Kyocera WILD CARD (Virgin Mobile)

I've had this little dual screen QWERTY by Kyocera for maybe a month now with the Virgin Mobile provider and very few complaints at all. I've had two other Virgin phones, the Marbl and the TNT by Kyocera also and this is the upgrade since I like to text a lot.

The Wildcard (aka kyocera M1000) is a bit on the thick side when closed if you're used to thin candybar cellphones, and the external buttons kind of close together to make them a little harder to push than the Marbl's or TNT's.

But its true purpose is the QWERTY inside the flip and that more than makes up for the thick profile when using it just as a phone; I almost never use the external keypad except for making calls.

The brightly backlit QWERTY keypad is pretty well arranged, with a good feel to the keys, it is MUCH faster typing texts or emails on and well worth the $90 I paid for it for the amount of time saved not having to do one finger typing.

I hold the phone with both hands when QWERTY texting and type with thumbs,it's too awkward to try to lay it on a table and attempt to 'type' as I would with a keyboard.

Texting allows the same emoticons the Marbl has on it, which of course are fun to add to a text even for old kids in their forties like me.

If the signal strength is weak, like it often is where I live up in the woodsy hills, the texts sometimes don't send til I take the phone to a spot where signal improves, or I get occasional dropped or fuzzy call quality. But that's not the fault of the phone, I live in a fringe signal area outside of town. About a half mile farther down the road, signal strength shoots WAY up.

I have a cell with another provider and sometimes I get error messages with that service saying the text couldn't send but when Virgin can't send the text it prompts to re-send instead of telling me later the message didn't arrive. That is a BIG plus.

The ONE QUIRK is, the phone freezes sometimes. So far that only has happened when starting to text, I have to remove the back/battery and put the battery back in again to reBoot. It needs a RESET BUTTON. It doesn't happen often though.

The browser on the phone is about as good as on the Kyocera TNT, I can read/send emails using Yahoo, but for some reason my Hotmail box quit allowing me access to login on the TNT and that is still the case on the Wildcard browser. There are a few other email accounts possible on the phone, and it also has 'pushmail' or 'ozmail,' I get Yahoo alerts and can access my mailbox without logging in or starting the VXL browser.

The camera is fun, but image hard to see in strong lighting when trying to take pix. I can use the pix for caller ID's. I can view the pix in mobile Yahoo mail if I send photos to store in my emailbox.

Virgin is one of the cheapest prepaid cell service providers, no '$1/day' fees to get 10c minutes, just a per minute talk charge depending on which pack or plan I have.

I can do almost all account business right on my cellphone browser or by calling the helpdesk, can topup with PayPal, topup cards, debit right from the phone and it's superfast, can check my messaging or data balance right on the phone and unlike some other prepaid services it isn't always sending text message or USD fund balance texts through while trying to text or do email. The only neg I've experienced with them so far is that when my balance dropped below $5 one time, funds kept disappearing from the balance til I topped up again.

text key pad- awesome- had one just like it but after 8 months screen went bad not sure if it got wet form snow but do like the phone and got another one

From the QWERTY keyboard to awesome style this phone has it all. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Virgin Mobile Wildcard phone and I know you will too!

I love the full keyboard, the pacman game and the ringtones. It is all around a pretty cool phone. I has alarm clock and all your basics.

Love that it looks new and no cracks in the screen!

I decided to buy it for my brother as a christmas gift! and hope he will love it as much as i do!!

Phone works great! Seller did a wonderful job all around!
The phone was a used phone in great condition.

I purchased this phone for my tween daughter and she absolutely loves it. It's a little boxy in shape but I think that is because the phone flips open instead of sliding like some of the newer phone models. I think it is a perfect phone if you are an occasional/new texter because it has the full keyboard. I also LOVE Virgin mobile pay-as-you-go for her cell needs as I can manage her bill and don't have to worry about the dozens of fees added onto other monthly phone plans. This phone has games and also takes pics so it is fully functional for somone who doesn't want to spend a fortune on a new phone for their child (or themselves!) but wants a nice product. I will say that the picture quality is not the best, but overall it's decent. Lastly, using the phone is very intuitive as my daughter never even picked up the manual and was texting and downloading games and creating her phone book within the first hour of opening the phone.

I had to search for this phone as it is out of stock most places. I found it at E-Bay and also found the best price here, as well! My soon-to-be 11 year old daughter absolutely loves this phone, and actually wanted this one back after I had bought her a much more expensive and much higher-tech touch screen with all the bells and whistles. I also want to comment on the fact that Virgin Mobile has simply the best pay-as-you-go plan available, and I have searched them all! It is easy to manage, they give special deals all the time including random acts of kindness where they give free airtime just because you are a customer! They use the Sprint network, as well! They have gained my loyalty and I hope they are in business for a long time and continue to prosper and provide the same excellent service that I've had so far. The only negative side to Virgin Mobile is that it is a little harder than it should be to get ahold of customer service, but don't let that stop you by any means! This phone rocks as far as my daughter is concerned and Virgin Mobile rocks as far as her dad (who's paying the bill!) is concerned! Be blessed!