can you charge cell phones with this radio?

Hi Tim,To be very candid with you, with a fair amount of effort (via the hand crank *probably about 4-5 mins worth) if your cell phone were pretty much dead, you would be able to achieve enough of a charge to at least make a short call (I'm using my Samsung Galaxy Note as a reference) but if you're thinking a few quick cranks of the handle will give you a 20-30% charge, it won't. If you worked the crank for a little while, and had some time on your hands while waiting for some food to cook at a bbq, or in an emergency situation where the lights were out, the Kaito would provide some power, more so if you crank it longer, of course you would want to make sure things like blu tooth, Wi-Fi, and gps were disabled to help charge quicker & also not immediately deplete the power once you turn it on, so the short answer to your question is Yes! I've done it, but remember - this isn't like buying one of those PowerGen External Battery Packs (which are really a great buy, if you plan on traveling for a while and keep one handy & charged should you be in a position of not having a plug available to charge your phone or ipad or what have you.As someone who has bought three of these Kaito KA600 units, I will say they are very nicely built (for the price) and the factyou can plug an aux input to the back & (for example) use your phone to plug in your mp3 collection or stream internet radioat a back yard bbq or picnic, or at the beach - was a key selling feature for me, & the RDS & weather alert & SW bands areall icing on the cake.Hope my admitably lengthy response answers your question fully.Cheers!`JT~

What is the difference between the KA600 priced @ $79.99 and the one at $99?

The more expensive one has more features. Read the descriptions to see the differences.

why doesn't the on/off power button work?

Two reasons may be your problem... You may have the button lock on, push the hold the snooze button until the key icon disappears or you may have to push the power button twice to turn on the radio. Hope this will help you. P.L.

Would this charge a cheap "Trac Phone" that uses phone cards for minutes do you think?

Do you have a cable that allows you to charge this phone from a USB port on your computer? That would be the easiest way to do it. When that is not available then check out the following.According to the Kaito manual:1. Move charge switch to 'out' position. --- On the back of the radio is a rubber cover which covers the input and output jacks. The upper left item is the 'charge switch'. Slide it to the right.2. Plug a USB cable into the 'charge out' jack. --- This assumes that you have a cable that will fit your Trac Phone that has a USB connector on the opposite end. 3. To charge your phone, turn the handle crank on your radio or if you have the external adapter, plug it in. --- (However if you use the external adapter you should disconnect your rechargeable batteries.) Nothing is mentioned about using the solar panel but I assume it should also work to charge something externally.4. The green, 'charge' light on the front of the radio should be on when successfully charging.5. When finished move the 'charge switch' back to the left to allow charging of the radio itselfThe disclaimer in the manual is that some cellphone models require a unique voltage and may not be able to be charged by this unit.Good luck I hope this helps.G

KaitoVoyager Pro KA600 Digital Solar/Dynamo AM/FM/LW/SW & NOAA Weather Emergency Radio with Alert & RDS, Black

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