This is the fourth post in my series of Motorola EM326g review articles for this blog. If this is the first time you’ve read about this phone on my blog, I strongly suggest you start here:
Motorola EM326g
You might also want to click here to visit Net10.com to check out the specs on this phone.
Now, here’s the EM326g review part 4:
Extra Features
As I mentioned in the initial installment of this review, the Motorola EM326g is packed with features. I even forgot to mention a few on that first segment – the phone has a “lantern” mode that will turn the screen completely white to provide light when necessary, and there is also a voice recorder. Any recordings can then also be transferred to a computer by USB or bluetooth.
Mp3 Player
Motorola EM326g mp3 player
The biggest special feature is definitely the mp3 player, since this is the first TracFone/Net10 phone to include a music player. The player can play back music from a variety of file types (but not wma), and the music files can be saved either to the phones internal memory (just 8mb) or a memory card installed in the expansion memory slot next to the battery.
The expansion slot supports up to micro SD cards of up to 2 GB, which is room for plenty of mp3s – over 200 songs of very high quality music, or even more songs at a medium quality bit rate. And if you run out of room you can always get another micro SD card or two – if you really hunt for deals you should be able to find a card of this size for under $8.
The music output can be either to the phone’s built-in speaker or through the standard stereo headphone jack. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality on the built-in speaker, but then again I had pretty low expectations.
With headphones, my experience was that the quality was sub-par when I used extremely cheap headphones. The sound was tinny and distorted, muting the lows and amplifying the highs, it seemed. And, the Motorola EM326g mp3 player doesn’t include an equalizer to allow the user to change the sound settings. This was acceptable to me for spoken-word recordings like podcasts, but unacceptable for music playback.
However, when I plugged in a higher-quality set of ear buds, the quality improved significantly. I would say that the nicer buds provided sound quality on par with that of FM radio.
I typically go through 3-4 sets of headphones in a year, so I generally buy cheap ones. I listen to a lot of podcasts and audio books on my mp3 player, and ball games on AM radio, so sound quality isn’t all that important. I do have a nicer set for my music listening, though. Even my “expensive” headphones cost only maybe $25, so I’m no audiophile.
My point here is that with moderately-priced headphones, you’ll get decent sound quality. I’m not the type of guy to spend $100 or more on Bose or Sennheiser headphones, but I’ve heard that people who do have headphones of that quality were pleased with the sound produced by the EM326g. With cheap headphones, I think you’ll be disappointed with how your music sounds.
Other features
As we’ve seen with all previous Trac/Net10 models, the EM326g web browser is once again limited to the internal mobile website shared by these two companies. You won’t be able to access your email or any other sites outside of Trac/Net10’s “mobile web” of headlines, sports scores, weather, and ringtone downloads. Perhaps the best feature of the browser, which I mentioned in a previous post, is that it can be locked to prevent accidental starting of the browser.
Another area where the Motorola EM326g is a significant upgrade over previous models is the games available. The phone includes three games – Need for Speed: Carbon; Sims DJ; and Sudoku. The first two games are more advanced than any I’ve played before on a Trac/Net10 handset. And while I haven’t yet tried, my previous experience with Java-enabled phones like the EM326g indicate that we should be able to download other Java games and install them on the phone. When I get around to that, I’ll post about it too.
The other features of the phone – calendar, calculator, alarm clock, lantern – are adequate. The calendar at times seems a little confusing to me, but perhaps that’s because I’m not familiar with Motorola’s menu organization. The calendar and alarm functions operate similarly to those of the Motorola w-series, so if you have one of those phones you’ll feel right at home with the organizational tools on the EM326g.
There are over 25 ringtones included with the phone, and you can also add your own. I haven’t yet purchased any from Net10, because I was able to find so many for free. In my experience, this is a first from Net10 or TracFone – I was able to use a website with free downloadable mp3 ringtones and set them as ringtones on the Motorola EM326g.
I went to mobiles24.com, where there are tens of thousands of free mp3 tones available. I searched for tones of my choice, listened to a few different versions, and downloaded the best one to my computer. I then was able to send the ringtone file to the EM326g and set it as my ringtone. In the past I was content to use the ringers that came installed on the phone, but this process was so quick and easy that I’ve become a fan of custom ringtones.
That concludes the “meat” of my review. I’ll post again soon with my overall conclusion, and tie up some lose ends and respond to a few reader questions. When I publish that post, I’ll also post a link to it from my Motorola EM326g Review Index Page.
