Customer Reviews

Virgin Mobile Audiovox Flasher V7 Pay-As-You-Go Wireless Camera Phone

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This will be the 4th phone I will have had with Virgin Mobile. I love the service I receive with the company, and with my usage am paying comparable rates to a contracted service. But this review is on the phone. I am coming from the 8610 (which I have written a review on) to the 8910 or "Flasher V7". I thought I had found the perfect phone in the 8610...until I laid my eyes on the 8910 on the Virgin Mobile website. I purchased my 8910 at my local Target on Friday the 15th for $169.99 plus tax. The phones are almost identical with the exception of some additional features on the 8910. They are as listed below:

-Cosmetic differences, the most noticeable being the availibilty of a blue casing or silver casing. I have the blue, and it looks great.
-The 8910 has voice dial featues. I had never used this before, but have quickly grown to love this feature. I don't have to remember who is what number in speed dial.
-Voice memo. You can record up to 60 second memos for reply. you can also add a written name for your memo. This is great since I have a rather short memory span.
-Downloadable games/wallpapers/screensavers/ringtones. This phone uses a new, faster browser to allow for these items to be downloaded. There are several options in each category, all accesible from the phone. I downloaded the classic Atari game, Pitfall, from my phone. It was easy and quick. The games $3.99, but I would rather pay and have my choice of games. I have not downloaded any wallpapers or screensavers since you can use pictures taken with the phone. You can also download song clips for ring tones.
-My account. When checking you balance, this has a much more involved system, much like what you would see if checking your account online. I really like this new method.
-The camera. Probably the most popular reason people will be buying this phone is the camera. I have never used a camera phone before, but this one is so user friendly, I have not had to reference the owner's manual yet. You can access your pictures or to take a picture through the main menu. Or, the much easier way, a button on the side of the phone. Press it once, you go into camera mode. Pressing it again takes a picture. I am very impressed with the quality of the pictures this camera takes. They are better than my digital camera. Once you snap a picture, you can send it(email or to another Flasher V7 phone), upload it(to the "my pix" on the Virgin Mobile website) or save it to your phone. Doing one of the first two options will cost you 25 cents a pop, so I would be selective in which pictures you send or upload. I personally prefer uploading, there are more things you can do with them, including emailing them. There are 3 settings for the flash-off, this shot only or always on. I have only had to use the flash a few times, the natural lighting was enough. The screen on the phone also adjusts the darkness so you can see what you are taking a picture of more clearly. A few other options are "frames" that can go around the edge of the photo, and voice memos/captions. There are 3 sizes of pictures you can take, and a zoom available on two of them.

Overall, I feel this phone was worth every penny. If you are thinking about a camera phone, I would strongly suggest you check out the Flasher V7.

i am 14 years old and this is my first phone, i have had it for about 5 months and have been very happy.

the phone

Pros-
desigined for teen usage, good graphics

camera is surprisingly good, nice customizations such as colorful borders, zoom, brightness, image effect, quality and contrast.

menu is very colorful- a pleasure to the eye

good functions such as voice recording, calculator, alarm, stopwatch, schedular and world clock

flash is somewhat useful

easy to use messaging- t9 (easy to get used to) funny emoticons,

can put on silencer by holding down *

easy to top up, etc...

VxL is nice, however expensive, nice ringtones, the ones which try to sound like the song however are crap

the purchasable graphics are very nice at 1.50 apiece, however you can just use pictures as your background

contacts- very easy to personalize (personal ringtone, picture, and message tone,

security- can lock your phone so no one can place a call, go on the browser, look at recent calls, look at pictures, or contacts without entering a password (good for nosy friends)

Cons-

the ringer is kind of quiet, however if you are a teen and this is one of your first phones it won't bother you because you can hear it

kind of bulky feeling, but understandable because of all of the features

service

pros

cheap text messaging, (10 cents to send free to receive)

cons

much more worth it to get a monthly plan, $40 at a monthly plan buys you anywhere from 450 to 600 mins (15-20 minutes per day) however $40 at virgin mobile buys you 160 minutes or around 5 to 6 minutes perday, and if your buying it to spend less money than a plan (say 30 dollars- 120 minutes a day) thats 4 minutes perday.

