Virgin Mobile deals the Kyocera Wild Card

Virgin Mobile is officially dipping its toes into smartphone water with its latest offering, the Kyocera Wild Card. Of course, how deep into that particular pool both companies are going is a question for the ages. The Wild Card isn't exactly the most robust phone you'll ever get your hands on, though the flip-phone does offer a QWERTY keypad, dual screens, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth integration, and a WAP browser. The hitch is that you'll have to view that browser on a 128 x 160 screen, which is painfully, embarrassingly small -- though they do throw in Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man to keep you distracted. Hey, for a price point of $99, you could do way, way worse. The phone is available now from your friendly neighborhood Virgin Mobile dealer.

[enzo @ Oct 19th 2007 10:11AM]

Looks like a pretty solid form factor, besides the small screen... but at least you get lower cost and longer battery life

[prokanda @ Oct 19th 2007 10:29AM]

What an ugly piece of cheap plastic with last gen technology... just like their last offering. But hey, at least Virgin has something with a qwerty... I guess that's a good thing... right?

[giislander @ Oct 19th 2007 10:40AM]

for 99 dollars, ill take the palm centro anyday and have a real smartphone.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 19th 2007 10:53AM]

#1 If a cellphone is long like a "candy bar" does it really qualify as a "flip phone" just cause the interior keyboard is hinged?

#2 Why would I be "embarrased" by the size of my LCD screen? I typically don't by items to show off.

#3 For $99, this isn't bad compared to most other pre pay phones out there wth far less. all it needs is a Data plan and Aol Instant Messenger.

[Ervin @ Dec 7th 2007 8:21PM]

It commes with AIM and Yahoo messanger.

[LegendZ28 @ Oct 19th 2007 11:12AM]

Holy crap, that thing is hideous.

[Yubastard @ Oct 21st 2007 12:32AM]

LOL I was thinking the same

[Justin @ Oct 19th 2007 11:18AM]

yeeesh. it looks like Kyocera updated the strobe...and failed yet again. it's not even worth the $99 price point. There's a market for kids who want to look cute like the strobe, but the specs aren't making my mouth water.

if i were shopping for my brothers, i'd get them the Sidekick ID over this, the only thing they'd miss is a camera...but I don't want them to document their teenage years. I've seen their friends. *shudder*

[dj-kenpo @ Oct 19th 2007 12:52PM]

in what country? can't see em here for virgin canada

[Kim @ Oct 19th 2007 7:17PM]

Everybody always talk about VM.Why u buying they phones when they come out.If VM r that bad.Anyway Vm dont make anyway buy the phones.It's ur choice.

[Ellianth @ Oct 19th 2007 8:49PM]

What?

[Diceburna @ Oct 19th 2007 7:24PM]

I'm a virgin mobile user and I'm glad they finally got something w/ qwerty keyboard. Its not the hottest phone on the market but since me and virgin got a good relationship ill defintely purchase this phone next week.

[Constable Odo @ Oct 20th 2007 1:36AM]

Tool Time. Nothing but a toy for indiscriminate handset users. It's an insult to any handset user. I don't think you could do worse. It's already the lowest of the lows. Saitei. Gehin.

[engadget @ Oct 20th 2007 1:48AM]

I can't believe no one noticed that this phone stole the design of a Wild Card from the card game UNO.

[XenoX101 @ Oct 20th 2007 8:15AM]

What? where?

[engadget @ Oct 20th 2007 8:55AM]

The button design, the black with the curved white, if you slice 1/4 of an UNO wild card, that's what it looks like. I guess that's why they call it the Wild Card.

[Jonathon @ Oct 20th 2007 1:27PM]

Um. Keyboard on phone does not Smartphone make.

Still has the same crappy Kyocera interface. Still relies on a provider's data features and won't support email except through a provider's BREW solution.

Can we not even refer to something as "Smartphone-like" unless it fits some sort of standard? The KX21 has been in Virgin's lineup for awhile now and no one called it a smartphone.

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 20th 2007 11:44PM]

Eh. Virgin is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overrated. They have mediocre phones, a crappy data plan (5 MB/month!??!? are you kidding?), and expensive minutes (18¢/min). I just got an STi Mobile phone, which I hope is better (11 MB/week, 10¢/min)

[Zach @ Oct 21st 2007 2:54AM]

umm.. "officially dipping their toes into smartphone water"

can someone tell me how this is a smartphone??

it's just a basic camera phone with a qwerty keypad, last time i checked a qwerty keypad doesn't magically turn a phone into a smartphone...

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Oct 21st 2007 12:52PM]

oooh! Poll time!
Ugly, fugly kyocera or smartphone centro with reasonable features??? Hard one innit?

