When Mom Central and MotherTalk offered to let me review the Kajeet pay-as-you-go cell phone for kids ages 8-14, I was extremely excited. My 13 year old daughter has been wanting a cell phone like all her friends but Mom is a grinch and always says "no". This review seemed like the perfect time to let her explore and find out what cell phones are about. I also figured it would give me a chance to consider getting her one in the near future.
As it turns out, I think I am the only one who reviewed Kajeet that thinks it isn't worth bothering with. Maybe it was just the phone we received (which was the LG-225) because those who received the Sanyo Katana seemed quite happy. All I know is that the phone we got is definitely not something I would have ever paid for. EVER.
I never like to write a negative review and I actually put off doing this review for days hoping to find more good than bad to say but in the end, I just couldn't.
So we were sent the LG-225 flip phone and from the beginning we realized that it wasn't a very good quality phone. The Speakerphone, Customizable contact list with picture ID, ringer ID, and up to five numbers (plus e-mail address) per contact features seem to be fine. The Camera that is also a feature is a whole other deal though.The camera takes some of the worst pictures I have ever seen on any camera. Every single picture we took came out fuzzy no matter what angle we took it from. Who wants fuzzy pictures? I know I don't like cell phones that take bad pictures and considering how much tweens and teens love taking pictures, why bother if the kids can't see them? It also says you can take up to 100 pictures with the camera yet we couldn't get past 24 so the math is a little off on that one.
This particular phone comes with NO games whatsoever. Yes, you can download a few free ones from the Kajeet site but that leads to my next problem with it...
The Kajeet service has a few great features but there was one HUGE turn off for me which was, before I could even activate the phone I had to give Kajeet my credit card number. I'm sorry but if I buy a pay-as-you-go phone then I definitely do not want to have to give out my credit card information! I understand that it's for the Configurator and Navigator features but still, no thank you. For that hassle I could just add my kids to my own cell phone plan and be done.
Kajeet also charges you a 35 cents per day or $10.50 per month fee whether you're using the phone or not. I'm not sure if this compares well with another phone or notWhat if I ground my daughter from the phone for a month? I'm not paying for what I'm not using when it comes to pay-as-you-go. That's the whole point- paying as I go not they go. Now if you go on vacation somewhere that it won't work they will suspend service for you but what about times like I stated above? Are they going to turn off the phone whenever I ask for whatever reason I ask? Probably not and it's not worth a $10.50 fee every month to me.
I commend Kajeet for the idea they have in place and for the Configurator and Navigator features they have set up. I think it's a concept that could end up working out quite well.
As for the LG-225 phone, it isn't worth the $69.99 they want for it in my opinion and I would never have paid for the phone or the service. We definitely won't be continuing with anything more than what we received to review when it comes to Kajeet.
I'm sorry to Mom Central and Kajeet both for not being able to give a positive review but I would have just been lying to be nice if I had. Thank you though for the opportunity to review this phone and see if it was a good fit for our family. I appreciate that.
*I have not been paid by Mom Central, Mother Talk, or Kajeet to give this review and my only compensation is being allowed to keep the Kajeet phone after writing my review*
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