I have to disagree with another reviewer about the ringtone volume - it is NOT loud enough at all. My wife has had an 8610 for a couple of weeks, and she was complaining about the ringtone volume (for good reason!). I figured it was worth an extra $60 to get her the 8910 -- on the assumption that she might actually hear it ring in the car, at restaurants, or even at home.

The short answer is that the 8910 is basically the same phone as the 8610 aside from the camera & Virgin XL features. The ONLY reason you should get an 8610 or 8910 is if you absolutely need a flip-phone for Virgin Mobile (hopefully they will have more flip offerings in the future). If you don't need a flip, get one of the $25 (K9) or $50 (K10) Kyocera's - they are LOUD. If you don't have VM, stay away from these Audiovox LEMONS.

As for Virgin Mobile, the service is great for low usage or avoiding contracts. If you make less than 200 minutes of calls, stick with minute-to-minute or day-to-day. More than 200 minutes, you might want to go with the $30 month-to-month plan, which is still cheaper than a lot of contract plans (no hidden taxes & fees). You won't get free nights, weekends, or calls to other VM users, but you can save a bundle as long as that cellphone isn't glued to your ear.

In this review, I'll tell you why to get this phone (or why not) and why VirginMobile is the best prepaid service provider. First, I'll tell you about this phone.

This is a great cell phone. I purchased a Kyrocera K9 phone because I thought I would use my phone every once in awhile but I ended up using it every day so I swapped to a Audiovox 8910 "V7 Flasher. (it was very easy to swap)." I love this phone. It has pretty much the same feature as my old phone but speaker phone, colored screen, and, of course, a camera. This camera quality is ok if you don't zoom. You can even get actual photos of the pictures you take (upload your photos from your phone to the website. Then copy them to your computer. Sign up for snapfish at snapfish.com and upload your photos there. Then order them [$.19 for a 4 x 6.{you get 10 free 4 x 6 for signing up}]). You can download a lot of features from virginmobileusa.com and this is the only phone that can download games, wallpapers, screen savers, and other features. I recommend this phone if you will use it a lot and take pictures. The same exact phone (except no camera and can't download some things) is available for $99.99. If you will use your phone "once in a great while," I recommend the Kerocyra Slider phone or the Kerocyra K9.

Virgin Mobile is the best prepaid service provider. TracFone is just HORRIBLE (minutes go as high as $.50 a minute and text messages are $.30 each and I think you have to pay to receive text messages with TracFone. With Virgin Mobile, its $.25 a minutes for the first ten minutes of the day and $.10 a minute after that. Text messages are $.10 to send and free to receive. A lot of content is available at virginmobileusa.com for putting on your phone (ringtones, celebrity voicemail greetings, MTV and Comedy Central Content, and a lot more). You only have to play $20 every three month which is A LOT cheaper than most cell phone service providers. And best of all, NO CONTRACTS!!! Virgin Mobile is the way to go for prepaid phone service.

The phone is good with very good voice quality and a passable camera. The only negative is the low ringer volume. When in a noisy place, I put it on silebt mode because I can feel the ringer.

If you carried the phone in a purse or pocket, you might miss calls in noisy areas.

I got the Virgin mobile Flasher V7 (8910) on Christmas day, I was amazed at how the screen has such vibrant colors! I used to have the 8610 and i liked it, But i really love the Camera and the flash, The only thing i would say before you get one is to check if you get rececption in your area by going to www.Virginmobileusa.com or a Virgin mobile retailer. Here are my

PRO'S:
Nice Screen
Nice Camera
flash
Louder Ringtones than the 8610
1-touch Camera
VXL
VXtras
Web browser, (Availbe late 2005,early 2006)

CON'S:
Expensive Ringtones,Wallpaper,Screensavers etc.
Battery life is kinda bad, but DONT CHARGE IT EVERY NIGHT! it will ruin any cell phone battery to the bone!

My Recemndations: When you want a new wallpaper you can get free one's by doing:
Take picture/save it/select pic./assign/wallpaper/thats all free!
Although it does cost .25 a pic. message, it can add up.