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I’ve not yet activated my phone, nor have I received the 2Gb memory card I ordered.
I did try pluging in a USB cable to see if I could access the photo I took (stored on internal memory). When I plugged in the USB, the computer recognized a new connection that shows up as “Removable Disk.” When I double click or right click & try to Explore, I get
H:\ is not accessable
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error
When I right click & select properties, it shows 0 bytes. So I’m assuming I’ll only be able to access the data on the external memory that is added to the phone.
Alan and Stephanie – There is a setting in the menu that will change between USB modem and USB disk. When I got my phone, I think the default setting was “USB modem” which, as far as I can tell, is completely useless because the phone won’t function as a modem. Change that setting to USB Disk, and try again. If that doesn’t solve the problem then perhaps you are correct about needing a memory card installed for the USB connection to work.
The setting is in menu>settings>USB.
bpuhx2 & Stephanie,
I got my 2Gb memory card, inserted it into the phone, changed to USB Disk as indicated above, formatted the memory, and it works just fine. I connected he USB cable to my computer a was able to see a folder labeled mobile. Open that & you’ll see folders for Java, Melody, & Picture.
From Melody you can add you MP3 music, ring tone (which I mentioned in a separate post as having lower volumes than the built-in ring tone.)
From Picture you can download photos you’ve taken & I assume upload photos to view on the phone or use as backgrounds.
Best,
–Ala
I had the exact same problem as Alan and was wondering if you know how to fix it. I wonder if you got your phone a lot earlier, and they’ve since disabled the feature. If so, should I still be able to access the memory of an SD card, or will I need a card reader, since the computer absolutely will not open the drive connected to my phone?
By the way, I tried installing newer drivers, and all that did was install the phone as a modem. At that point, it started recognizing it as a CD drive, so I disabled that. On the Safely Remove Hardware list, it does show up as a USB/generic volume/storage device. I just wonder why we can’t access it? I don’t want to buy a mini SD card if I’m not going to be able to use it for anything.
Please let us know if you have any ideas.
I just got this phone today, and am having problems. I can transfer pics just fine between the phone and computer, i have an sd and usb. However, everytime i try and transfer a song to the phone it is never succesful. I am using Itunes un-protected AAC format songs and don’t understand why it is not working. When i go to the mp3 part of the phone i do not find an option to switch to the memory card where i stored the songs. well i stored them on the melody section of the phone when i plugged it in, but nothing… any advice?
Hmm, I’m not sure I can help. I don’t recall having a similar problem when I set up my phone. I thought that I stored it in melody, but I could be wrong. I’ll try to take a look at it later (don’t have the phone with me at the moment) and figure it out, but I’m not sure.
Justin, I think the problem is that you are using the AAC format. This phone is an MP3 player — not an AAC player. They are separate audio file formats. Try transferring an MP3 file and it should work.
I just got mine today, and I’m getting a message that says “Please insert a disk into drive E:.”
Maybe if I get a SD card like Alan suggested…
You could try going to the Properties of the E:/ drive, and disabling the disk drive storage option. You might have to download drivers for it to recognize the phone as anything other than a disk drive… Ideally, you want it to recognize it as a mass storage device so you can drag-and-drop files. If you want to try to update your drivers, turn the phone OFF, plug it into your computer, and it should search for drivers from there. If not, I’m not sure what to tell you. If that does work, let the drivers finish downloading, unplug, turn your phone back on, and plug it up again. It should recognize it correctly now. If not, check the properties and make sure it’s still not trying to use it as a disk drive. It should show USB device, generic volume, mass storage, or even just Motorola em326g.
Got my SD card today, it works.
I might try your suggestion some time later Steph. Thanks for the input.
Very interesting and informative review.
Your assessment of the mp3 player and FM radio was quite incisive.
It’s been my experience that the quality of earphones (and speakers) make a big difference, as you’ve observed, too.
Thanks!
Anyone know is this phone id compatible with Ford’s handsfree feature called “Sync”
I don’t know what features are included with “Sync,” but users of the w376g have reported success connecting to a wide variety of vehicle nav systems. I believe that the w326g should be equally compatible, if not more so.
You said the this phone would probably be out later in the year for Tracfone users? Does this motorola allow to choice you ringtone for your text messages as does the motorola 376?
I can’t say for sure, but I would be surprised if there isn’t some kind of mp3 phone for TracFone by the Holiday season. I suspect if will be this model, but I don’t have any inside knowledge to confirm that.
