Nice, simple phone May 1, 2011

Reviewer:  Kris Marker 

This cell phone is good for those wanting a simple, yet up-to-date model. You can make calls easily, store, modify and recall #s easily. The bluetooth connectivity is good. When you close the phone, the front displays the time and date, which I love, since I don't wear a watch. The numbers and characters are generally large enough. Changing settings isn't so easy, as the menus aren't really designed so well. However, the defaults are almost always ok, so it's not a big deal. One big exception is ring tone, which is a pain to set because of the cruddy menu design in that section. The ring choices are also pitiful. A smaller nit is the menu sequence to turn on the camera is pretty convoluted, however I think there might be a button to push to do it. With a bit of hunting, you can turn off the default silly T-Mobile sounds when turning on and off the unit. So, those are the basics, which is what I bought this cell phone for mostly. For those interested: The camera is adequate. You can take pics and movies. Uploading (say, to T-Mobile "My Album") is fairly simple. There are many "features", like calendar, timer, stopwatch, calculator, (unit) convertor, web access, email, GPS via maps. The more demanding apps highlight the limitations of the unit, but you wouldn't buy it for those kinds of things really.

Simple, usable and less expensive September 24, 2011

Reviewer:  Mark Mc  (OH USA) -

This phone replaces a Motorola Razr V3.

I bought this phone because smartphones along with their plans are simply too expensive. Frankly, I have enough ways of wasting money.

With this phone, unlike my old Razr, I can actually access the internet via WebToGo for browsing things such as gas prices, weather and Google maps (It has a Google maps app included). Be aware though, that at least in my case a $10.00 per month ($15.00 in some cases) 3G data plan was needed before these internet sites were realistically available. And also note the sites are drastically simplified versions of what you'd see on your laptop. Still, if I'm traveling in say, North Carolina and need gas, Google maps (using the phone's internal GPS) will tell me where I am and gasbuddy.com will alert me to the least expensive gas station. Another plus for me is being able to access a weather site in real time - along with an accompanying radar map.

A handy feature with this phone is call blocking. I have some company calling me several times a day only to be silent when I answer. With this phone, I am never interupted by a ringing phone with nobody on the other end. I do see a missed call when I open the phone, but that's no big deal.

As for general use the calls on my end are nice and clear, even when using speakerphone -- which I do a lot. Additionally, I was even able to pair up my old Jabra BT 125 headset for even more clarity. The handset has just about any feature a person could want, including an app for social networking (FB, T, MS - same data plan caveat as with web browsing applies) and a method for getting email. I like the calendar even though I can't sync it with my Outlook or Google calendars. The alarm clock is fine too. The included ringtones are generally, well, either youth or OF oriented, but I found one that wasn't quite as offensive as the others. The keys are large and well lit, even if the bottom row extends a little too far south for truly comfortable one-handed dialing/text insertion. The screen display is bright and sharp enough for my middle-aged eyes. The camera works and gives a pretty good rendering which you can then send in an email, to your online album at T-Mobile or to a cloud site like Photobucket (I don't know what fees doing this might entail). I didn't try the camcorder, but the same options are available.

I read a review where the writer disliked the shape of the phone's exterior, complaing that it was too squared off in one dimension. After years of getting the Razr in the wrong orientation due to identical front and back surfaces, I disagree. I can, using only tactile sense, tell front from back on this Samsung T259, and I can therefore have the right part of the flip-phone in the palm of my hand in order to open the phone the way it was designed to be.

I text very little, but I found getting to the ABC text insertion option pretty easy. Once you're in a text entering mode, you simply press the R (right-hand) soft key (horizontal bar under the screen) until you have the mode you need, be it numeric, ABC, predictive or special character.

Bottom line? I have a 1000 minute 2-line family plan with 3G data (200 MB) on one phone for just under 80 bucks a month. Adding data to the other line would be an additional 10 bucks per month. That's a LOT cheaper than unlimited voice/data on an Android device ($139), and at least my wife can use the Samsung flip phone.

Samsung T259 cell phone...good for paper weight August 9, 2011

Reviewer:  Mike 

I wanted just a very basic cell phone from T-mobile and so choose this model. Actually I originally choose the T249 which is not 3G and didn't work most of the time but that is another story. I have really not been happy with this phone. Whoever designed it must own a smart phone because some basic functionality isn't there. I attribute most of the issues to the phone as opposed to the T-mobile network as my previous Motorola PEBL worked great.

In a nutshell:

Pros:
Main display is fairly bright and the numbers are large font easy to read.
Menus are easy to navigate.

