Pros:

*Cost. The Sprint network is pretty good for data. Access is cheap: $1 per day or $5.95 for 30 days or 5 mb. It’s nice to type on a full-sized keyboard.

*Minute plans. I’m not a heavy user, so the 200-minute minute pack works for me. I’m not paying an exorbitant amount for minutes, and they roll over. I’m not a huge tetxer, but they also have texting plans.

*Sound quality. I don’t like Bluetooth headsets, so I haven’t tried it.

I used a old-school headset (looks like a pair of headphones, plugs into the phone), and I can hear people fine. They can understand me.

*Size. It’s smaller than a Sidekick, Blackberry, or even an LG EnV.

Cons:

*Service area. Voice coverage can be spotty. I have service at home and at work, but not at my brother-in-law’s house. He lives in the sticks, but I’ve gotten service there with Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile (roaming). I also had no service in Canada, despite seeing many Virgin Mobile posters in Montreal. Apparently, it runs on a different network up there.

*Camera. I’m a shutterbug, and the camera is terrible. The worst part is that the photos it takes aren’t big enough to fill the screen. I’ve sent picture messages taken with my other phone, and they fill the entire screen.

*Battery life. I have to charge this phone constantly, sometimes after each call. I used the flashlight for 5 minutes, with a full battery, and the battery was empty the next time I turned the phone on! I’ve started carrying a spare charger with me.

*Ringtones. The phone comes with 4 ringtones, and 3 are rap. That’s fine if you like rap. I don’t. The phone has sound effects, for things like opening and closing the phone, but you can’t use them as ringtones. If you want a non-rap ringtone, you have to buy one.

*Backgrounds and wallpaper. The ones included are awful. Guess what you have to do if you want a different one?

*Functions: The alarm clock, flashlight, stopwatch, and other functions are buried in the menu, under “tools.” You can assign them to a button on the inside keyboard, but not the outside keyboard. If the phone is off, turning on the flashlight in the dark is awkward.

If all you want is a full-size keyboard and a decent amount of minutes for a good price, without a contract, this phone will work well for you. If you want something more, like a nice camera or something you can customize, you’d probably be happier with a Blackberry or and LG EnV.
Rating: 3 / 5

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!
Rating: 5 / 5

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.

Rating: 4 / 5

1. Dial *22898 from your cell phone
2. Follow prompts for creating a new account
3. Enter Zip Code
4. Your phone will be programmed with your new number and you’ll be set.

or you can go to http://www.verizonwireless.com/prepay and activate your phone free