Customer Reviews

Audiovox 8915 Snapper Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

For anyone considering the purchase of this (or another) Virgin Mobile phone, do not be influenced by the identical negative reviews posted for several Virgin Mobile phones by someone calling himself "lookout guy." I cannot comment on the month to month plans, having only been a pay-as-you-go by-the-minute guy since I got my Virgin Mobile phone over two years ago. I can tell you that lookout guy is totally WRONG in terms of any "hidden fee" in terms of the by-the-minute service offered by Virgin Mobile. There is NO $1.50/day fee; if there was, no one would choose this option because it would end up costing more than a monthly plan. (Duh.) I can confirm that you only pay for the minutes you use. If you don't use your phone for days (even weeks) at a time, you pay nothing. The ONLY charge for having access to a Virgin Mobile phone on the by-the-minute plan is the minimum top-up charge (supposedly $20 every three months but after you become a customer you can get it down to $15 every three months if you choose auto top-up with a credit card). So if you NEVER use your phone, that's what it costs. Of course, you would simply end up accruing money in your account to be debited when you do finally use your phone. As long as you use your phone minimally (for emergencies and for very brief, occasional conversations only), you'll pay only $5-$6.66/month. I oughta know -- my balance keeps growing and growing because I rarely use my phone; if I were being charged a $1.50/day "access charge" I would know it.

Only you can decide if a pay-as-you-go plan such as this is suitable for you, but here's the quick math: if you know you will use your phone at least five minutes per day almost every day, then this plan isn't for you as it would cost you $37.50/month for only 150 minutes of use based on 25 cents/minute. If, like me, you are likely to have many days where you don't use the phone at all and other days where you use only a few minutes (with rare days that you use over 10 minutes), then this plan will be a bargain. (I used to be a Sprint PCS customer and ended up paying, on average, $1/minute for my calls because of my minimal phone use -- in other words, over four times as much as my Virgin Mobile minutes cost at their highest rate.)

Edit on 5/12/06:

Now on to this phone, which I just purchased earlier this week: I definitely like this upgrade to my K7 Rave phone. The color screen is nice and the entire phone looks sharp. Swapping phones was easy, though I didn't get the text message from Virgin indicating that my new phone was active as the customer service rep indicated. Instead I just tried the phone out after a few hours and discovered that it had, in fact, been activated.

Reception seems pretty much the same as my other Virgin Mobile phone (good but not excellent).

I'm enjoying the Virgin Mobile X-Tras and have downloaded a few files for wallpapers/screensavers as well as some ringtones from my favorite Comedy Central shows. These downloads aren't cheap (10 cents per day just to access Virgin X-Tras and then typically $2-$3 per item downloaded), but I had so much money built up in my account that I figured I could splurge for a little while.

I just got the Audiovox 8915 Snapper phone after reading the reviews here and I was NOT disappointed. It's a great phone with many nice features. Coverage is number one for me, I live in south NJ and I got 5 bars in most places. I only get 1 bar or less at home but I live off of a main road. I still get consistant digital coverage and it never goes into search mode because it's lost the signal for a second like Nextel would! Nextel's signal was never consistant and would keep changing! The sound is crystal clear and when using the speaker it sounds terrific. The Battery life is very good! 3 days after charging the battery I have 2 bars still left on the battery indicator. I made calls, downloaded and took pictures. I used to have cell phones where I had to recharge every single day even though they were new batteries. The Audiovox 8915's battery is indeed long lasting.

The camera it's pretty decent. No it's not going to take stellar pics but for what it is it's ok. I bought this camera phone because I know it will come in handy for emergencies and to simply take pictures of my gorgeous baby niece. You CAN Zoom with the camera which is not a feature widely advertised in reviews online or even on the virgin mobile site itself. The Zoom does not work in 640x480 setting but zooms up to 2x in the 320x240 setting and up to 4x in the 160x120 setting. You have your choice of 3 resolutions to change the picture size, 160x120 the smallest picture size (perfect for wallpaper), 320x240 medium picture size (perfect for websites or email) and the large picture size VGA 640x480. Other welcome options allow you to change the brightness and contrast. You can add special effects like b&w & sepia plus you can frame your pic with special fun graphics. *A tip* for picture taking is do NOT use the 640x480 size if you want your pictures to be clear and sharp. The large size will make your pictures grainy and blurry. Instead use the medium size 320x240 which gave me pretty good looking pictures! I noticed the difference right away when I switched. Also the camera has a flash! sadly it's not strong at all so be sure there is enough light if you are inside. I took inside pictures just fine with light coming from a bright lamp etc.