Cons:
-Battery life is poor. With moderate usage you get two days at three bars, 1/2 day at two bars and 30 min at one bar. It dies fast so talk quick.
-Battery has also been fading quickly. If I were to keep the phone it seems I would have to replace it soon (after owning it for about 6 months)
-Front display is useless. The clock only displays as an analog clock (you can't change it) and it only displays when you first flip the phone closed. You have to reopen the phone to turn it back on.
-When someone calls you the number slowly scrolls through the front display (it isn't big enough to display the whole number), by the time you can see enough of the number to figure out who it is it has gone to voice mail.
-After a few months the phone occasionally behaves strange. When you select someone to dial it pauses, says connecting and then goes back to the main screen. Even though reception is shown as great.
-Intermittent dropped outgoing audio. Callers on the other end will all of sudden no longer hear me although I can hear them.
-No way to sync contacts from a computer.
-I bought the Samsung HM1000 earpiece but had to abandon it as the volume was never loud enough with this phone. It was OK with the T249.

Piece of junk; do not buy it December 22, 2011

Reviewer:  Bett Sundermeyer  (Houston, TX United States) -

I had my last phone for almost 8 years so it was very old by cell phone standards, but it was still 1,000 times better than this Samsung. 1) The voice sound is horrible. It sounds like I am talking in a tin can. The same with the ring tones. It sounds like the music is coming out of a tin can. 2) Battery life is absurdly short. My 8 year old phone had much longer battery life. 3) Getting it set up to email photos to my email account was a nightmare. Again my 8 year old phone was a snap. I just programmed in the email address into my contacts and hit Send after I took a photo. Not so with the Samsung. I tried emailing photos for hours. After several weeks, it is still sending me error messages that the email did not go through. Can't figure out how to tell it to stop trying. 4) It has a speakerphone but it does not work well, so I end up holding the phone near my mouth which defeats the whole purpose of a speakerphone. 5) I lost many numbers when the T-Mobile employee transferred my contacts to this phone. I don't know if it was because of this phone (although I've seen others complain of this too; or if the employee didn't know what he was doing; 6) But, the thing that truly makes this phone a piece of JUNK and infuritates me is that when the battery is going dead, there is little or no notification. In the 2 1/2 months I've had this phone I cannot tell you how many important calls I've missed because the phone had gone dead but there was no notification sound. My 8 year old phone would beep loudly for quite a while when the battery was low. But, the 1 or 2 times I've heard the beep on this Samsung, it was so faint that unless I was within a few yards, I would not hear it. In addition, I have never heard it beep more than once, so if you missed that one beep, the phone goes dead and you won't know unless you just happen to check your phone. DON'T BUY THIS PHONE.

Samsung SMG T259 February 25, 2012

Reviewer:  Chris 

Some basic capabilities that were on my last 2 phones would make this one nicer. My last phone was a Motorola RAZR and was much easier to personalize, and had many more ways you could personalize it.

Here is a link to the owner's manual so you can see what you will be getting...

"[...]" (without the quotes).

It is a PDF. Just click where it says "SGH T259 User Manual.pdf".

Great phone February 19, 2012

Reviewer:  L. Steinfath 

I have had this phone for 7 months and I love it! The only thing wrong is once in a blue moon I have a call where the person on the other end can't hear me but I can hear them. Other than that I love the look, the ease of use etc. This is a great little phone.

Disappointing phone March 17, 2013

Reviewer:  heat20  (TX) -

I got this phone for my dad; he uses his only for calls and therefore all he needs is a simple phone with large keys he can easily see (his vision is on a decline due to his age). Anyway, he'd previously had this phone and really liked it, then he accidentally left it on the hood of his truck, drove off and the phone ended who knows where. He'd been winging it on an even more basic flip phone until I got him a new T259 as a belated Christmas gift. Well, sad to say that the phone worked fine for about a month, but now it drops calls a lot of the time and sometimes doesn't even ring. I've taken out the battery and reinserted it in hopes it'll take care of whatever glitch it has, but the problems have persisted. I wondered if I'd just gotten a defective device, but I've been doing some research and there seem to be a lot of similar complaints online about this phone. Who knows, maybe the first batches of this phone were better made, but it seems like it went from being a nice, well recommended basic phone to now being called full of glitches.

Most unreliable phone ever. One star is generous. February 27, 2013

Reviewer:  Cindy Westgard 

The phone turns off all by it's self several times per month with plenty of charge left on the battery. I miss so many phone calls, it is hardly worth having the phone.
There are many other annoying features too. The number for incoming calls slowly crawls across the screen, so it takes forever to see who is calling. Voice mails arrive up to a week after being left. I receive calls that don't show up in my recent call list for several hours. I'm sorry I ever switched to t-mobile. The t-moble answer to problems is to waste the customers time with silly suggestions that make no sense. I don't text, but they suggest that I have used-up all my memory on text that I don't have or save.