I don’t know if you can set custom text message tones. I will have to check into it and get back to you.
Unfortunately you have to choose from one of five pre-loaded alert tones for incoming messages.
Does that mean that even if you have downloaded ringtone they wont let you use that for your text message tone
“As we’ve seen with all previous Trac/Net10 models, the EM326g web browser is once again limited to the internal mobile website shared by these two companies. You won’t be able to access your email or any other sites outside of Trac/Net10’s “mobile web” of headlines, sports scores, weather, and ringtone downloads.”
As I’ve written before, I’m able to search the whole web using my tracfone. The “go to url” feature on my w376g let’s me go anywhere. What’s everybody else’s experience? At first I had to call tracfone to enable the browser, but once that was done I could go to any web page. Is this a fluke?
stuntmanmike – If you are able to browse any website on your w376g, then your phone is the exception. And don’t be surprised if that changes someday, so enjoy it while you can.
I just found out that I might have ‘unrestricted’ web access on my Motorola w376g (odd, but cool). I tested it out by going to FaceBook, and I think I got in! [but i'm gonna test out a few other sites, to make sure i'm not dreaming...lol] But yeah, I believe I may have unrestricted web access as well!
I had a W370 that could browse to any site on the Web, so it does happen sometimes. But the phone was so slow and the screen so small that I never used it.
That’s pretty cool. I’ve heard of a few different people with unrestricted phones, but they are definitely the exception rather than the rule. And I haven’t been able to figure out what the difference is. I suspect it’s somewhere in the parameters, but even then I don’t know what to do to change those.
I got one of these phones 2 or 3 days ago, actually I returned the first one because of a non-functioning button. I have not yet activated the phone, but I have been trying out it’s functions.
This is the first slider phone I’ve used and I find the slight play between the top and bottom sections to be annoying. I guess it’s normal, as both the returned phone and the replacement have the same amount of play.
I have a few micro SD cards and micro SDHC cards and this phone only reads up to 2gig micro SD, it will not recognize the 4gig and larger SDHC. I would have wanted additional space for music storage, but, as it turns out, I probably won’t use the music player that much anyway (see below for the reason).
Once you have the card and go into the settings/USB menu and switch to USB drive, the SD card is recognized as an external removeable disk and it’s easy to transfer songs and pictures back and forth from computer to SD card. I was able to use mp3s and midis as ringtones once they were loaded on the card.
The picture quality of the camera is acceptable for emergency or casual use, but no substitute for a real camera for any important pictures.
I have not been able to get Motorola Phone Tools to recognize the phone in order to use MPT’s phonebook utility. I’m not sure if it’s because Net10 has the function locked out or because I don’t have the right driver for the phone.
As an MP3 player it’s good and it’s bad. The good is that the sound quality is very clean, low distortion and noise, but the bad is that player is very under powered. The result is that it cannot drive typical portable headphones well, the low bass notes are very weak. That’s why pbush reported it doesn’t work well with cheap headphones. I tried it out with my full size Sennheiser headphones and the bass was much better that way, but it could not quite put out the power to make them loud enough (I would not want to use those headphones while outside anyway). I added a portable headphone amp (yes, I am even more of an audio geek than a cell phone geek) and the music quality was very nice, the amp making up for weak output from the phone. [and higher input impedance of the amp compared to headphones means the bass isn't rolled off]. But I’m not enough of a geek to want to carry around a separate headphone amp when the whole idea of a music phone is not to have separate MP3 player and phone in one’s pocket.
Mosaic –
Thanks for your detailed review. It’s very informative, especially the part about the mp3 player, and I thank you for taking the time to write it.
I finally got the songs to work and found that if you use itunes to format the song to MP3 file, you can customise the song to play at a high bit-rate of around 275 and up and the sound quality is excellent for all songs, and i do have a very wide range on my phone from heavy metal, soft rock, vocal, comedy, and just about everything in between.
Has anyone had ANY success with AAC files? Motorola and Tracfone claim they are supported, but I’ve tried files encoded with iTunes & Nero with no luck.
Just a tip: the player won’t read the ID3 tags of MP3 files with huge album art embedded. Had to play around for a while to figure that one out…
Ian – the only reference I’ve heard to AAC tunes is from Justin, above your comment, and he ended up converting to mp3 format. That’s all I know about it.
