cell phone Mentor? Thanks.

[SnowyWhite]

Pardon my curiosity/ignorance - what is a cell phone Mentor? Thanks.

Someone with great knowledge of the world of cell phones.

He took me under his wing and taught me much about cell phones when I was very new to cell phones.

Now I am the 'go to' person for help and advice on cell phones to people in my life.

But I still seek his advice when I need it.

Sent from my Monstrous Moto e5

[rpz1]

Could you (or anyone walk through how to do this or alternative ways of getting google contacts to the phone. I was able to connect phone to pc and transfer ringtones and a CSV file with contacts but cant seem to do anything with the csv. Thanks

Where on the phone did you put the csv file? Should be in the "download" folder if there is one one that phone.
But on the MyFlip I think I had to put it on a microSD card in the phone then it would import to the onboard storage from there.

[naranja]

Yes I put it in the Download folder. Using File Manager> Open it says this type of file not supported.

[cv91913]

Yes I put it in the Download folder. Using File Manager> Open it says this type of file not supported.

A csv file is a comma separated values text file. You would need a program like MS Excel or Google Sheets on the phone to open it. You want to Export the contacts as a VCF (vCard) file from the device where they are stored. You can then Import that file on the new device. If you use the web interface to your Google Contacts, I think that Export defaults to a CSV file. Select vCard as the download. I think it says something about iOS but don't worry about that. All that assumes the Contacts app on the new device supports Import.

[naranja]

.....Select vCard as the download. I think it says something about iOS but don't worry about that...

Thanks, Worked like a charm! I had not tried because reference to IOS but this created VCF file. Did not know VCard = VCF. Cheers

[cv91913]

Thanks, Worked like a charm! I had not tried because reference to IOS but this created VCF file. Did not know VCard = VCF. Cheers

Glad to help.