Kyocera K9 Phone (Virgin Mobile)

Rating:
Summary: Lottery?
Review: A local friend recommended the K9 as a replacement for our now relatively cumbersome Nokia phones, and I bought a couple of them. Like several other reviewers I very much wanted to like this phone. It's light, inexpensive, with very good coverage, and the pay-as-you-go deal is just right for us.

Famously, the bracingly loud "telephone" ringtone won't work as a default. It does work, though, if you assign it to a particular contact number, so if you receive calls from relatively few people this shouldn't cause a problem. You could also download a loud ringtone for a couple of bucks if that's the kind of thing you do.

Short battery time, however, really is a problem. True, we did better than some users below, but never more than 48 hours or so standby out of one charge. You can charge the phone every night, but only if you remember. Charging when the phone is turned off does seem to make a difference, but not a truly satisfactory difference. In fairness, I understand that Lithium batteries don't reach full capacity until they are fully charged and discharged several times so, although inconvenient, that might help too. We didn't try this, however, as on the third day of use one phone became unusable, displaying only nasty black lines and gibberish when it was turned on.

At this point I got tired of making excuses for the wretched things and sent them back, after being treated to Virgin's oddly bipolar customer support. It's cheesily informal and friendly ("Hey Whadup, it's Virgin Mobile!) until they get wind that you're calling about a problem, at which their tone changes to that of a snarky adolescent addressing some unfortunate who's really, like, unpopular.

That said, our friend still loves her K9, boasting long battery life and trouble-free use, so you may be lucky.


Rating:
Summary: Great Option for Occasional Cellular Users
Review: As the end of my Sprint contract neared, I did the math and found that, on average, I was paying over 45 cents per minute. Being that I was already on the lowest plan, I had no downgrade option, with Sprint, to save money.

Thus, I started considering other options - eventually prepaid. With this phone and plan, I am saving over thirty dollars per month. Now, if I could only get my wife to switch, that'd be another thirty dollars a month saved. Being that Virgin operates as an MVNO on Sprint's CDMA network, I have the same coverage that I am used to, along with the crystal clear calls to which I have grown accustomed.

The Phone
It is what it is. It's prepaid cellular phone for which I paid forty dollars in December. It has performed reliably and as advertised since then. The phonebook holds all of the contact information I require. The battery seems to have good life, still having a full charge after leaving my phone turned on in the glove box of my car over a long, cold weekend. The battery seems to drain more quickly when I am at my office, than when I am at home, but I also saw this trend with my Sprint phone. I believe this is more tied to signal strength at that location than issues with either phone (most everyone else in the office also has Sprint and witnessed similar occurrences).

A minor complaint is that the buttons definitely feel small to my large hands and fingers. Also minor, but more annoying, is that the phone only comes with one normal sounding ringer and it refused to use it (this is the same issue mentioned in other reviews). This was solved by downloading another acceptable ringer. I'd rather not have dropped the two dollars to get a non-musical/sound effect rings, but it's a small quibble given the initial forty dollar purchase price of the phone.

The Service
If you've had experience with Sprint, you will get the same coverage and call quality that you witnessed with them. I have not had a problem in the 2+ years I've used their network. As with any cellular provider, signal strengths are higher in some locations than others. Most stores will let you return a phone and try a different carrier if you make a return within a reasonable amount of time, so make sure it works where you are likely to be found and check your vendor's return policy. As an occasional user, the Virgin Mobile airtime pricing schedule works great for me. I am already saving money. Just to make things better, they put $10 in your account to get you going when you activate the phone - much better than getting an activation fee. I am on target to having monthly cell phone airtime expenditures of less than $10. About that, I cannot complain.

Rating:
Summary: The "Pre-Pay" idea is great, the phone however....
Review: I bought a Virgin Mobile Phone when they first came on the scene. I was happy with the phone at first, but now my battery is worthless and the phone model is obsolete. It would actually be cheaper for me to buy a completely new phone than to replace the battery. Love the idea of "pre-pay"--much more convenient than signing contracts, monthly fees, etc. The cross-country coverage is so-so at best. I'd recommend comparison shopping between cell phone carriers before settling with Virgin Mobile.

Rating:
Summary: Phone good for the money, battery issues can be overcome
Review: I bought this phone about a week ago and so far I'm impressed. The phone features are good, especially compared with the 5 year old model I upgraded from. Phonebook is nice and stores all types of info for your contacts, tetris and knock-out games will help pass time if bored. Phone is light and easily slips into a pocket without a big "bulge". When I first charged the phone i experienced the same battery "issues" a number of people are complaining about. I beleive the problem to be software and not the battery. My phone charged the first time in less than an hour. I thought that was weired. I unplugged and re-plugged the phone back in but it still said it was charged. I let it drain (it did in less than two days), charged again, this time it took a little under 2 hours (manual says it should take about 3). I made a couple calls and plugged it back in. It continued to charge for another hour+. It's been running on the same charge for over 4 days now. I think you just need to "trick" the phone software into letting it charge the battery more. While this certainly is a difficiency in the phone, for the $50 price tag ($40 if you subtract the $10 of free service) and the phone features, what more do you want. If you want the latest and greatest gadgets and doo-dads for free, go sign a two year contract that will cost you $1200 over the two years. Now that's an expensive phone!

