Virgin Mobile Kyocera K9 Pay-As-You-Go Wireless Phone
Has all that you NEED, not much you'd WANT
I'm a very knowledgeable techie/gadget-type (GPS, PDA, computers, big screen, etc.) But when it comes to cell phones, I just want a phone that does what it SHOULD do well, make & receive calls with a good battery life. I pity the fools that buy those $200+ phones every year. They must be independently wealthy, Or just bad with money. <br /> <br />In fact, I much prefer a cell phone WITHOUT a camera, color screen, or high-tech multimedia, since I don't intend to litter the internet with junk cell photos and eat battery life trying to watch the news on a 2-inch screen while driving. <br /> <br />Part of my lower than average \\"wants\\" could be due to mine and my wife's low average cell usage (max. 200 min./mo. each.) <br /> <br />Ultimately, there's only three primary things that matter to me: call performance, usability, and battery life.  <br /> <br />The only secondary things I look for are size and weight. The Kyocera K9 is about as small a phone as I'd want for a grown man, while weight is about what you'd expect. Especially since the battery is most of the weight in a current phone. And I'm not looking for a phone that cuts that corner. <br /> <br />So when my 2 year contract was ending with a decent, but typical, regional carrier, I ordered this phone on sale ($25 w/free shipping) from the Virgin Mobile website. <br /> <br />I judged my new phone against two different Nokias I used in the past. The first was the one \\"everyone\\" had a version of 4-5 years ago, the second was an early basic \\"candybar\\" style (identical to the first \\"Go\\" phones, big brother of the \\"Shorty\\", which my wife now uses.) I did not judge it against my last phone of 2 years, which was junk (its one redeeming quality was the beautiful interior screen.) <br /> <br />Let me say right here that the Kyocera K9 beats the Nokia in usability, which I did not expect it to do. There's plenty of easy to decipher options and nothing that left me frustrated or confused.  <br /> <br />I haven't had the phone nearly long enough (31 minutes/19 calls) to provide a helpful opinion on call performance. Virgin uses the Sprint network, so I'd expect some minor issues in the future. My reception is average/adequate in Surprise, AZ (45 minutes Northwest of Phoenix.) My last phone had the advantage here, with its extendable antenna that came in handy in lower signal pockets. The K9 does have the stub, which in my experience is superior to the internal type. <br /> <br />And battery performance has been acceptable, not exceptional, in the short time I've owned this phone. I could make calls and leave the Nokia \\"candybar\\" on for almost a week (overnight) before thinking about charging. But the K9 has the flashlight and an intense backlight (both which I value), so I understand (& accept) that the more I use those the less time I have between charges. Whereas the Nokia only had the ghetto, but power-saving, side (?) lighting like early digital watches. <br /> <br />I figure as long as I'm not stuck places bored and playing Tetris (yes the official one, but it's TINY!), and running the backlight I should be fine. My last phone, a Toshiba CDMA2000 (aka Audiovox CDM-9500) was down to under 10 minutes of talk time in the end. Even when new I had to charge it every single stinkin' night. <br /> <br />That stupid phone didn't even have a simple calculator, while the K9 has TWO: one standard plus a tip calculator that can figure split checks. The Toshiba may have had a hack for free internet, but that stopped working for me a long time back. And even being a web designer, I didn't get much joy from that. <br /> <br />And there's the flashlight I mentioned: very easy to use. And again, even has 2 ways to function it: hold down the \\"CLR\\" button for momentary light or through the Menu for timed operation. <br /> <br />So what about other good points? Functions you need quickly are all activated with the 4-way button: hold left for keylock (1-2-3 to deactivate is one key more than some), hold right for vibe mode, click down starts scrolling right into your Contacts (optional to have Frequently Called numbers at the top of the list), while holding up will query Virgin for your current account balance and send a note back a few moments later with the answer. <br /> <br />I feel that the 4-way button is small. I have normal size man hands and it took more training that should be necessary to get used to it. <br /> <br />If you're looking for needless bleeding edge gadgetry, then this isn't your phone at all. None of that matters to me personally, so if you seek a cheap, basic, and very functional phone then I highly recommend this one.