Customer Reviews

LG Flare Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is my first foray into pre-paid telephone plans in the US. After using my mobile phone as my only phone for the past few years, I found that my new house has absolutely no signal coverage. So it was time to abandon the monthly plan for something less expensive and Virgin Mobile seemed to have the best deals available in my area. I grabbed a Flare and a $90 topup card and was ready to go.

On-line activation was a snap (and offers some bonuses that aren't available if you call the service center to activate) and my phone was on the network within 2 hours of activation. The $90 topup card provided a year's worth of service (meaning I'll never have to top up again in the next 12 months to keep my phone active) as well as approximately 1500 minutes when all bonuses were applied. All things considered, it wasn't a bad deal--I was paying more than $40 a month for 300 anytime minutes and free nights and weekends on my old phone. (Virgin does offer a similar plan with daily and monthly fees if you want to go that way--I didn't since my usage pattern is definitely going to change now.)

As for the phone itself, well, it makes phone calls. I don't download much stuff on my phone--the occasional ringtone and wallpaper--and I don't surf or text much either (even when I had unlimited surfing and texting) so my chief concern is how well a phone works as a phone and how easy it is to get my phone directory into it. I have to say I was very pleased on both counts. Calls sound fine and signal strength is good. The volume is easy to adjust and the phone is quite loud when turned all the way up (I hate phones that are too quiet).

My only quibble is with the keypad. The keys are rectangular, but the buttons under them are round, which creates deadspots on the keys, so as I type I have to feel for the little bump to make sure my button press will register. (I have large fingers and use the edge of the tip of my thumb ... the keypad might work well for smaller hands.) However, the bright screen and color contrast make it very easy to read what I'm typing, which in my book overcomes the weaknesses in the keypad.

This isn't the best mobile phone I've ever owned, but it's a sub-$30 phone and to compare it to a phone costing 10X as much would be unfair. On a per-dollar basis, I am very pleased with the LG Flare.

Pros--
Inexpensive to buy (and replace, if necessary)
External LCD screen
Screens are bright and easy-to-read
One-touch account balance, call log, messaging, set up, and vibrate/silent mode
Voice-activated dialing and volume control on outer edge
Bluetooth compatible
Virgin Mobile plans allow a meager $60 upfront topup to activate for an entire year (the $90 card I purchased is not necessary)
Customizable ringtones can be set for each person in directory
Multiple phone numbers per person in directory
Intuitive menu system

Cons--
Cheap feel to housing and keypad
Not much variety in pre-loaded ringtones
Mediocre stand-by battery life

Well, I was so anxious for a bluetooth phone, I bought the Flare. I couldn't beat the price for something with that technology, and the only reason I want bluetooth is for to use wireless headsets at last! For this I deactivate my perfectly good MTV Edition V5 Slider, and after an afternoon of entering my address book on a new phone, I already miss having a Kyocera.

Right now, Life's not so Good. Before, with my V5, all I had to do was push the up button for my balance, and the right button to set the phone to vibrate, along with the usual on/off buttons. With the LG Flare, I have to push a menu button, find the "my account" button, wait for it to launch a browser, which is scary because I have no intention of paying for web content. Then, once the balance shows, without warning like my Kyocera did, you hit the red phone to get out of it, and the web browser icon remains on the phone. I hate that! You go through just about the same rigmarole to set the phone to vibrate. The owner's manual doesn't even mention vibrate in the index, so I'm better off downloading the PDF from Virgin Mobile's website so that I can keyword search the document! I've managed to turn down the funky ringtone volume (I miss my Kyocera ringtones, too - I don't want rap music on my phone!) Entering text is a headache no matter what phone you have, so re-entering my contact list is once again a chore. I learned my lesson from my first VM phone, though, and I only put the important people in! It's a lot to get used to, and a downside to phones with no SIM card. But I don't need complicated phones! I need 'em to make and take calls, and that's it.

So why did I buy it in the first place? As mentioned before, the opportunity for a wireless headset which my beloved Kyoceras don't have. Also, the phone is a handsome little thing! It's about the same size as my slider when closed, but it not as thick. When the clamshell is opened, it gives the impression of being a much bigger phone, which I like. I've set the backlighting to dim, but when an incoming call comes in, a window lights up on the outside of the clamshell where the time is.

One thing I did notice is the time it takes to get going when it's been turned on. It says "HELLO" in big letters, almost like my JVC XV-N40BK Progressive-Scan Slim DVD Player (Black) did, and when you turn it off, it says "BYE" in big letters that show up on both the inside and the outside screen. It's gimmicky stuff that I think is actually kind of neat.

After two days I don't yet know if I'll keep it - almost as soon as I bought this I heard of a new slider phone coming for Virgin Mobile made by Samsung! Maybe one day Kyocera will make a bluetooth slider for Virgin Mobile - BESIDES the Slider Sonic - that doesn't cost too much that I can love. I'll never pay $100 for a phone, whether it's landline or wireless. I loved my cheap little slider - and sliders in general. But, after three phones with Virgin Mobile, first the sturdy K9 Royale, then my trusty V5 slider, this is my first non-Kyocera phone I've had in the four years I've been with Virgin Mobile. Maybe I'll learn to like it more as I live with it. I'm willing to give it a chance in the meantime. I've heard good things about LG, so we'll see. One thing about Virgin Mobile phones - if I don't like it, it won't cost me a two-year contract or an arm and a leg to change it!

