Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Okay for what it is designed for, but it isn't a substitute for a full smart phone like a Treo or Blackberry., December 14, 2007
Okay for what it is designed for, but it isn't a substitute for a full smart phone like a Treo or Blackberry.
The sound quality should meet your expectations of any cellular phone, not just a prepaid unit. The uptime and reliability of the device is also satisfactory, we never had phone issues such as unexpected reboots or freeze / lockups.
This is an improvement over the clunky and awkward Switchback (first Virgin Mobile phone with decent text messaging keypad) but still woefully lacking in some basic features before it be could be considered on par with common smartphones.
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First, the good characteristics
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1. Sprint provided CDMA network provides decent data bandwidth / throughput, better than what you get with GSM and EDGE (Apple iPhone).
2. Lightweight, easy to open and easy to use keyboard, it weighs less than two packs of cigarettes.
3. More sound effects than a Louisiana Chili contest, excessive menu configurations for customizing basic events like opening and closing the lid can take as long as you want.
5. Setup was a breeze, we registered it online in a few minutes w/o ever having to wait on hold or speaking to a call center rep.
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Less than admirable qualities
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1. The battery door is a puzzle at first, and frustrating.
2 $$$ for basic extra services, the phone only supports blue tooth headsets, so rapid entry of address book contacts requires use of the "Contacts Vault", this is an online WEB entry page at VirginMobileUSA dot cwom that lets you enter address book entries, but you have to pay $1.99 a month to access them, STOP PAYING THE FEE AND THE ADDRESS BOOK IS LOST FROM THE PHONE UNTIL YOU RESUBSCRIBE TO THE MONTHLY FEE.
Messsaging services and VirginXL along with the online access feature to web sites can eat up your TopUpCard balance like popcorn.
We paid $10 for 1,000 IM's, PicMessages, SMS and emails and $5 for a month of web access but only for 5MB every month.
3. Lack of bluetooth support for anything except headphones, we tried pairing a BT keyboard Think Outside Universal Bluetooth Keyboard Stowawaywith no luck. The device appeared in the phones BT menu, but was marked with a "?" and wouldn't pair.
4. No SD or MicroSD slot (like the LF enV VX9900) this phone tries to emulate) , so you spend $$$ downloading music, or you can just put the MP3's on your own web site and download them but you can incur some major expenses just for downloading a few songs, as of this moment we have to pay $5 a month for 5MB of access, two or three songs you already own can destroy that monthly balance if downloaded from your own website.
5. No support for GoogleChat, despite the fact the phone seems to be JAVA OS, it won't support GoogleChat, only the provided AOL and Yahoo! IM.
6. Anemic email support, aside from VirginMobiles email service, they provide "access" to Comcast and EarthLink, we tried testing one of those connections and we received an error our inbox needed to be "updated". When we tried to perform the upgrade, we were greeted with a terse screen asking us to agree another $0.15 a day recurring fee whether we used it or not.
7. LOUSY camera, we set ours to the best resolution of 1280 x 1024 and High picture quality, and the results are the worst we've ever seen. See our uploaded customer image, you may have to guess what the picture is of and the surroundings, the point is at the lighting conditions and distance, this photo should've been tremendously better.
8. No basic copy and paste function, BlackBerry, Treos, Windows PocketPC smartphones and others have basic text select and paste functions so you could copy text from an email and paste into your date book, or copy contact info from an email and paste into the address book.
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Conclusion
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If all you need is easy to use text messaging capabilities and customary cellular phone service then this phone will meet your needs, anything else requires lowering your expectations.
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Future design / feature recommendations
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-Add an SD or MicroSD slot for MP3's, address book backups and data transfers, the cost of SD slot adapters is declining and is affordable when purchased in quantity by a phone manufacturer. Kyocera already incorporates these adapters in other phones and VirginMobile just has to spec' the option in phones they source.
