 With AT&T's GoPhone service, you pay for just the minutes you use with no annual contract. |
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With the Pay As You Go option, you'll choose the rate plan that fits your needs and then start dialing. Your balance is lowered each time you make or receive a call or use services such as text messaging. You can then refill the minutes in your account via the Internet, using your phone (by calling 611 from your cell), or purchasing a pre-paid card in denominations up to $100.
With the Pick Your Plan option, you'll set up monthly, automatic payments with your credit/debit card or checking account. If you need to make more calls or you use up your balance during the month, just add minutes to your account at any time--you'll pay the same per-minute rate as your plan. You can buy more minutes in increments of $15 and $25 using your credit/debit card or checking account.
AT&T has also introduced a new $3 Unlimited calling plan, which charges you $3 per day for unlimited voice calls to anyone nationwide with no per-minute charges. The $3 per day fee is only charged on days when you make or receive a voice call, and the service does not require a deposit or long-term commitment.
Phone Features
The Samsung A177 messaging phone has a 2.2-inch LCD screen (220 x 176 pixels, 65K color depth), which sits atop a standard navigation pad that's complemented by send/end and soft navigation keys as well as a dedicated messaging key. The full QWERTY keyboard below the navigation area makes it easy to precisely type out email and text/instant messages while on the go, and it includes a dedicated camera key. The phone includes 64 MB of internal memory (approximately 50 MB user accessible), which cannot be expanded. The phonebook can store up to 500 contacts with support for multiple numbers per entry as well as photo/ringer ID and caller groups.
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You'll be able to stay in close contact with friends and family via both text (SMS) and picture (MMS) messaging, and this phone provides access to popular instant messaging services (including AIM, Yahoo!, and Windows Live) for fast, on-the-go conversations. Additionally, this phone also includes support for accessing personal email from POP3 and IMAP4 accounts. This handset includes built-in T9 predictive text entry technology, which makes it easier to enter words and text.
Other features include:
Vital Statistics
The Samsung A177 weighs 3.09 ounces and measures 4.29 x 2.32 x 0.47 inches. Its 800 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 5 hours of talk time, and up to 240 hours of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.
Samsung Magnet a257 Phone, Orange (AT&T)
(6)
Average Customer Review: 
based on 12 reviews
Mistaken by some for a BlackBerry
July 17, 2009
Reviewer: Turtles All The Way Down™ (New York, NY) -
First and foremost--What I love most about this phone is its chicness. Many have actually mistook it for a Blackberry--Pretty impressive for a gophone, don't ya think?
I enjoy this phone a lot. It is great to have a full QWERTY keyboard, even if the keys are a bit small. At first i hated the keys, but i've grown to love them. They just take some getting used to.
A couple of let downs:
1)it isnt compatible with any mp3 or other ringtones that are actual music
2)you cant send and receive pictures or sound through the bluetooth application.
3)no video recorder
4)it's not always off when you think it is
Other than that... it is an amazing phone. The battery life is impressive--I accidentally left the phone on for three days but the battery still had one bar left! Most of my old phones i had to charge everyday because I text so much. But with this phone i text more and it will last me 3 days or more. Its great. I've dropped it a few times and it doesnt show any signs of it. The camera has a lot of neat effects to use and it can help make an awesome background. the rubber backing gives the phone a good grip
A very good phone over all and i would definitely recommend it, especially if you text a lot
One other thing, the phone was $99 and as with any gophone, you get a $15 card, with this I also got a $25 card for free. So the phone was really only $74
Very Nice.
Fabulous phone!
June 24, 2009
Reviewer: Pastry Chef "Cupcake Wh*re" (California) -
I picked up this phone after dealing with a stupid Pantech Duo for toooooo long! I hated my old phone & after reading numerous positive reviews on this phone, I went to the store & bought it. This phone is so easy to use. I'm already an AT&T customer so all I had to do was slide my SIM card in & I was set!
Great price for a great phone!!!!
love it
July 30, 2009
Reviewer:
this is an awesume phone i love that it has the full keyboard because i text almost all day but the keys are very small and i had to trim my figure nails to text but it was fine after i did that the camera is very good im very proud with this phone