I geeked out on this for about 5 hours:
MPEG-4 container formats are not supported. The phone supports raw AAC files only (AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, but not HE-AAC v2), which means no tags >:(
The upshot is iTunes Music Store files, or AAC files ripped by iTunes/Winamp/Nero Digital/etc., will not work. If it’s extension is .mp4, .MP4, .m4a, or .m4b, it’s not gonna play.
I’m guessing the AAC, AMR, & WAV support is meant for ringtones.
I bought this phone from the Net10 website and for the price I really can’t complain. I did have one question on the headphone jack. I am able to listen to mp3s with headphones, but when I hook it up to my car’s auxiliary port it will play on the phone but not thru my car stereo. I also have a small, AA battery speaker set by sony (srs-t33). The phone’s music will play thru the sony speakers when the speaker’s power is off, but when I turn the power on, the speakers play loud for less than a second before it stops and then the phone’s speaker turns back on. I’ve tried this with another external speaker set that has an auxiliary port (dewalt radio charger) with the same result. I tried it with one of those car charger ports that send the music to a FM radio station like 88.1 – 88.7, and it worked fine. I was hoping you could try yours with an external speaker set and let me know please, or if you already know why it doesn’t work that is cool too. Thanks and thanks for your help on the lg600g. It was the sim card just like you said.
Hi Bob
I don’t know the answer to this, but I suspect it might have something to do with the lower power output from the phone’s 3.5mm jack. I’ll try to test mine out tonight.
I tested out my EM326g by connecting it to the aux input on my stereo, and my findings were similar to Bob’s. When i connect to the aux input, the music keeps playing through the phone’s build-in speaker, as if there is nothing connected at all. I guess this must have to do with the fact that the phone can’t put out enough audio power to make the connection work. It’s not really my area of expertise, so that’s the best explanation I can offer.
Hmm this is very strange. I wouldn’t think output power would be significant since the car stereo or other auxiliary device can provide that. I am able to hook up my w376g to my stereo system (aux input to the stereo from the phone’s headphone jack) and I can listen to the phone’s FM radio thru my stereo just fine. Wonder why they prevented this from being done with this phone….
Why would it cut off the external part and switch to the internal speaker when you turned on the amplified speakers? I thought the whole point behind amplified speakers was to overcome an audio devices low output volume through it’s headphone jack.
Have you tried turning on the power to the speakers and then plugging in the phone? Maybe when they first come on they send a small electrical spike through the cable and that freaks out the phone.
The W375 has the option to switch the audio output back to the speaker when playing the FM Radio so you can use ear buds, head phones or even patch cord as an antenna and listen to the radio through the phones internal speaker to make it like a small transistor radio.
Hi Dallas –
Thanks for pointing out the bluetooth option for listening to music.
I’d also tried, as you suggested, turning on speakers first and then plugging in a phone – both while the music was playing, and by connecting the speakers first and then activating the music player. Neither one worked.
But now that you mention the bluetooth option, that might be a solution for some people. Maybe people that want to listen to their music in a vehicle can use the built-in bluetooth if their vehicle has it. And I’ve also seen small adapters that can connect to home stereo systems to receive audio over bluetooth, so that might work as well. I”m not sure if there are stand-alone portable speakers that can receive bluetooth, but I”m willing to bet there are. And of course there are bluetooth stereo headphones too.
Does this phone include T9 or another word recognition software for texting?
Hi Courtney
This phone has iTap predictive text input, which is what we’ve seen on all of the recent Motorolas for Net10 or TracFone.
You forgot to mention that the music can also be output through Bluetooth Stereo Speakers at least that is according to the owners manual I downloaded from NET10.
See? (this is from the owners manual)
“Note: Use the side volume keys to adjust the song
volume. When using a Bluetooth stereo device (headset,
car stereo, etc.), use the volume control keys on that
device to adjust the music volume.”
lose the wires and go wireless”
Your phone supports Bluetooth wireless connections
with audio devices, such as a handsfree headset or
music system.”
Hi pbushx2
Their are such a thing as stand alone Bluetooth Stereo Speakers because I have some, actually it’s one unit with 1 woofer (not a Sub Woofer just a woofer) speaker in the middle for BASS and 2 dynamic range speakers to the left and right of the woofer and it sounds pretty good for a mass consumer device, they are by Insignia and may be were sold at Best Buy for $80I would not pay that much for them because they don’t have 80 speaker sound quality. I got one on Ebay for $10 and with not power supply but luckily I had one from one of those Back and White portable TVs that is now useless since broadcast TV is now all digital so I no longer needed the wall wart for the TV.