-Include a personal information manager conduit for Windows and Macintosh PC's, the ability to synchronize the address and date book with your computer would propel the sales of this phone.
Consider that many BlackBerry and Treo users use the PDA features of email, calendering, contact manager more than the phone itself. With Virgin current price plans many of these owners would find this phone a feasible and less costly alternative to the common $125 monthly bills paid by many traditional smartphone users.
For $9.99 a month and 1,000 SMS, Pic, IM and Email messages, $5 for 5MB of web access and even $0.18 a minute talk time, this phone would cost us $25-$40 a month versus the $90 we currently pay SprintPCS for a Treo 755.
Also, remember, you don't pay all of the exorbitant taxes on prepaid phones that you do with traditional cell service, or if you are being taxed it isn't being defined when you buy the airtime cards.
Buy a $90 top up card and your service is good for an entire year, instead of having to TopUp $20 every 90 days with the other Virgin Mobile plans.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I like it!, January 18, 2008
Fed up with "traditional" plans - I decided to go the prepaid route and purchased this phone for myself and my kids.
So far, so good. We really like the Wildcard phone (and Virgin Mobile's pricing options are reasonable and not too much more expensive than the traditional plans).
Now, I should say that I'm a simple person. To me, a cell phone is brilliant if it allows me to make and receive calls(and texts) in the most concise, efficient, inexpensive manner possible. All other features are icing IMO.
That being said, as far as the prepaid market is concerned, I think the Wildcard is a great phone. The calls are clear (though the speaker function sounds kinda scratchy) the signal is strong and the ringer is loud. Physically, the phone is attractive and a convenient size. (We, too, initially had a problem getting the battery compartment to open - OMG! Fort Knox is less secure!).
The qwerty keyboard is as nifty as it is handy to use and the screen has nice colorization. The battery life is really good. I absolutely love the backlighting and 1-touch and voice activated dialing features. The internet works fine - though I'm too cheap to use it often (LOL). I do have to confess I've downloaded a ringtone or two (OK, three) as me and my kids really love that feature. The camera works OK - pictures could be clearer, but then again, I use my digital camera - rarely my phone - to take pictures.
I haven't tried the IM or Bluetooth features yet.
As with any product, there are things that can be improved: Now, I realize I'm way older than Virgin Mobile's young, hip, computer savvy target market, and that the Wildcard is not a Smart Phone - but the phone could be more intuitive. For instance, the process of setting up contacts is fine, however, I wish managing contacts were less cumbersome. I would love to be able to have something like 1-touch texting cuz as it stands now, I can click my handy-dandy quick text button on the phone, yes, but I still have to enter the phone number of the the contact I want to text - each time.
Also, I found the description of a couple of Virgin Mobile's monthly plans a little confusing - especially the whole "cash balance" part. However, when I called customer support they were very helpful and informative.
In conclusion - as I said before, I'm easy to please so I really like this phone and all it has to offer. However, if you are looking for a phone akin to a Blackberry or Sidekick, the Wildcard is not for you.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kyocera Wildcard [special edition] is AMAZING! I highly recommend it!, July 2, 2008
I purchased the Kyocera Special Edition Wildcard, not the black one. the special edition is just white, and has a speaker design inside. it is the EXACT same thing as the black one, just a different color, and a different design. That being said, I'll get to the review...