Don't buy this phone, and avoid T-Mobile.

not my old nokia - but a close second!!! :D December 28, 2012

Reviewer:  beastie 

i absolutely LOVE this phone!!! i'm a HUGE fan of flip phones - so much so that the day i'm unable to ever get another - i will no longer have a cell phone!! (i HATE the 'new'/touch screen phones...if i wanted to carry a computer in my purse i would! weren't phones supposed to be getting smaller and NOT BIGGER?!?! and there's something just SSSSO unsanitary about touch screen ANYTHING! yuk!!!) i digress...i really love this phone! my first flip phone was a nokia that lasted me six years! when it finally (sadly) died - i tried several other phones until i finally found this samsung. it's super easy to use - the sound is really good (my hearing kinda stinks anyway - wish it would be just a tiny bit louder as far as hearing someone on the other end - but all in all - great sound!) - the battery life is satisfactory in that you can have the phone on for a couple of days (without talking on it) before it needs a full charge...i've noticed for talk time it's roughly 2-3 hours with full charge. i LOVE that i can listen to music on this phone - THE BIGGEST SELLING FEATURE FOR ME! it's what i missed about my nokia and was so surprised at just how many phones DON'T offer a music option...i liked the nokia better in that it offered radio - but still happy with this samsung in that i can load up my own tunes and plug in my headphones and i'm good to go! i also love the variety of snap on cases for this model (just ordered a neon green one! super excited about it!!) i can't say enough good things about this phone!

i love this phone so much - that it's now the second time ordering it!! (i'd buy an extra one right now if i had the money!!!) the second one (you might be asking)? yes - the one i had for less than a year was STOLEN!!! :( so i hurried up and ordered a new samsung t259!!! ...what does that tell ya? (that people can be dirt bags? ...yessss...but also - I LOVE THIS PHONE!)

if you're looking for an easy to use - reliable phone - that's a wonderful FLIP PHONE - i highly recommend THIS ONE! :D

So-So June 3, 2012

Reviewer:  A.N 

I have had this phone for a couple months now. I am pretty happy with it. It is easy to upload things onto my computer with a cord when a micro-sd card is inserted, and I can also put music on it through the same process. My only real complaint is that the phone has the annoying habit of freezing, especially when you just turn on the phone, disconnect it from a computer and take a picture. After closing the phone and leaving for a few minutes it will usually revert back to normal.

Really a Half Star Rating September 15, 2012

Reviewer:  Glenn R. Urbanas  (Richmond Hill, New York USA) -

1/2 STAR RATING
I just upgraded from my first
cell phone -- the very basic
Samsung T139 -- though it has
a camera there is no mem card
slot to download photos -- so
I upgraded after learning that
279 family/friend photos would
be forever condemned to its
tiny screen -- I was assured
that the Samsung T259 had the
basic features I wanted -- namely
better camera resolution and a
mem card slot to enable copying
the photos to my PC -- thence
to be photoshopped & printed
as greeting cards -- BUT to my
disgust, for whatever
reason, the mem card refuses
to download until my PC gets
a driver to empower it -- Frantic
calls to T-Mobile support and
Samsung Technical resulted in
absolute confusion with contradictory
instructions from various persons --
Finally a Samsung Tech Super informed
me that there was NO driver required
for the T259 and that I must be
doing something wrong -- or else
I wasn't using the Samsung USB
cable (which I purchased from a
T-Mobile dealer) -- At this point
I'm ready to demand a refund on
the phone, its accessories, and out
of another 2-year TMB plan --

Limited capabilities August 12, 2012

Reviewer:  dptrack 

For the most part this was an okay phone, except for a couple major problems. It's a flip phone and the outer display would turn off after a short period of time. The only way to turn it back on is to open the phone. So the clock is mostly useless, but far worse is there is no way to "see" if you've missed a phone call or gotten a message without opening the phone. I talked with T mobile and Samsung and both said there was no way to get the outer display to stay lit. They said it's a basic phone and the display turns off to extend the battery's charge. I guess I can understand that, as the battery life wasn't very good even without the outer display staying lit.

I tried the bluetooth on a few calls and everyone asked about a decline in call quality compared to my old phone. The really bad issue using the bluetooth was calls with my brother constantly broke up so much that we couldn't understand each other and had to keep repeating ourselves.

So with bad battery life, bad bluetooth performance and an outer display that wouldn't stay lit I returned two Samsung T259s and went back to our old phones that still have good bluetooth capabilities, great battery life, and an outer display that stays lit all the time. Wish we could get a couple more of those old phones.

hiway robber pricing...i paid $75.00 UNLOCKED. May 30, 2012

Reviewer:  aconsumer "hmr"  (la, ca) -

EBAY has dealers for unlocked phones. (owner manuals on line). COSTCO HAS THEM FOR $60.00. BUT NOT UNLOCKED.. sAVE YOUR $$$$ DO SOME LEGWORK!!! YES ALL BRAND NEW TOO..

goes to voicemail August 26, 2011

Reviewer:  sue 

when someone calls, it goes straight to voicemayl, without ringing first. you have to turn off phone to get it to stop, then it still keeps doing it. my advice, don't buy this phone, the samsung T259 blue phone