I’ve never seen a Blutoothe device you can plug into a stereo or amplified speakers that have the 3.5 mm head phone jack because I wa at one time looking for something like that. Soething like this would be much better especially if it had RCA Out or even Coaxial or Optical Out.
I’ve seen other Bluetooth Stereo Speakers that were smaller and way to expensive at Alltel for 150 and they did not have very good BASS or Volume.
I have also seen Bluetooth Headphones, at Besybuy also made by Insignia and some made by Sony, I almost bought the Headphones but then decided to try Ebay for the speakers and lucked out.
That sounds like a great deal on the speaker. Do you happen to know the model name/number? I may keep an eye out for one myself.
speaking of eBay, a year or so ago I bought a bunch of bluetooth adapters on Clearance at Best Buy and then sold some on eBay and gave a couple away to friends. The one I found was the Motorola DC800, which had RCA audio output (and input, I think it could also act as a bluetooth transmitter). Search Amazon or eBay for Motorola DC800 for more info and pictures of those. I got them for $20 a piece; it looks like now they’re selling on eBay for $22-$25 plus shipping. I think that type of device would work to play music from the EM326g through a home stereo (provided the stereo had RCA input).
While were on the topic of speakers, this little device caught my eye while I was shopping at Office Depot recently:
http://www.amazon.com/GRANDMAX-SPKR-R1-BK-Tweakers-Portable-Speakers/dp/B001QJGYZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247778770&sr=8-1
At Office Depot they were $20 – I think that was regular price. I didn’t buy them, but I’m still tempted to go back and grab them for on-the-go listening where headphones won’t do the job properly. Just a few reviews on amazon, but those are all very favorable.
Insignia NS-BT400 MP3 Speaker with Bluetooth
Thanks for the links.
WOW that Motorola DC800 sounds like an awesome device. It does both transmit and receive so one could use it with portable Bluetooth Speakers to listen to music from their stereo system on the deck while cooking on the Grill or use it with Bluetooth headphones for wireless headphone listening to music a movie or TV. I wish I would have known about it before I got the Insignia NS-BT400s. It would be great for my LG WAVE and of course the EM326g.
Any Idea what that USB port on the back of the Motorola DC800 is for?
Excellent set of reviews. I just got one of the units and activitated it to my Net10 account. You mention that you downloaded an mp3 ringtown to you computer, then sent it to the phone to use. For those of us who are very non-technical, how did you do the second step? I have the ring tone on the computer already. Thanks
Don, I honestly don’t quite remember the specifics. I think I connected the phone by USB cable and did drag-and-drop from the computer to the phone.
On the bluetooth method, I think that the commands might vary between Bluetooth applications, but basically from the bluetooth manager on my computer I chose “send file” and then sent the ringtone to the phone through the bluetooth interface.
I was wondering if you know when or if the EM326g is going to come out for Tracfone?
I don’t know about the EM326g coming to Trac, but I’m really hoping that SOME new phone comes out before Christmas. It very well could be the 326g, but I don’t have any evidence to support that at this time.
Can the bluetooth computer connectivity allow the phone to be used as the headphone/microphone for Skype/Gizmo5 so it becomes my cordless home phone?
Don – I haven’t tried that personally, so I don’t know the answer. If you give it a try, please let us know!
I’m having trouble with my EM326g phone. It seems stupid but how do you change the calender and alarm clock times from AM to PM? Also when using the calender, it says that the alarm must be set to future time. What does that mean? Other than that, I love this phone.
kristi – I think that the default input mode on the calendar and alarm are Military time, so 3:00 p.m. would be 15:00. I don’t know if there’s a way to change that; I’ve just been using it as-is. That’s probably the root of the problem you are having with your calendar, too – if it’s 3:00 in the afternoon on the 7th, and you set the alarm for 11:00 a.m. on the 7th, it won’t work. The alarm has to be set for a time AFTER the current date/time.
i’ve had this phone for about a week or so and it’s great. i really like it. the only thing i haven’t figured out is if you can add personal ringtones to people on your contact list. is this phone able to do that?
thanks
auzorann – you can’t add tones specific to a single contact, but there are I think 15 “groups” that you can use to arrange your contacts. EAch group can have a separate ringtone. So if you add just one caller to a group, and set a separate tone for that group, then you’ve assigned a tone to a specific person.