5 Stars? It should be 10 Stars!
November 28, 2009
Reviewer: Carolyn318 "Carolyn" (Alabama USA) -
I love this phone. I've been wanting a pay as you go cell phone with a mini typewriter/computer keyboard type keypad. It makes texting easier and faster. You don't have to press the number 2 key 3 times to make the letter C or the number 7 key 4 times to make the letter S. This phone has a loud earpiece/speaker. The part where you put your ear is also the speaker when you put it on speaker phone. It may look little but it's plenty loud enough. When I have mine on speaker I put the volume down to 5 and it's still loud enough for me. When I have it where I have to put it up to my ear, I keep the volume at 7. The 7 has nothing to do with the phone and everything to do with my hearing. Those are the volume levels I keep it at. You can adjust it and find the volume levels that work best for you. The ringer is also loud. I keep the ringer on mine set high as it'll go--7. With the ringer volume set at 7 I can hear this phone ring in another room. Now about the signal strength on this phone. I have 3 Motorola pay as you go phones, 2 use A T & T and the other uses Boost. They all 3 have crappy signals. I thought it might be Boost with the Boost phone but the 2 that use A T & T are almost as, if not as bad as the Boost phone when it comes to poor signal. Then I got this phone and I realized what the problem was: Motorola sucks. It's not Boost or A T & T, it's Motorola. I have yet to find a place where this phone has a crappy signal. Maybe I should try the mall. My Motorolas never would get enough signal to work in the mall. I even bought a signal booster for one of my Motorolas. Didn't help enough to count. I'd see other people walking around in the mall talking on their cell phones. I'd wonder how they did it. Now I know: They had good cell phones. This Samsung is a good cell phone. It must be part Timex. I've dropped mine a couple times since I bought it. If those 2 drops hurt it, I can't tell it. To me, it's still working as good as before I dropped it the first time. I'm gonna end this review with a rcommendation. If you want a good pay as you go phone or a good cell phone with a contract and monthly bill, then I highly recommend this phone.
5 stars is not enough.
fantastic deal
August 16, 2009
Reviewer: David A. Henderson
Amazon is the best. The samsung phone I purchased for my son has been better then advertised. My son rarely uses his phones to call and the first day he put his old sim card in from his other Go Phone and it gave him a $50 credit for upgrading his phone, didn't even use the $15 that came with the phone.
also texting most of the day the battery virtually lasted all day and never did completely die on him. after 8 hours of use it was only down 2 bars and it shows 5 on a full charge.
Great basic texting phone
November 5, 2009
Reviewer: David Tannenbaum (Chicago, IL) -
I'm very happy with the phone. It's slim, light, and attractive. A great phone if all you want to do is make calls and text.
Excellent for the price
March 10, 2010
Reviewer: Gregory A. Henry "atlantagreg" (Atlanta) -
This phone is sold via Amazon off-and-on using the AT&T service, but can also be found in local stores like Best Buy and Target (usually at a higher price, and usually only with a $30 airtime credit though).
For the price ($80 or less), it's a solid phone with a decent screen. TINY buttons, but I tend to "peck" with one finger as I text, so they were easy enough to get used to. The screen is medium resolution - certainly not an HD quality screen, but not cheap and grainy like on some other prepaid phones. Reception is decent on the AT&T network, and so far I've not lost a call, getting 2+ bars even indoors. The ear speaker does sound slightly "muffled" as though someone on the other end is talking through a thin cloth, but they're still understandable, and those taking to me say I'm coming in clearly. The camera is standard low-res VGA ( 640 x 480 pixels ) - good enough for emails, not good enough for prints. Battery life is decent-to-good.
One gripe is that there is no hole in the case where you can flip a wrist strap through, and being plastic, it's slightly slippery. I would suggest ordering a silicone or rubberized hard case to make it easier to grip. Another gripe would be AT&T's pricing plans for the gophones: Standard pay-as-you-go is 25-cents a minute plus 20-cents per text - EXPENSIVE when there are 10-cent services out there. Other plans charge $1 or $3 a day every day you use your phone which can add up, and the all you can use talk/text plan is $60 a month and does not include web use, so you'll pay the same as a contract phone to get unlimited talk. Still, you won't be under a contract and can switch phones as you like, so in that regard this may be the phone to use. Recommended so long as you're not comparing it to a $200 smart phone.
Great smart phone
December 23, 2009
Reviewer: A. H. Bonneau
This phone works great, the cam is decent and the bult in imsave my life n.n the batter is very decent and i have ywt a complante a bout the phone
Wish keyboard was a little bigger.
August 2, 2009
Reviewer: Denise M. Tannler (Pennsylvania) -
I like the phone. I seem to get good reception, except at my house. My only complaint would be that the keys are small. Old age is setting in and I sometimes need my glasses to see what I'm doing!
Do not buy this phone for email
October 10, 2009
Reviewer: David Evans "digimonk" (Adelaide, SA Australia) -
I bought this phone (as a business traveler) to send and receive email. It is not fit for this purpose - only links up with non-gmail webmail accounts and then it's a flaky java application with no saved settings. AT&T service in San Francisco is also flaky.