Rating:
Summary: 7.5 Days??? YEAH RIGHT!
Review: I have used a Party Animal Phone for years & decided to give it to my daughter & "upgrade" to a K-9 phone. BIG MISTAKE! I am on my 6th K-9 due to issues of holding a charge. They state up to 7.5 days! I am lucky if it lasts 2! Each phone has done the same thing no matter what I do. I have just left the phone on my desk, unused & it is dead within 48 hours.

The customer service at Virgin has left a lot to be desired at the lower level. If you have to call them, insist on talking to a MANAGER. They seem to treat customers a bit better.

I am STILL trying to work through my issues with the K-9 with Virgin Mobile. Do yourself a favor. Pay close attention to these reviews before you buy this phone. Consider yourself warned.

Rating:
Summary: good pick
Review: I like my phone a lot. It has a ton of cool features and is really affordable, so it's great for anyone on a budget who still needs a cell phone. It's also really small, so I can tuck it in my pocket or just about anywhere without losing a lot of storage space (like in my purse)! This is a really good cell phone to pick if you don't need a lot of the high end features like a camera phone or something.

Rating:
Summary: Phone is great and battery might not be an issue
Review: I love the phone and the pay as you go service is a great deal. I think I figured out what is wrong with the battery. I think its a problem with the phone. If you are charging the battery and unplug it from the charger then plug it back in you will notice it doesn't start back up charging again. I think the phone is clueless on figuring out when a full charge occurs. What I did do was wait till the phone was completely out of juice. Then I plugged it into my AC charger(note: The phone needs to be off and should be if it is truly out of power). You will see a message that the phone is off and charging. At this point press your red handset button to turn the phone on. You will see another message that it is still charging and the phone will turn on automatically(at some point). That's it. Just make sure it gets charged fully and is not interrupted at any point or as I mentioned the brain-dead phone can't figure out how to complete the charging process. I did this New Years Eve and have been running on the same charge for almost 5 days! That's the most I have EVER got! Perhaps this is a fluke, I'll have to try it multiple times but this may be a good workaround for folks.

Happy charging!! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Great Little Phone
Review: I was very suprised by negative comments. If you are an infrequent wireless user, this phone couldn't be a better buy. Compact, easy to navigate, with clear reception even in the Florida Keys. Virgin service has been top notch. If you don't use the phone a lot you can easily get by for $80 a year including all taxes, fees, etc. Also, there is no connection fee. Make sure to check out the Virgin website first.

Rating:
Summary: long time customer of virgin mobile
Review: I've been a virgin mobile customer for over 2 years, and have had great luck with their customer service. The phones however, are a different story. I went through 2 party animal models, 2 k7 rave models, and now a k9 model! The party animals both lasted for about 6 months, and then displayed "service required" on the display and would not do anything. Virgin mobile said it was a problem with the antenna, and the first time, they replaced it. They sent me a new one and charged it to my credit card, and I sent the old one back, and they took the charge off when they got it back. The second time, i figured i'd just upgrade to the k7 rave. It lasted for about 5 months, and then the keys would stick, and it would freeze up. They replaced it using the same method described above. (I do not however, know if they still do this, because I haven't done it in nearly a year.) The second k7 never broke, and I decided for some reason to upgrade to the k9 in october, and gave the k7 to my mom. Bad move! Her k7 is still working fine, while since the moment i bought the k9, the battery only lasts for about 48 hours at the most! They boast the same 7.5 day standby time as the k7, but something went horribly wrong with these new batteries. The "telephone" ringtone also doesn't work, but I use a different one anyway. There is also something "rattling" inside the phone whenever i move it, and I have never dropped it. A friend with this phone has the same problem. I didn't bother contacting virgin mobile with any of these issues, because I'm sure they have been brought to their attention already. I heard that they signed a deal with nokia and are releasing a new phone soon, so I plan on switching to that when it comes out. I have also heard horror stories about some of the audiovox flip phones they have, and the slider as well. If you are looking to buy a virgin mobile phone, the customer service and plan is great, but i suggest waiting until the nokia model comes out before buying a phone with them.

Rating:
Summary: Innovative features on an overlooked phone
Review: This phone suprised me. I wasn't expecting it to have games built in, i didn't even know about the flash light, and the battery life has been treating me just fine. The games first off are ones i always go out and buy any how so i was really happy to know i can save a few bucks that way. And the flashlight! that's quite possibly the coolest feature i've ever seen on a phone. camera's became a must have on every cell phone today, i think it's gonna be the flashlights turn next. i doubted it at first just laughing at the idea of a flashlight, but within 24 hours it came into crucial use, it's bright enough to find what you're looking for, but it's area is small enough that it won't wake anyone up or disturb anyone. awesome phone.