Are you sure about this? All the Net 10 phones I’ve had allowed me to assign each individual contact their own ringtone separately even the Nokia 1100b which was a old fashioned black and white LCD display phone with non polyphonic ring tones and also the Motorola C139 candy bar style phone I once bought.
Dallas –
I’m NOT positive, but I’ve played with all the menus and couldn’t find a way to enter a ringtone for a specific contact.
pbushx2 wrote.
Dallas –
I’m NOT positive, but I’ve played with all the menus and couldn’t find a way to enter a ringtone for a specific contact.
This does not sound good, it does not sound good at all because I was hoping to get this phone someday because it has everything I want in a phone but if I can’t assign each of my contacts their own separate ringtone then it’s no good.
Are you familiar with or have you used the LG600g? I have that one and can assign each contact their own ringtone. I downloaded the manual for the EM326g and like the LG600g it’s pretty much useless and I could figure out how to operate the phone better by not reading the manual and the manual just makes it more confusing and it does not mention anything about editing a contact or assigning a ringtone to a contact just like the EM326g’s manual which only tells you how to add a contact or call a contact, nothing about customizing a contact so maybe there is a way to assign a ringtone to a contact but it’s just hidden in some obscure menu or function. If only I could actually play with a EM32g working display phone. Did you make sure to set the save location to Phone as opposed to SIM? On the LG600g you have very limited customizing options if you save to the SIM card and can only assign their name and 1 number.
Dallas – I’ll have to double check on where the contacts were saved to. I thought that I had changed the default to “phone” when I first got it, but I could be mistaken. I’ll have to look again. (Don’t have it with me at the moment).
How do you set the clock on this phone? It has somehow gotten an hour behind and I cannot figure out how to fix it.
Janice – does it have anything to do with switching time zones? I was recently visiting the far corner of my state that is very near the next time zone. I noticed that my phone auto-updated the time briefly to the next time zone, then corrected itself a little while later. Could this possibly describe your problem? Other than that, my suggestion is to turn your phone off then on again. Sometimes that clears up little glitches like this.
You can remove the airtime and days of service from your home screen by going to PREPAID menu then AIRTIME DISPLAY.
I too have a Net10 phone that has unrestricted internet access. I don’t think it has anything to do with the phone in my case, because every Net10 phone I’ve purchased and transferred my number too has been able to get unrestricted web access. It has to have something to do with the number given. I have had net10 since 2005 and have maintained the same number. I recently upgraded from the V171 to the W375 and gave my wife the old v171 phone and when she activated it with a new number it would no longer access the web outside Ne10. My new phone now goes anywhere on the web.
will moto em325 games work on this phone? If not has anyone found anywhere to get more games yet?
I haven’t tried any other games yet – anyone else?
Can anyone post how to assign a ringtone to a caller group once you have transferred it from a computer to the ‘Melodies’ folder of the phone? Thanks!
Jeff – Select the song from the music library. Select “apply as” > “ringtone.” From there you’ll have to assign it to one of your 5 mp3 tone slots.
After that, go to contacts, options, categories, caller group options, Ring Tone, and select the tone you’ve added.
I currently own and use the LG 600g and am considering upgrading to this phone. One feature that I absolutely LOVE about my LG is that you can turn off the phone after you set the alarm and it will turn on and sound the alarm at the time you set. Does this phone work this way as well?
Thanks,
Matt
Hello again,
Well, I just recently bought the phone so I can answer my own question. Yes, the alarm will turn on the phone and sound. Although, I would suggest testing it out a bit, it seems to be a little finicky the first time.
Now I have another question. Am I the only one who’s phone seems to have a more than normal amount of wiggle between the two pieces? The top slide, when closed, doesn’t sit very close to the bottom and I tap it down against the lower piece very easily. I don’t think my phone is going to fall apart. But, if no one else notices this issue I might just take it back and replace it.
Hi Matt
Sorry I didn’t get to your question in time to help you. But it is nice to know that it does that – I didn’t realize that was the case until I tested it after seeing your question. Regarding the “wiggle,” mine has a little play to it. I would say it’s about 1/16″ at the very top of the top slider. It’s pretty comparable to my T301g slider, so I’m not too worried about it.
Patrick
I actually took it back and got another one that didn’t have wiggle (up and down) when closed, but it has a little more than the other one did when open. With my first one if you held it vertically you could hear a “tap, tap” sound when you pushed down on the slider. SO! If anyone has this issue I suggest taking it back, it’s not a model defect.