If you live your entire life in your phone, expect it to be your back office, photo album, secretary, and mother, perhaps you need to look further. But as a phone, the LG Flare's great!

It's small, sleek, clear, and has enough features for you to communicate easily in today's world. I hate cellphones, and carry one only because of my job. This Flare is the least onerous of any phone I have encountered. Works well as a speakerphone, has an outer screen, holds a charge well, was easy to set up, and doesn't bulge in my clothing. And no pain-in-the-butt photos of the kiddies to cart about! Great phone!

Virgin Mobile is not bad, either.

I originally purchased Virgin Mobile's $20 phone, the Kyocera TNT. Although the phone was cute, the screen resolution was VERY poor and the sound quality was tinny. In order to hear your phone messages through the speaker phone, you had to turn the phone backwards because the outbound sound was emitted from a speaker faced to the outside of the phone.

Sound quality is much improved with this LG Flare. For only $10 more, this phone has a M4 audio quality which is the highest that you can get. The screen is also clearer and brighter. After a week of use, there are only two things that I would change: skip the little door that covers the port for the battery recharger and update the look of the exterior to mimic the TNT (snazzy color, rubberized exterior, etc.)

First I'll mention the pluses with this phone. First its very cheap. It has a very strong body, stronger than even my Nokia. The vibrator on it is also fairly strong (most phones have a weak vibrator that I rarely feel).

Now for the bad stuff . . .
1) It has port covers that look very fragile (for battery, etc). None have broken after 2 months use, but I've been very careful.

2) The battery drains *very* fast when you have low or no signal. For example, despite not using the phone, spending 8 hours at work in a no-signal basement literally drains 50% of the battery. The phone feels very warm to the touch whenever in low/no signal areas. A fully charged battery will die in under 24 hours if your phone is in a no-signal area (ie go camping, spend time in subway, basement, etc.) I keep my phone off 50% of the time for fear I'll be stuck with a dead battery (happens all the time with this phone). I have to charge this phone almost daily, where on my 4 year old cheap motorola phone I haven't once replaced the battery, and it still holds a weeks worth of charge!

3) The 'airplane mode' is very useful. I use it to turn off my phone to prevent the battery from dieing in low/no signal areas.

4) The top LCD that displays time is horrible. I can't see it outside even on a cloudy day, and it doesn't update the time unless your phone has a signal. It also displays the last time you checked it for about 1 second before displaying the current time (requires a button push).

5) The GUI is absolutely horrible. It takes 3x more button clicks to get anything done compared to all my other cheap phones I've owned. No customizable hotkeys.

5) My four year old ultra cheap Motorola cell phone can run Java 10x faster. The Flare takes minutes to load up a simple Opera browser.

6) You have to read the same message twice for it to stop telling you that you have new messages.

7) Internet sucks on it. Virgin had me go through this 3 phone call multiple day process trying to get it to work, and finally they said 'its a known problem and engineers are working on it, call back in 72 hours'. Well, I've called them once every 4 days for an entire month, and they kept saying the same thing. Two months have passed, still no internet. On very rare occasions, say 5% of the time I try, I can get a connection. But its *very* slow. Way slower than on my 4 year old cheap motorola phone.

8) No SIM card. Doesn't work with any phone backup software I've tried.

Garbage. I'm buying a new phone.

When I first got this phone it worked OK. Lately, there is no service at my home, where there once was service. The phone is always going in and out of service. Battery goes dead very quickly, and I get messages for call made to me just seconds before, but the phone doesn't ring. I've send Virgin several service requests, and have not received a reply from them once. Terrible.

We've had a virgin mobile phone for about two years and it seems that the service just gets worse and worse. Customer service is terrible! And don't even think of canceling as you'll spend all day on the phone. It seems like the "Hotel California" of phone companies - you can check in but you can never leave. It looks like I may have to report my credit card missing and change credit card numbers to get them to stop charging me.

Did I mention that the coverage was bad? At least in Southern California.

I like this phone a lot. It has good quality. It has a few problems, though. The keys are very loud, even with the keytones turned off. Secondly, It no longer recieves text messages, though I can send them. Don't buy this if you like to text.

If you don't want to be bothered with service contracts, roaming charges, and spotty coverage, this is the service for you. Granted, I'm not a heavy cell phone user, so the convenience of this plan is great. I've had previous services where I spent more on monthly fees and roaming charges and had less coverage than I do with Virgin.

Virgin's plan is a common sense approach to cell phone service.

This is one of the best virgin mobile phone I have ever bought!I just bought it because I needed a new one.When looked at the picture it looked OK.I didn't think it would be over the top great.I opened the package it looked shiny and nice.It is loaded with cool stuff and graphics.I had this phone for since septemberor october of 2008.I reccomend this phone to all ages.I was very satisfied with this product.