I have owned several phones prior to buying this one. One Tracfone, One Virgin Mobile, and others. This one is undoubtedly the most expensive one I have every purchased, and the nicest. I was very cautious about buying it, but after reading all the reviews and doing a lot of research on it, I enventually settled into buying it. I was hoping it wouldn't be a mistake on my part, and luckily, it wasn't. The phone was $100, and expensive. But I am defenitly getting my money's worth out of it. Their is no activation fee, no daily service fee, and it offers two plans. Pay-as-you-go, and a monthly plan. A monthly plan works the same way, but you have to register with a credit card, and each month, it withdraws money from it for whatever plan you signed up with. The lowest monthly plan costs $15 and the highest costs $99, obviously varying hugely it what it offers. You can add unlimited texting for $10, and if you have the pay as you go, you can still get unlmited texting, but for $20. I have the pay-as-you go plan, since it varies in how many minutes I use each month, and its cheaper for me to use. For pay as you go, you simply add prepaid cards [virgin mobile calls them top-up cards] and that amount of money is added to your balance. With that money, you can pay for the unlimited texting, or buy games, ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers, or just use talking minutes. If you want a texting plan with your pay as you go, but not unlimited, they offer that too. they offer a $5.00 a month fee for 200 texts [which I have] or $2 a month for 30 texts, or $10 a month for 1000 texts. You can pay for this without a credit card, and can use top-up cards, which is extremely convenient. The plans can be a little confusing with everything they offer, but you get used to it quickly.
On virgin mobile's website, you can purchase games for $5.99, ringtones for $2.50, and wallpapers and screensavers for $1.99.
Now, for the Phone. The phone is pretty sturdy, although it seems kind of cheaply made. The inside of the phone, however, is very tough, and the buttons are wonderful. They're easy to push without being to hard on your fingers, and you aren't constantly bumping them accidentaly. The external keypad is pretty much the same, but a little flimsier. The toggle key is very useful, and the buttons are easy to push. It also offers a keyguard feature so it won't accidentaly call somebody while it is in your pocket. [Though I would consider buying a $10 case if you are going to spend $100 on the phone. You don't want to make a little mistake or drop it!]
The phone is extremely fast to navigate, and never freezes. The internet is very quick, reliable, and easy to use. TO use the internet does cost money though. You can check your account to see how much money you have for free, but other than that, you have to pay. It costs 15 cents a day if you use it only a little bit, or you can sign up for the $4.99 a month for unlimited internet access [i recommend that one- the 15 cent one lasts only a little bit each day, and will cut you off of the internet if you go over a time limit!]. I really love the internet on this phone. You can access your e-mail, myspace, facebook, or any website. You can also go on your Yahoo IM or AIM, but those are the only two IM's it offers. Sorry Google or Hotmail fans...
It doesn't come preloaded with any games, which kind of stinks. It comes with three demo games where you can play them for about 30 seconds, but then stops. They want you to buy them, so they give you a demo. THe games are really addicting though! And If i could recommend one thing about the games, do not buy ANY TV/MOVIE GAMES!! on virgin mobile's website, you can buy dozens of games. they offer tons of games that are based on TV shows too. Unforunately, I bought two of them! The TV games only have ONE game in them, and when you finish, thats it! either you're done, or you replay what you just did. For example, I bought the CSI game. Their is ONE case to work on, and it was awesome! So naturally, I played the entire game straight through, and then it was done! I was so dissapointed. It's like that for all the TV games, so its a waste of money.
The two screens on the wildcard are extremely bright, and crystal clear. They are very easy to read, clean, and see. When you open the phone, whatever you were doing on the external screen will automatically transfer to the inside screen, and visa-versa. so you never loose what you were doing!
The wildcard has tons and tons of features which I love. The camera is actually decent to be on a cell phone, and I really like it. It has a built in flashlight also, which is super bright! extremely convenient. The phonebook holds up to 500 contacts too. It has a calculator, tip calculator, stopwatch, alarm clock, timer, and tons more! The back of the phone has a rubber coating on it so its not as hard to scratch.
Overall, I 100% recommend the virgin mobile phone. I really like the phone, and it has been good to me! Its awesome, great for teens, and a really cool phone too!
ALSO... Virgin mobile has amazing customer service. Somebody taged this phone with "bad customer service"?? Virgin MObile has been rated "best prepaid cellular customer service" by JD power & Associates 2 years in a row--and I agree! they are extremely helpful, and email back within 4 days. [with other companies I've been with- thats fast!]. I really like them!
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