The LCD screen is bright and you can adjust the brightness/contrast. It's a nice looking screen. The only disappointing thing about this phone is it's lack of a TFT screen instead they have a STN screen. This means the screen is rather dull instead of being bright and beautiful. It's still a nice looking screen but because it's a camera phone you won't get a beautiful screen to look at your pics. A minor annoyance but not a huge deal. If you are a stickler for a large TFT screen I suggest you look at the more expensive slider sonic camera phone.

The sound when you play ringtones or get an incoming call are loud. Ringtones sound terrific on this phone because of the great speaker on it. The speaker is located on the TOP of the phone instead of on the back of the phone so you can hear your phone ringing very clearly. No tiny sounding ringtones here!

Other features on the phone include a world clock, Alarm setting with 3 different alarms instead of the usual one alarm so you don't have to keep resetting the one alarm. Very convienant! You also get a caculator and a calender scheduler. I found using the phone so far to be easy and not complicated at all.

About the VM service,
I chose the month2month plan because I am a heavy minutes user. Virgin Mobile's month2month as opposed to day2day and minute2minute is sort of like Sprint's (the network it runs on) "Fair and flexible plan" for it's prepaid users. Either way they are good plans for each individual user according to your different needs.

*EDIT* (2-1-06) I wanted to add to my review below because I have some
some very important info on new plans & features that are coming to Virgin Mobile that are pretty cool. Here they are:

3 monthly plans available for text messaging ranging from .04 cents per message to .01!!

More subscription based texting services offering more news, weather, sports, etc. Including Messaging groups where you can join a large group of people interested in a particular topic and can text message to the group.

Picture messaging will be functional with all major carriers and there will be a new lower price.

As of 2-1-06 Virgin Mobile has made changes to their website. My Virgin Mobile account info is more detailed also The Inner Circle feature has already begun. "The Inner Circle" which allows you to add up to 3 phone numbers from ANY carrier and you can make UNLIMITED night & weekend calls to them. You can only change numbers a few times within a month and after that it will cost $3 to change numbers. If you subscribe to The Inner circle plan you will be charged .70 per day INSTEAD of the .35 daily charge whether you call one of your friends that day or not. You MUST sign up for this plan by April 30th 2006 the VM website says because the plan will be gone after that!

Also month2month folks will want to know that it will get better and more competitive. As of 2-1-06 More minutes have been been added. Level 2's night & weekend minutes have been increased to an additional 850 minutes. Instead of having 500 N&W minutes you will get 1000 minutes which is double. Level 3's N&W have been increased to FREE night & weekends. Anytime day minutes remain the same.

Dialing *86 (*VM) from your phone is now FREE to check your balance and get info. It used to take up your regular airtime minutes but no more! Not sure why it's not mentioned on their website or booklets but Dialing 611 from your cell phone was always free and you can also use it to get balance plus more info.

Just a heads up to future and current Virgin Mobile customers.

Anyway back to the review! I recommend the Audiovox 8915 Snapper phone to anyone considering Virgin Mobile service. Customer service has been excellent which really surprised me! Great phone, great coverage and a nifty camera!

I purchased this phone about a week ago. First let me say that I am not a new user of Virgin Mobile. I have had service with them for about 2 years now. They have the best customer service of ANY company that I have ever dealt with. I never have trouble understanding what they are saying, and you are always talking to another human in less than 2 minutes when you call for help.

Now a little more about the phone. This is my second phone, an upgrade from my old K7 Rave which still worked great but I wanted more advanced features. The Snapper delivered the features very well overall. Battery power is about what I expected. If you are actually calling people, playing games, browsing the net, etc. it will not last for 7 days. This is understandable. Reception is a little better than what I got with my K7 Rave, but the call quality is 100 times better! The camera is pretty good, its definitely not "high quality" even on the high setting but it does take fairly good pictures. The flash doesn't really help very much unless you are about 5 inches away from whatever you are taking a picture of. You can take about 70 pictures on the high quality, 130 on the medium quality and a whole bunch on low quality. Pictures are .25 cents to receive and .25 cents to send. VirginXL has quite a few features including downloadable games, ring tones, wallpaper, screen savers, Etc... However, they can be costly, especially the games which are about 6 bucks each. You can also browse the web on the phone. I have not tried that however so I can't comment on how well it works.

The Good:
- Fantastic Customer Service
- Fairly good camera.
- Good battery life for the average user.
- Lots of downloadable stuff on VirginXL.
- Vibrate and Ring mode (K7 Rave did not have that, it was either ring or vibrate, not both at the same time)
- Great call quality / reception.