MINUTES:
.25 for the first 10 mins of the day (-2.50) then its only .10 a min
Virgin mobile: .10x120 (2 hrs)= 12.00!
T-mobile: .30x120 (2 hrs)= 36.00 (THATS NUTS!)

So, overall i would rewcemend Virgin mobile for A cheap, no contract phone service, if you have any more qustions on Virgin mobile's Phones or Service you can IM me with AIM: DaNcEpArty2025 or E-mail me Mikefox@tds.net Thx!

I tell you what this phone is completely awesome. It is jam packed with features galore that does so much. I have been able to do so much with this phone it isn't even funny. This is my 4th cell phone with the Virgin Mobile service, and have been with Virgin Mobile for about a year now. For everything your getting in one package, you really can't beat the price their asking for it. This phone takes the best pictures I have ever seen on a camera phone, their clear and crisp and not grainy like other camera phones I've seen, most of them don't even come with a built in flash---this one does. Not only that you can send yourself custom 128x128 pictures through picture messaging and use the picture attachment as a wallpaper. (...) They only cost 25 cents to recieve to your phone. Not only that you can download Ringtones, Wallpapers, Screensavers, Games and much much more. You also have a wireless internet browser so you can go to your favorite sites anytime you want anywhere you want. There is so many features that this phone came with I can't even name all of them. But one thing I can say is that this phone is a complete winner and I suggest that anyone wanting to buy a phone go with this one. The Flasher V7 is a satisfactory product and I'm enjoying every moment I'm on it, I know that you can too if you consider on getting it.

Etude's Pick:
The phone's camera is definitely first rate and very user-friendly. Once you turn on the phone, press the button on the side of the phone to turn the camera on, and press it again to take the photo- it's really that simple. The phone's screen shows exactly the image you're shooting, so you can't screw it up! The picture quality is very good especially for a camera phone and the added flash is helpful in low-light situations . You can store up to 100 pictures in the phone's memory.


Favorite Features:

Full Color Screen with an EASY to navigate menu system. It's simple from here to program your phone numbers and voice dialing, to choose a ringtone or wallpaper and access all of the fun MTV and Comedy Central content that is available through the VirginXL features. The only problem this phone has is a very limited battery time, the multimedia applications can drain the battery very fast, so be careful.

Downloadable Games, they're a bit pricey (most are $4.99) but they're great games that I play all the time on the internet and now I have access to them whenever I want on my phone. (I'm obsessed with "Bejeweled"!)

Superphonic Ringtones which allow you to use ACTUAL songs and audio clips, not the digitized versions that most phones use.

I highly recommend this phone to anyone who wants both a great phone with fun and useful features and a camera that takes good quality pictures, all without the hassle of a contract. The V7 Flasher is definitely worth your money!

This is an all around great phone. Definatly worth getting over the vox 8610. (I've had both). The camera takes suprisingly good pictures for a cell phone. Its also pretty cool how the outer display can act as a "mirror" for taking self photos. It has good features and is very customizable.

I love virgin mobile and when they came out with this camera phone I KNEW i had to get it!! It is a GREAT phone, I am so impressed. The camera surprisingly takes great pics and the zoom isnt bad either...although if you zoom to far it becomes fuzzy. The contact is easy to navigate and can store A LOT! Virgin mobile extras is great, because you can get all these cool extras...I just need to stop wasting all my money on games and ringtones...:-) It has a balance feature which tells you when to "top up" and how much money you have left, which is very handy. It comes with pretty good ringtones, but you can buy real song ringtones at virgin extras. It only comes with one game, a demo of snood, but you can also purchase from a HUGE selection of games from VXL. It also has a world clock, a calculator, text and pic messaging, alarm, and much more. If you want a good cell phone get THIS ONE!! A MONTH AGO I LEFT IT IN MY POCKET AND IT WENT THROUGH THE WASHING MACHINE...I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE BROKEN, BUT I LET IT DRY AND IT WORKS PERFECTLY!!!!!!!!! if your thinking about getting a cell phone, GET THIS ONE!! I am totally amazed at this phone!!