I am curious as to which sd card to purchase for this phone? Could anyone post a link. Thanks a bunch.
ashtreyhead – any microSD card of 2gb is fine. You should be able to find one for under $10. Here’s a whole list of options, all about the same price.
http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=2GB+microSD&qxt=home&display=col
You will probably want to make sure they come with an adapter so that you can easily plug them into your computer to load up the card with files. Most DO come with a standard-size card adapter, and most current computers have a slot that accepts standard SD cards.
I just got my EM326G and haven’t activated it yet, but I was just playing around with some settings, and I was wondering if there is a way to set a certain ringtone to a specific contact?
(Like one friend would have a certain ringtone, and another would have a different ringtone?)
Hi Katie
I don’t think it’s possible to assign a tone to just one contact, but I think you can still accomplish what you want by doing what I described farther up this page:
http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/motorola-em326g-review-part-4/#comment-3787
Ok, thanks! I will give that a try.
(I think it may just be Motorola phones in general, because my dad has a Motorola as well, and he can’t assign a specific tone to a contact either. But all the other phones I’ve had were able to.)
Hello all,
I have read all about your report pbush. It’s really good, and I’m thinking about getting the phone. Before I do though, I want to ask a few questions I haven’t seen covered in here:
1.) Does the phone allow you to send and receive picture messages?
2.) Can you put your friends pictures in their contacts?
3.) Does it cost money/minutes to get the radio function?
4.) Can you put your own personal pictures that you’ve taken as a background?
5.) How and where can I find this phone without ordering it online?
Thanks in advance for your help.
MMH, I’ll do my best to answer your questions:
1. yes, you can send and receive MMS
2. yes, you can assign pictures to contacts. Make sure the contacts are saved to the phone, not the sim, if this is what you want to do.
3. the radio does NOT cost minutes, but you do need to have a headset plugged in since the wires on the headset double as the antenna for the radio.
4. Any pictures that are saved on the phone can be saved as your wallpaper. This includes pictures you’ve taken with your phone, those you’ve received as a text message, or even pics you’ve downloaded from your computer to your phone.
5. This phone is available in some stores – I’ve seen it recently in some, but not all, Target, KMart, and SEars stores. It’s occasionally on sale, but normal retail price is $60+tax. You can get it online for $52+tax, with free shipping and a free accessory kit. Here’s the link for how to do that:
http://pbush14.wordpress.com/reviews/motorola-em326g-review-index/motorola-em326g-best-price/
Thanks so much. This really helps.
One more thing though–can you transfer trac mins to net10 phones? Please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks
MMH – you can NOT transfer minutes from TracFone to Net10, or vice versa.
I just got this em326g as my old v176 failed. I really like to phone so far…Net 10 activated it and rolled over all my minutes and gave me my old phone number and it only took about 10 mins total.
How do you subscribe to the subscription services (news, weather, sports)? I read it only costs $4.99 per month.
I just got this phone Monday afternoon (the 26th) at my local Target store on sale for $49.99. I’m liking it so far but there are a few things I am disappointed with, like the alarm function but the alarm noise is real low and I’m thinking, “How can anyone wake up to that?” I cannot find an option there where you can adjust the volume and the ring volume is at it’s highest.
Now, on to the MAJOR issue. While I was at Target I picked up a 2 GB Micro SD card because I saw that was the max this phone can support. After putting the chip into the phone I wanted to plug it into my Windows XP (SP3) computer. I made sure it was set to “USB Disk” and that the card was formatted via the phone then I took my mini USB cable and plugged the small end into the phone and the other end into the computer. Then, all heck broke loose!
On the phone I see “Charging” followed briefly by “Memory card locked!” After a couple of seconds it says “Memory card unlocked!” but only a second later it goes back to “Memory card locked!” and “Charging” and it does this over and over over! When I unplug the USB cable from the phone it flashes “Memory card unlocked!”
While on the computer I hear the tone that indicates it’s plugged in and I see a blue M symbol for a brief second then it goes away and I hear the tone that indicates that it’s unplugged. This process again repeats itself endlessly. Once in a while I will get a bubble in the taskbar that says, “One of the USB devices has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.”
I have no idea what to do about this. Any help fixing this would be much appreciated.
Bob –
I’m not quite sure what to tell you about that, because I didn’t have that problem myself. A couple of ideas you might try:
1. try powering the phone off, then on again and try connecting again.
2. try connecting the phone to your computer while the phone is powered off.
3. if you have access to another computer, try connecting to that.