The Bad:
- The high gloss black paint gets fingerprints VERY easily (that may not be a big deal to some, but it annoys me)
- AOL Instant Messenger is unbelievably slow and can sometimes take upwards of 5 minutes to send one message
- While on AIM or VirginXL your phone line is in use and you can not receive any calls.
- MIDI files that you send to your phone can not be used as ringtones, they can only be played on the phone.
- If you don't have signal in a particular area SEARCHING... takes up the entire screen covering the clock. If you don't have signal, you can't tell what time it is.
- Call logs do not record how long each call was.

All in all, I think it was money well spent. While there are negatives with the phone, the good features make up for the bad. I recommend this phone.

Let me begin by stating that I have read all 13 reviews posted to date and was amazed that not one of them makes any mention of the actual functions of a "phone". I have had cellular service from Verizon and Cingular and to be totally honest, Virgin Mobile surpasses them by far. I actually still have my Verizon service and I held my Verizon phone and Virgin Mobile phones side by side to test reception from my house. Verizon gave me 2 bars of signal strength, Virgin Mobile 5 bars. (I live in the Southern New Jersey area) The clarity of the Audiovox 8915 is superb. Several people told me it sounded better than my land line phone. Kudos to Virgin Mobile (and Sprint PCS) for their dilligence is providing the best cellular service hands down. I have just brought this phone with me on a business trip to Farmington Hills, MI and the service there was also outstanding.

As for the phone itself. My complaints are minor.
1) Limited ring tone and graphics selections.
2) The outer display is dimly lit with small print making it difficult to see

On the plus side:
1) Outstanding voice clarity and reception
2) Very sleek design
3) Excellent camera phone

If you are looking for simply the best pay as you go plan, look no further than Virgin Mobile. You will NOT regret the decision.

i bought this phone after a long time of saving up to get it. when i finally got it, it was 100 bucks WELL spent. at the time i still had my motorola v171 and my moto razr ( im a cell phone fanatic) I set them up side by side and tested which one had the most bars. my v171 had 3, my razr surprisingly had 3, and my snapper phone had all bars. i was amazed!!!! later i went to my friends house to show him my new phone. since he lives in the base of the hills, my v171 had no bars. i usally dont bring my razr because im afraid when we play tackle football im gonna land on it and break it. i brought my v171 and my snapper phone. my v171 had no service, while my snapper phone had all its bars!! i have sold my v171 and my razr ( i got 500 bucks outta it)and my snapper is the only one i bring. now im gonna give u my pros and cons on the phone.

pros
-vivid color screen is amazing
-ringtones on the phone, and downloadable ones are awesome
-the look of the phone looks like it was hundreds of bucks
-games are surprisingly addicting
-the camera works better than the one on my razr
-as i told u in my story, the reception was spectacular
-online web browsing is very useful like when u are on the road and want to see nfl scores, or kids can wake up in the morning and check for school delays (i live in northeastern USA so thats very useful)
-the best prepaid phone out on shelves right now!!

cons
-i never use AIM, even though my friends are always on there, cause its VERY VERY SLOW

OTHER THAN THAT THIS PHONE RULES
if u dont wanna pay those disgusting monthly bills for phones that kinda suck, than THIS IS THE PHONE U MUST GET

And for parents looking for a cheap phone that their kids can enjoy, look no where else than the AUDIOVOX 8915 SNAPPER PREPAID PHONE FROM VIRGIN MOBILE!!!!!!!!!!

Thanx to those people who will take my advice and try this phone.
YOU WILL THANK ME!!!!!!!!!!=)

I have been using VM for about two years and I have not yet been dissapointed with there continous support and survice they offer.I read some of the other comments on the page and they need to get there facts right. The DEFFINENTLY DO NOT HAVE HIDEN FEES, that is so false. Also, someone also stated that you are charged to check how much your balance is,that is partly true, you only get charged if you check it more than once a day. And if you need to check it again you can always go on your online account and check it there. Also you can earn up to 75 free minutes a month, no strings attached. All you do is watch a 30 second comertial clip and answer a cupple of questions that take about 20 seconds and there you have it, you got your first minute. You can also do survais and recive clips through text messanges to earn your free minutes.
Anyway, I recently swiched my VM cellphone to an Audiovox 8915 Snapper and I love it. Everything has been working smoothley, the sound is cristal clear on my phone calls and the camera on the phone is relitivly clear for it being a camera phone. There is even a flash and a zoom unlike my privious cellphone had. But i do have to tell you, the derections on how to transver your phone number from one VM phone to another are difficult to follow on VMs home page. I had to call there 1-800 number and withen 2 min i was able to get a live adviser! I was very impressed. They walked me step by step on how to do it and i wasen't put on hold once. This cell phone is great and the survice you get while using it is fantastic!

