TracFone Samsung Galaxy J3 Sky 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone with Free $30 Airtime Bundle

I wanted to wait awhile before reviewing this phone. This is my first smartphone so I wasnt really sure what I was getting into or if I'd even like it. I recently got a tablet that uses 4G and loved that but it was bulky and frankly I thought it was time I took the plunge and upgraded my tiny cheap Tracfone with its joke of an internet connection. My tablet is Samsung and I really liked that so I wanted to stick with the same brand in a phone but not pay too much since I wasnt sure if I'd use it that much. When I saw this J3 Sky with the 16 megs of storage and 4G capability and nice quality screen plus a free Tracfone card for around $100 bucks, I jumped on it. It was very easy to learn because I was already used to the tablet. A few differences since this Android version was newer but not anything I couldnt figure out. This phone is speedy in its responsiveness whether on my home wi-fi or on 4G. Sound quality on calls was good. Nothing stellar but then again most cell phones arent that great no matter the price. Having the 16 gigs of storage was wonderful and then I bought a 32 gig card to expand it and was able to add tons of music and photos and even tv shows. I have to say the resolution on this phone is some of the best Ive seen. Certainly rivals my friends' phones that cost many hundreds of dollars more. I did initially want larger than the 5.0 inch screen this phone has but that meant a different manufacturer and much more money so I settled for this. There's a few things on the internet that are hard to see but you can always zoom in. Most web pages are very clear on that size screen, especially if you use the website's app instead of a browser to view the pages. I havent really checked out the front and back facing cameras too much. The phone has a flash which helps but most inside pix tend to be grainy regardless. You're much better outside with lots of ambient light. If you have that, the pix look as good as any lower end point and shoot camera. This phone has really impressed me with so many features and its speed and storage capabilities. I think I made a really good buying decision.

First, let's talk about the phone. Basically, it's a Galaxy S6 that has been re-purposed. Meaning that when Samsung moved on to the S7 it had warehouses full of S6's that were turned into prepaid phones. It runs on Marshmallow and overall it's a great phone. It has memory limitations and after a few basic apps it is overloaded, but if you only have the basics you should be fine.On to the description: It's wrong. The description is "J3 Sky 4G LTE..." The Sky, which I got, and the J3 are two different phones. The Sky is a watered down version of the S6. The J3 was the better version and the one I thought I ordered. However, needing a phone for work and waiting two weeks for it to arrive because I didn't have Prime even though I clicked on the "two-day delivery" option didn't leave me with any options to correct the issue. I sent a correction to the retailer and heard a thank you, then nothing. Also, the "120 minute" card was not included.However, unlike other reviewers on other products, my review is not based on my experience, but the product performance and misleading description. The lack of the card and the memory deficiency is what cost this review a star.

This is a pretty fast phone and very nice for the price, sure it isn't $400 and up nice, but for the price this is a winner. The screen has a outdoors setting that really does brighten it so you can see it in the sun, which is nice to have. If I could add one thing to this phone, it would be a led lit home button that flashes when you get a text or miss a call. As for battery life, you have two options from the drag down notification bar at the top, power saving mode on, which stops apps from updating and extends the battery life considerably, or power saving off which will consume your battery the way kids toys go through dollar store batteries. The notification bar drag down menu also has wi-fi on/off and data on/off, when I'm not using the phone for anything internet related I turn data off, but I'm cheap like that.TracFone has an app that lets you view how much data/talk/text and end of service date as well as other options, I recommend downloading it and setting up a TracFone account to buy any extra data through. TracFone data cards in stores aren't easy to find and cost more than they should, but through the app you can get 1 gig of data for ten dollars, which is the best deal I can find. In my area this phone uses Verizon towers, I can't say this is nationwide, but where I'm at Verizon has the best coverage, so for me this is a definite plus.

I purchased this phone for my daughter, as Tracfone plans are cheap (can get them for $12 a month) BUT I will admit Tracfone is horrible when there is a problem. This phone has proved useful for my teen. It has a ton of storage space. She has over 800 photos on her phone already and a ton of videos and still has room without an extra memory card (it comes with 16GB already). The only problem I've discovered with this phone (as we have two currently in the household) is that it will not always switch over to wi-fi and will suck down your data. You have to manually check to make sure it switches over to local wi-fi so you don't use up all your minutes. I HATE this, because my daughter has accidentally used her data limits up mid-month and has to wait before they will replenish. She can use her phone and text, but can't go online to use social media or internet if she's not at home or within wi-fi reach. So if you get this, check and see if this part is working properly. We've had two Samsungs that did this (two different models).