To activate or not to activate

vacuum cleaner LG Optimus Prepaid Android Virgin

I'm a longtime Virgin Mobile customer that was also a Helio customer before and after VM acquired them. Over the space of the last decade or so, I've used everything from ultra-low end handsets that cost $20 and could barely place a call, to ultra-high end $200 handsets in Helio's contract lineup which could (at least in theory) do everything short of toasting bread. Generally speaking, I've found that Virgin's 'high end' devices weren't really worth the expense- their advanced features tended to be poorly suited to their pay-as-you-go billing system, no cheaper than contract phones on their monthly plans, and just plain buggy.

VM's new monthly plans and handsets, however, made me shell it out for yet another try. The main reason was devices like the Optimus V, which have a proven track record on Sprint (which Virgin runs on), T-mobile, and others. I'd also been getting tired of being made fun of with my beat-up old Samsung M340 which had never been too great in the call quality department anyhow. The Optimus V is an entry-level Android smartphone with full touchscreen control and the ability to run most apps. Among other features (which you can look up here or on VM's site) it has an external SD card slot, 3.2 MP camera, motion sensor, and rear speakerphone. It also comes with a basic wired headset, which you can replace with most third party (including bluetooth) earpieces.

The biggest draw for the Optimus V, and Virgin in general, is cost. Rates start at $25 a month for unlimited data, texting, and 300 minutes. You can restart this whenever you want, so if you run out of minutes before a month is up you can just start the next month (so to speak) by paying another $25. For those that spend way more time using mobile web/email and texting than talking, this is an insanely good deal. Furthermore- and probably best of all- you are under no contractual obligations, which means if you cancel your plan (essentially, stop paying) you don't get hit with an ETF. This does mean you have to pay the full price of the handset, but the flexibility is worth it.

It's worth noting, before delving into the pros and cons of the device itself, that there has been a very serious- borderline dealbreaker- technical issue with the Optimus V. In many areas, including mine, the phone would randomly drop its 3G connection and fail to reconnect. When this happened it wouldn't give any indication that something was wrong- the only way you could tell was by trying to send or receive data, which would time out. This was a big problem because if you have background data on, it would be madly attempting to retry transfer, which would eat up the battery like crazy- sometimes in 2 hours from a full charge. You have to manually toggle the device's mobile network to restore it. This issue seems to have been resolved recently in my area, but be warned that others have reported still having it. Google "optimus v 3g drops" if you want to learn more.

Pros:

Call quality is excellent, much better than any previous Virgin device I've used.

Screen is superb in resolution and clarity, decent even in sunlight, and very responsive to touch and gestures. Typing on the virtual keyboard is no problem.

The device is quite powerful for an entry-level smartphone and can run most apps smoothly.

The build and housing are well done with a nice, solid feel and rubberized grip. It feels like it can take a few licks, and it has in my possession.

Standard Google apps, such as maps/navigation, gmail, calendar, news/weather all work seamlessly. I've found this is a worthy replacement for my old Garmin GPS and serves as a better scheduling reminder than desktop web versions of Google Apps. Contacts and events sync between both automatically, so you can enter information wherever you want.

Between the installed apps and stuff you can download for free, you can use this phone for pretty much anything you'd care to. It has all the basic utility features as well: decent mp3 player, email, calculator, alarm clock, browser, and chat. While it's no iPhone killer, you can do every basic task that higher end smartphones can tackle.

You can root it (at your own risk) and use 3rd party apps that enable things like the mobile hotspot, which works decently. While Sprint's EVDO network might not be the latest and greatest in speed, it's plenty fast enough for web browsing.

Cons:

Flash doesn't work on this handset, and as far as I know there's no way to hack it (at least not for free) yet.

Since the speakerphone is rear-mounted, it can be hard to hear if you put the phone down with the screen facing upwards. This means you're forced to place it face down, which is somewhat awkward seeing as how all the controls are on the front.

Battery life is so-so, even after the glitch with the 3G drops was resolved. I usually have to charge it every other day with only moderate use. If you use the phone frequently or take frequent calls, expect to have to charge it daily. A car charger is recommended, and you can find some cheap ones that do the trick right here on Amazon.

The motion sensor is a bit flaky, enough so that I just turned it off. The phone often fails to detect that it's been turned to landscape or portrait mode or, probably worse, sometimes falsely detects it has been reoriented. It has no sense of up or down, so if you wake it up in landscape mode it'll still show in portrait.

The camera takes mediocre pictures, especially if you zoom. It doesn't focus too well by itself, so unless the subject is at ideal range and with ideal lighting, don't expect awesome results. Video is likewise unimpressive.

The Optimus V is easily the best handset in Virgin's lineup and a very inexpensive and capable device. I heartily recommend it if you're at all interested in getting into the smartphone craze, yet don't want to pay out your children's inheritance in the process.