Virgin Mobile Finally Getting Another Android Phone

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virgin mobile optimus v itw1Finally! Not that there’s a huge population of Virgin Mobile Android Users, but maybe there would be if more desirable phones were available. If you weren’t a big fan of the Samsung Intercept, soon you may get a chance to try out the LG Optimus V. Rumor has it, the price is only $150.00 ($100.00 cheaper than the Intercept). Attach that with the Beyond Talk plan for $25.00 unlimited text and data, I’m a bit tempted myself.

The Pre-Paid market is looking more attractive by the minute, and certainly is more affordable than rolling with the Big 4. You may not get the speed (yet) that the Big 4 offer, but you don’t have to lose a lot of function going cheaper.

What do you think? Are you one of the Pre-Paid Android Users, or will you become one?

15 thoughts on “Virgin Mobile Finally Getting Another Android Phone”




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  2. seriously?? i just bought my intercept yesterday at a radio shack… if i would have known that a new one was coming out i would have waited awhile!

  3. This is great news! I was thinking of buying the Samsung Intercept, but the it is expensive. I think I’ll wait for the LG one if the cost remains low.

  4. I love my Intercept. it does what its supposed to. I also really love pay as you go with Virgin Mobile, this is by far the best deal of any of the big 4 cell phone services.

    Robert

  5. I have the Samsung Intercept with Virgin Mobile — I love the phone, I love the service, I love the coverage, I love-love-love the cheap price.

    HOWEVER. I only recommend Virgin Mobile if you don’t have to use customer service. I had a problem with my order. I bought two Intercepts from Virgin Mobile through their website, but only one arrived. To fix it, they accidentally sent me a “replacement” phone instead of a new phone, and demanded I return my original phone — which would have left us with only 1 refurbished phone instead of 2 new ones. I was assured we could keep the replacement phone. But the next month, they shut the service off to both phones because they didn’t get a phone back. It took two months, over 20 phone calls, and fifteen “investigative reports” to rectify. And the remedy was just a band-aid. None of the 25+ agents spoke English as a first language so there were significant language barriers. All they did was open an “investigative report” whenever I called, or transfer me to another department (frequently disconnecting the call), or put me on hold and then hung up. It was awful. Nobody could escalate. Nobody replied to emails. They promised people would call me or email me, and nobody ever did.

    On the other hand … the phone is great, the $25 price is AMAZING. So if there are no problems and you don’t need more than basic customer support, Virgin Mobile is a great deal. I assume the outsourced call center is their cost-cutting measure to allow for such a low price to customers. Please forgive me for telling such a long story — I hope that forewarned is forearmed.

  6. I love pay as you go, the deal can’t be beat. I don’t understand why anyone would pay upwards of 100 a month when you can have it all for 25$, contracts are bogus! I don’t need unlimited minutes, I need unlimited web and text. Right now I am using the blackberry which is 10$ extra a month and the only thing I miss about my old phone company is my Android, and all my free apps!! I have come to depend on them for personal and business use, once you go Android nothing else is good enough. I can’t wait to see Virgin come out with a new Android phone, because I am an empty shell of a woman without it!

    In the meanwhile I am looking at Android tablets, thinking about the Dell or HP.

  7. Saw it at Target, but there was no price tag.. however the phone is not avail on the Virgin USA website yet. I have the Intercept (got it for $175) and the BlackBerry Curve ($139). Not a fan of paying $10 more for BB service but the touchscreen really sucks on the Intercept.

    I prefer BB but will wait til Christmas to get a new phone. I don’t think the LG will be any better than the Intercept anyways. Hopefully, by then there will be better than entry-level Android phones available (or better BBs).

  8. on my second intercept, first one lost its 3g because of some bug that had no relation to me flashing it to 2.2 with the sprint stock rom keke 🙂 anyway, i love it because its slideout keyboard, but its ram and onboard storage sucks arse. the Optimus has alot of ram and onboard storage, plus a seperate gpu which the intercept doesnt have. if the optimus has a slideout keyboard i will get one if not, intercept i stay

  9. Cute Gadget Geek

    I agree with Mary about the Customer center, I had small issues while activating my first phone and the guy was obviously reading off of a script and not addressing my problem, and the language barrier can be a setback in that situation. For 25$ a month there has to be some setback I suppose. Other than that I am happy and don’t plan to sign a contract ever again if I don’t have to.
    But I will be waiting with espy for a more sophisticated android phone to come along.

  10. I had Virgin Mobile and yes the 25.00 plan is unbeatable. However the phone selection is beatable. And I was tempted to take a look at the intercept. But when I did a little investigation on the internet (as I always do before buying just about anything) there was a large amount of people complaining that the notification bar freezes and they have to restart the phone in order to get it to work again. You can forget about getting updates. That will never happen. Once again you get what you pay for. So if you can deal with that then by all means, save some serious cash by switching to Virgin Mobile. I however have grown fond of Metro PCS. They have stepped their game up!

  11. @lisset Its actually already available in certain Targets. However if you do find it, you wont be able to activate it until its available from Virgin Mobile. Yet there are some who make the claim they they have a work around to get it activated now. My advice is wait a little while it will be available. Heck, it could be tomorrow.

  12. The LG Optimus V will officialy be released February 1st. It is available in some Targets and some Radio Shacks now but can not be activated until the 1st. I currently have a Samsung Intercept that is rooted and running Froyo 2.2 with Ubuntdroid 4 (custom rom) and there are absolutely NO ISSUES at all. It is so much better than stock 2.1 and has a lot more features.

  13. I have been a Virgin Mobile customer for almost 2 years now. I owned an Intercept, but unfortunately ended up bricking it playing around with the software. Virgin Mobile seems to be taking a good step with this device. The hardware requirements for newer versions of Android are more and more demanding and recoding them for specific phones takes time and money. VM seems to realize that a good section of their users want good phones for great prices. It seems like (since it’s taking so long to update the Intercept) they may just sell phones as is. While this isn’t great if you’re paying tons for a phone or being locked into a plan, VM isn’t doing either. Personally I don’t mind having to buy a new phone to experience the new software, because I usually want a new phone a couple times a year anyway. The lower cost will just let me feel less obligated to keep using the phone.

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