Hi all,
I got an EM326g from Net10. Is there any way to synchronize teh calendar and contacts from outlook? I tried Motorola Phone Tools and turns out it does not supports it.
Any ideas?
I don’t think you can syncronize to outlook – I think outlook just has more information associated with its calendar than the Motorola can handle. Even if the phone could process that info, I don’t know of a way to sync it up -I’ve honestly never tried.
I purchased this phone about 3 days ago and love it. I do have one question if anyone knows. On the Micro SD card there is a folder for JAVA. What if anything do I put in that folder. I would assume it is for java games, but I have tried putting .jad and .jar files into this folder and go to games folder in phone, only to not see the games show up. What am I doing wrong, or how do I have to install them? I have read a few things and have tried P2KMAN and MMidMan and interface with the phone to install items but the phone does not connect (no recognition). Any help would be appreciated.
Does the phone have a Other Files Folder when you use the phone it’s self to browse files? If so try going to that folder with the phones menu system and see if you can install the Apps there and then post a reply with the results because this is what I am looking for in another Net 10 Phone other then the LG600g.
I have the Samsung T401g and it does not seem to allow installing Java Based games or application by copying a JAR file to the phone via Bluetooth I don’t have a USB cable because Samsung still uses non standard cables but I doubt copying via a cable will make a difference.
Very glad to have found this site. It helped me decide to get a 326g for myself. Thanks for all your hard work.
I got mine at Best Buy. Retail was 49.95. With tax and a 2 year store warranty, the total was 63.
I went to net10.com to do the transfer from my old phone but it wouldn’t recognize the 2805 minutes i had; it said it would transfer only 1100. So i had to make the transfer by phone. Still that wasn’t a big deal.
I have installed a 2G micro sd card and formatted it. My pc sees it just fine.
Questions:
1. How can i transfer a contact list from my pc?
2. What’s a good headphone/mike combination to use? The earpiece i used with my v171 doesn’t fit.
3. Where can i find a cheap uab car charger?
1. You can try using the SIM card reader I recommended here:
http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/bonus-codes-updated-sim-card-reader-details/
2. You’ll need a headset with a 3.5mm connector. This is the same size as standard headsets from ipods/mp3 players/pocket radios or whatever. You might also be able to buy a 3.5>2.5 adapter online or at a radio shack or whatever.
3. Try bargaincell.com, which I posted about today.
http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/samsung-r451c-for-net10-samsung-accessories/
Does this phone allow to to copy JAR Java program files to it via USB or Bluetooth and run them like the LG600g?
If anyone has this phone and can confirm it will run JAR Java program files then please post a reply. Please don’t just assume it can because it support Java because the Samsung t401 supports Java but won’t run JAR Java files copied to it Via Bluetooth, I have not tried USB but I doubt that makes a difference because copying a file to it either way is the same, it’s still on the phone and won’t install if you select it and hit the OK or select buttons.
Thanks
Dallas
Dallas – I was able to use a .jar file to install a couple of progrmas to the EM326g, but I so far have NOT been able to make it work on the T401g. I DID try USB on the T401g and, as you suspected, it didn’t make a difference as compared to bluetooth.
ortizmro – stereo stuff is definitely not my strong suit, so I’m just going off what someone else said regarding the output power. I definitely could be wrong on the reasoning behind it. But whatever the reason, I was unable to play it through my home stereo’s aux input. I think the person who commented about the power thing posted under the name ‘mosaic,’ so maybe s/he’ll come back here with more info to help us out. But I’m kinda clueless about it!
I’m still here but I haven’t figured this one out completely. I did run into the same issue of the phone speaker continuing to play sometimes even when something is plugged in to the headset jack.
In the old days, electronics (like your old transistor radio) used the physical connection of a plug going in to the jack to cut off the internal speaker and send sound to a headphone instead. That is not what’s going on with this phone. This phone has to be sensing the electronic load on the output jack somehow. I don’t know if it’s looking at resistance or current or what exactly.
Hey Mosaic
Thanks again for the input. It definitely seems strange that the phone would differentiate between output devices based on the power necessary to run them. I wonder if other mp3 phones have similar issues? Maybe it’s something to do with conserving the battery…
I’m not sure on the USB port – maybe to connect to a PC for transmission? I seem to remember reading that it could work that way, but I don’t remember for sure now.
Mark – that is correct, at least as far as I could tell. You have to choose from the 4-5 text message alert tones they offer.