[Sean DL @ Oct 21st 2007 7:10PM]

Only if you actually, you know, have good credit can you actually sign a 2 year contract and buy the Centro.


With Virgin Mobile, you can buy any phone you want without having to up your contract, because there isn't a contract.


Hopefully this thing has fix the bugs the Virgin Mobile Switchback(the first VM qwerty phone) has.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Oct 28th 2007 9:56AM]

its still fugly man! look at it!

[scott @ Oct 21st 2007 2:24PM]

enV.

[Sean DL @ Oct 21st 2007 7:14PM]

And Virgin Mobile is actually getting better in competting with the big four in terms of service:

The new Wild Card is being paired with the newest messaging offer from
Virgin Mobile USA -- unlimited domestic messaging including text, IM, email
and picture messaging for $19.99 per month. When customers activate their
Wild Card and purchase their first month of unlimited messaging, they will
receive their second month free.

Also featured on Wild Card is "Headliner," Virgin Mobile's personalized
mobile music magazine. For only $2.49 per month, Headliner offers concert
tour updates, music news, artist information (bios, discographies, etc.),
latest music charts and other music-related points of interest through a
subscription service. Introduced earlier this year, Headliner now works
like a jukebox, upgraded for the Wild Card to include a streaming music
function that allows the customer to listen to individual tracks for 25
cents each.

In addition to these exciting features, the Wild Card also offers
Virgin Mobile customers peace of mind with "Contact Vault" which allows
those with the Wild Card, Cyclops and Switch_Back handsets the ability to
store, retrieve, delete and transfer their personal contacts list in the
event the phone is lost, stolen, damaged or upgraded. Customers can easily
input up to six phone numbers per contact in the address book and store up
to 140 contacts in total, depending on the phone model. The Contact Vault
costs $1.99 per month, or $9.99 for a six-month subscription.

[JeloRoc @ Oct 24th 2007 10:06PM]

That's why I hate checking out these kind of websites...they are always filled with a bunch of snooty techno-geeks who all they do is just whine and complain about every little feature not being good enough. This is a PREPAY phone. For the price of this phone the features seem pretty good to me. Now the Sidekick has way better features but it's also way more expensive. I know some knucklehead smartphone nerd is going to tell me that both of these phones are garbage and then name off a couple that he thinks are way superior...none of which will be PREPAY, which is the point of this post.

[perfectionist @ Nov 7th 2007 12:35AM]

Agrees. Phones that cost $99 on a 2-yr. contract don't contribute to a fair comparison.

[Michael @ Nov 28th 2007 4:39PM]

see its smart ppl like you that make me not want to smash my computer screen in with a bat

[OmegaWolf747 @ Oct 27th 2007 11:51PM]

I think for a prepaid phone, it's probably not too bad. However, I had a Kyocera SwitchBack and would be loathe to try another of their phones due to the bugs in the SwitchBack.

[XLullabyOfIllusionsX @ Oct 28th 2007 8:13PM]

Eh. I agree with JeloRoc. It's Virgin Mobile, Not The best phone in the world.com. -_^. The screens could be a little bigger. But over all, it seems like a pretty cool phone.. That I am getting in a few days. :].. so suck it. Lol

[KiwiRob @ Nov 3rd 2007 11:56PM]

At last people are getting the idea. While it mightn't be the coolest phone around, it's great that those of us that want some of the features of the fancier phones (QWERTY keyboard, bluetooth, camera) without the expense of going to a rip-off plan now have a decent product. I limit my mobile usage for several reasons and the Wild Card looks like a good choice to stay on a prepaid while having extra functionality.

[dOk3y K0n3 @ Nov 26th 2007 10:44PM]

This phone is not crap. For those who are complaining about the phone, please do not buy it. No one is asking you to look at a phone that is not as good as the so called SIDE KICK. For your information the SIDE KICK has more problems than any other phone there is created. This phone that virgin mobile offers is a decent phone with decent features at a decent price. Matter of fact, it is much better than some of sprint, t-mobile, and cingular phones in which many pay 100s of dollars for.

[cordell @ Dec 9th 2007 12:24AM]

Hey,people,
STOP COMPLAINING!
If you dont like it dont post!
Its not THAT ugly,gosh *SIGH*
Its like really high class for like a normal cell you'd carry around texting your freinds.
Buuuuuuut,for like a smartphone that you do your important stuff on,its still not THAT bad

SO SHUT THE FUCK UP RETARDS!!!!

[unitychic91 @ Dec 18th 2007 7:45AM]

agreed!!!

[bxboner @ Dec 17th 2007 2:27PM]

hey can some 1 tell me if you can unlock this phone and use a tmobile sim for this phone please replie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1