Website design By BotEap.comThe Samsung r451c went on sale in mid-October and is currently available for Net10 and Straight Talk. I have been using it with Straight Talk service and I will give you a quick review of this phone.

Website design By BotEap.comThis phone was released shortly after the very similar T401g Net10 phone, and also includes a QWERTY keyboard. In addition to the keyboard, it has an mp3 player and a 1.3 megapixel camera, very similar to the T401g. However, the r451c does NOT include a camcorder.

Website design By BotEap.comThe slide-out QWERTY keyboard is a big selling point for many people considering this phone. This keyboard has four rows of keys, which are made of a soft rubber material.

Website design By BotEap.comI haven’t used this phone as much as I use the T401g, but on both phones I like the addition of the QWERTY keyboard. Especially if you text a lot, it will probably save you some time. However, as I mentioned in my review of the T401g, using QWERTY requires using two hands for texting. Of course, if you want to text with one hand, you can always keep the slider closed and use the normal T9 predictive text keyboard.

Website design By BotEap.comNow, I will give a description of the other buttons on the Samsung r451c. On the left side is the rocker switch to adjust the volume of the call. On some models, these same buttons can be used to change the ringtone volume when you’re NOT on a call, but that’s not the case here. In this model, there is a separate button to open the ringtone settings.

Website design By BotEap.comOn the right side is a dual-purpose shortcut key. It does nothing when the phone is locked. If the phone is unlocked, a single click of the button loads the camera function. Or, if you hold down the button, it will load the mp3 player.

Website design By BotEap.comFurther up on the right side is the connector that is used for the charger and USB cable. I think it might work with a Samsung brand stereo headset as well, but I haven’t personally tested it.

Website design By BotEap.comAt the top of the phone is a standard headphone jack. This is a fairly universal type of connector, but if you want to listen to music with stereo headphones, you’ll need to be careful to get the correct connector. Most music headsets use a 3.5mm jack, while phone headsets are typically 2.5mm. I was also able to use an adapter with my regular music headphones to listen to the mp3 player. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you’re getting the right size connector if you’re shopping for accessories for this phone.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother thing worth mentioning here is that under the battery cover is the microSD card slot. You can use these cards to store mp3 files and images, and to transfer files to and from your computer or other device.

Website design By BotEap.comNext, let’s take a look at the mp3 player. It’s almost identical to the player in the T401g, and both players are better than the Motorola EM326g. The sound is fine through the built-in speaker, which surprised me. Of course, if you’re listening for a long time, you’ll probably want to use headphones. And Bluetooth is also an option for listening to music, if you have a stereo bluetooth headset.

Website design By BotEap.comI know that the mp3 player is a big draw for a lot of people looking to upgrade their phone, so I wanted to talk a bit more about it. While the audio quality is good, this phone probably won’t replace your standalone iPod or mp3 player. Playlists are hard to use and I couldn’t get my songs to play in the order I wanted; they were played in alphabetical order according to the title of the song. Even songs from the same album are played alphabetically instead of in album order. Also, the player doesn’t remember where you left it when you close it. Therefore, there are some significant drawbacks to the music player feature.

Website design By BotEap.comFinally, a bit about the camera: it’s pretty standard. There are some editing features you can do on the phone, but there’s no digital zoom, so you’ll have to do it with photo editing software after you take the photo. The camera resolution is 1.3 megapixels, which is probably good enough to make small prints: 3 x 5 or 4 x 6, but certainly not bigger than that. So it’s a pretty basic camera for a modern cell phone.

Website design By BotEap.comThere is a quick overview of the Samsung r451c. All in all, it’s a pretty solid phone. In my tests, battery life and reception were very good, and the screen is large and bright. Call quality wasn’t as good as the EM326g or the LG 290c, but it’s still pretty good. And of course, the QWERTY keyboard makes texting a breeze. In general, I like it. I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Website design By BotEap.comIt currently sells for $80 and has recently appeared in some stores. It’s also now available on the Net10 website where you can get it for $72 using the discount codes I recommend, and the Straight Talk version is available on the Straight Talk site. Go to the linked page in the resource box to find more information on applicable discounts.

Website design By BotEap.comAlso on that page, you’ll find links to my full review of the r451c. I included a lot more detail in that review than I had time here, so definitely check it out if you’re interested in this phone.