I've had this phone for a little over a month and am pleased with it so far. It has most of the features of my previous phone, including voice command and Internet access, and two my previous phone didn't have, a speakerphone setting and a camera. The phone is attractive and feels nice in the hand, and my reception, even in my house, has been good (better, in fact, than it was with Sprint). It would be nice to have more choice in ringtones and screensavers (the ones Virgin provides are geared toward younger folks), but more are available for download on their website at a moderate cost. The Virgin pay-as-you-go rates are well-suited for me as an infrequent cell phone user. With Sprint I was paying nearly $[...] per month including several dollars in fees and taxes. This is fine for someone who's regularly using hundreds of minutes of airtime per month, but usually I used 10-50 minutes. The Minute-to-Minute plan is just right for me now, but I can temporarily switch to Day-to-Day or Month-to-Month if my usage goes up during any given month. All-in-all, so far I'm satisfied with both phone and company.

Update: I've had the phone for more than a year now, and still like it (and Virgin) very much. Recently I was changing my dog's water, and as I leaned over the full bowl, the phone dropped out of my shirt pocket and landed right in the water. I yanked it out quickly and opened it up to dry, and also opened the battery to make sure that compartment was okay. For a few minutes the Menu went a little wonky, but then the phone recovered nicely and is perfectly fine now. I'm pleased that it proved to be so tough under stress!

I recently purchased this phone to replace my Audiovox 8610, which after 2 years decided to spaz and die, and I must say that this was money well spent.

Pro's:

-This phone has AMAZING sound. It's much louder than my older one, not to mention sounds very clear via superphonic ringtones.

-The cameras resoultion is really nice, a lot clearer than I thought.

-The phone has a sleek look and font to accompany the screen, and very vivd color.

-Theres a different backlight color, a nice deep blue (I was starting to hate the green)

-Getting your account balance is easier than before, insted of sending you virgin alerts it will take you to a page that gives you your balance.

However, there are a few cons. Most people are aware this phone comes with AIM, which is a nifty little feature, albiet a little expensive (3.99 per month for 150 messages, .99 for 50 more) Although, it can be INCREDIBLY slow. And occasionally AIM will freeze, prompting you to restart the application.

The camera, while nice, doesn't work well in most average lit rooms, requiring use of the "flash", which happens to be nothing but a bright light on for 2 seconds, not an honest flash. Make sure your subjects are well lit before attempting pics.

Also, using the camera and other features eat up A LOT of battery power. After having it one day, I discovered that by the middle of the day, I was down to half power after having it fully charged in the morning. So unless your willing to charge it twice a day, keep usage of those features to a minimum.

Overall I think this phone is a step up from a lot of the other phones offered by Virgin Mobile, and it is worth the money.

WOW what a Cellphone, compared to other prepaid cellphones, I think this one is the best. My dad bought the Tracfone prepaid phone and found alot of problems with it, from not enough minutes to lousy air-time to the size of the phone. But this Prepaid Phone from Virgin Mobile is the opposite of all those things! First let me tell you that Im a first time user of this phone and I searched very carefully on many cell phone websites including Amazon to find the right phone for me to use, I don't talk alot but I did need a cell since Im outside alot and did not want any contracts either, I also wanted a camera phone. First of all, there is NO CONTRACT at all with this cell phone, second the minutes are great, here's how is works, you buy any "Top Up" Card of $20, $30 or so forth and enter the pin # on the cell phone and you can instantly talk on the cell phone! No problems there, I actually like to use my debit card and just have them take out 20 dollars for 150 minutes of talk time. You can use your Debit, Credit or Top Up Card to get the minutes available to you. They won't charge you more than what you want, here is how the minutes go about. For the first 10 minutes of the day, it's 25 cents a minute, then afterwards it's 10 cents a minute for the rest of the day. No daily commitment at all. Now, that plan is if you want "Minute2Minute" choice. (Virgin Mobile gives you three choices to choose from) That plan only requires that you make sure you have at least 20 dollars in your phone every 3 months. The other plans are "Day2Day" and "Month2Month". I think there great also. Im very pleased with the plans, and the cellphone is great as well. The features are many and cool and the handling of the phone is really comfy. One other thing, I also bought the phone because it had a camera feature, this is a good feature, I can easily take pictures and either send them through email or through another cellphone for 25 cents each pic. There are options for making the picture look brighter and more detailed, but its not like a real digital camera, but saying that, I really like the camera feature. And so Im very please with it this cell phone.

I have had this phone for two months now and it has been like night and day. There are no drop calls the call is clear and no hidden charges. This has got to be the best prepaid service that i have been with. I was with T-mobile the Cingular then a friend of mind told me about virgin mobile. This service and phone are both excellent. I love taking pictures and text messaging......I would recommend it. :-)