Starcom Arc Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile)

by Virgin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 3.4 x 0.9 inches ; 3.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001DD86FE
• Item model number: Arc
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,938 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Bluetooth Wireless Technology

Camera: Resolution: 640x480, 320x240, 160x120, 128x96

Web Browser: Get the latest headlines and hot links from Virgin Mobile, do a search, or type in your own url and surf away.

Text Messaging: Send and receive messages with almost anyone who has a mobile phone or an email address.

Real Music Ringtones: Get access to breaking ringtones, direct from the hottest artists.

Games: Sports, Racing, Shoot'em up... name your poison

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect little inexpensive phone!, September 14, 2008

By 

NelsonsMN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starcom Arc Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

EDIT - After owning this phone for close to a year, I figured I would update my review. Just a few cons I've discovered -- the speakerphone is way too quiet to be useful, especially in the car (which is where I want it in the first place). And I have noticed the battery cover tends to pop off once in a while if the phone is in my jeans pocket. Other than that, I still love it. It's nice and thin, features are great for the price, and battery life is very good. Probably the best inexpensive phone that Virgin offers, go for it!

My original review:

Just picked up two of these, one for me and one for my wife. There's really nothing bad to say about this phone.

It's THIN, has a camera and bluetooth and speakerphone! Pretty much has and does anything you need a phone to do. Plus it's Virgin, so if you don't use your phone too much, it's very economical!!!

I guess if I had to give any cons about it, it would be the camera is only VGA (were you expecting any better for a $50 phone?) and the buttons are a little small (same with about 90% of other phones on the market).

I love it!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars UPDATE: Nice phone - internet/picture message issues now fixed, December 12, 2008

By 

Mike O (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starcom Arc Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

This is my second virgin mobile phone after using my old Rave phone for about the past 4 years. I was looking for a flip phone that had a camera for quick snapshots. So far, the voice quality seems pretty good, and the battery life is great. After charging the battery for the first time it stayed on continuously for 10 days before giving me a low battery warning. Like another reviewer I am a little disappointed by the small number of non-obnoxious ringtones. But overall I have no problems with the phone's calling functionality, voice quality, or with sending text messages. My biggest problems are with accessing the internet and sending picture messages. Supposedly this phone is capable of sending e-mails and uploading pictures. However whenever I try anything requiring internet access (including requesting my account balance) I keep getting the message "Error: Network down". Is anyone else able to connect to the internet using this phone? How about sending pictures? Does this work for anyone else?

UPDATE: I contact Virgin Mobile service to report the problem mentioned above. At first they had me re-activate the phone and try accessing network after at least 4 hours. After that didn't resolve the problem, I called back and they had me try removing the battery and restarting the phone. When that didn't fix the problem, the service adviser opened an investigation. The next day Tech Support contacted me and did something at their end to reset my phone. After that I was able to get the account balance and send picture messages. Things are all working fine now. Virgin Mobile service has been friendly and responsive. I'm glad that my phone is now able to do all that it is supposed to.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starcom Arc Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile), December 7, 2008

By 

S. A. Circle "Stacey" (VA (near DC) USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starcom Arc Prepaid Phone (Virgin Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)

We have been Virgin Mobile owners for about 10 years now. This is my 3rd VM phone, my first one wasn't that great and I had to return it 2x but they quickly had a new one to me. My 2nd one the battery charger started acting strange and they replaced it and it started failing after 5 years... We just bought 2 more phones because the pricing and the service is pretty good. $35.00 at Best Buy! It includes a lot of features that are important to us!
Pros: Speakerphone, Bluetooth, Camera, Voice activated dialing, Standby and Talk time and ease of use out of the box.
Cons: The contact list set up could be more user friendly or intuitive. It would be nice to have some more FREE ring tones that are not "rap" or perhaps ones that are event oriented or 70's, 80's, 90's. I always have to buy a handful of ring tones to get ones that are not obnoxious. Also the camera is nice but not very high quality.
EDITED 04/10 - Even though I do top-up through my credit card automatically... from time to time it "forgets" and then I have to manually call in and top up through my card on record or give them another card. It came at a most inopportune time about 10 days ago. I don't know why it did it but this is the 2nd time in 3 years.