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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #886 in Cell Phone Accessories
• Brand: Kyocera
• Model: Wildcard
• Released on: 2007-10-15

Features

• Flip open to reveal full QWERTY keyboard, dual LCD screens; includes 1.3-megapixel camera for still photos
• Pay for only the calling time you use with Virgin Mobile's minutes or monthly plans--no annual contract required
• Send text/picture messages and chat using AOL/Yahoo! services with optional service; download games and ringtones
• Up to 195 minutes of talk time, up to 150 hours of standby time
• Includes: Battery and Charger

Amazon.com Product Description
Get ready for high-powered messaging, email, chat, and a whole lot more with the ingeniously designed Kyocera Wild Card. An update to the popular SwitchBack, the phone looks like just another candybar style handset. Flip it open, though, and you've got a QWERTY keyboard and a large internal display. It's also one of the first handsets available from Virgin Mobile with Bluetooth wireless connectivity for communication headsets. Other features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, mobile web browsing, and mobile IM and email capabilities (via AOL and Yahoo!). It runs on the 1900 MHz CDMA network with Virgin Mobile's prepaid service, which requires no annual contract.

The Kyocera Wild Card opens up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard for easy emails, IM chats, and text messaging. See an overview of the phone's interior.

Virgin Mobile Service
With Virgin Mobile, you pay only for the calling time you use. You can choose a plan that's based just on minutes (with rates between 10¢ and 20¢ per minute) or a monthly plan with no annual contract (with select plans offering unlimited calling on weekends and after 7pm on weekdays). You can also choose from a variety of mobile messaging plans, which includes text and picture messaging, email, and IM (via AOL and Yahoo!). Virgin Mobile USA's national coverage is powered by the nationwide Sprint PCS network.

Virgin Mobile contributes 5 percent of profits from downloadable content to The RE*Generation, its pro-social initiative to help homeless teens, as well as provides postage-paid return envelopes in every new package for customers to recycle old phones.

Phone Features
The Wild Card's face features a large, 1.5-inch 65K-color screen with a 128 x 128-pixel resolution. You'll also find a dialpad here and a five-way center button that controls most of the phone's on-screen menus. Flip the phone open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, another five-way center button, and call control buttons. The design allows for calling functions to be performed with the phone open or closed. A horizontally oriented 1.8-inch screen (with a 160 x 128-pixel resolution and 65K colors) is placed above the keyboard between the phone's dual speakers. It can hold up to 500 personal contacts, with six numbers as well as fields for email, street addresses, URL, and notes.

Because the Wild Card is Bluetooth enabled, wireless communication headsets can be configured with the phone. It also incorporates a jack for an earphone as well as a speakerphone for total hands-free operation.

Support for basic text messaging and multimedia messaging (MMS) are built into the Wild Card. When used in combination with the phone's built-in camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging chat is also supported, thanks to an embedded AOL Instant Messenger client. A built-in wireless web browser lets you surf Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 2.0 sites via the Virgin Mobile Web service. eZiText text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.

A number of handy tools ship with the Wild Card, including an alarm, a calendar, and a calculator with a tip calculator. There's also a voice memo application for recording quick notes or numbers.

The built-in 1.3-megapixel camera captures great stills and comes equipped with an LED flash, multi-shot adjustment, and a self-timer. Because the Wild Card supports Java applications it is compatible with many Java-based games. Many games are available from Virgin Mobile's wireless download service. You can also customize the phone with custom graphics and wallpapers, many of which are also available from Virgin Mobile.

The phone fully supports Virgin Mobile's wireless content service, VirginXtras. Use the pay-per-use service to download ringtones, get content and vote in TV-based polls via the MTV area of your phone, or get jokes and updates from Comedy Central. Pick a celebrity voice to answer your voicemail, or get a Sponge Bob thought of the day.

Vital Statistics
The Kyocera Wild Card weighs 4.1 ounces and measures 3.94 x 1.97 x 0.79 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 195 minutes of talk time, and up to 150 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 1900 frequency.

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Customer Reviews

Good for such a cheap phone.
Okay, this ain't no Blackberry, but for $99 this is the cheapest querty keyboard phone you can find. Add Virgin's dirt cheap pay as you go plan and it is perfect. Virgin phones have a plasticky feel to them, but it works. Just don't drop it.... The camera quality isn't as good as other Virgin phones, and the Wildcard is also without a video camera, but that's okay. I use it to access e-mail and for a nominal (about 5 min. per month) amount of phone calls.

Pretty useful
The Wildcard has many uses. The phone contains AIM, a camera, and e-mail. The camera's pictures do not come out too clear but is pretty good for a $100 phone. THe calls are always clear and i always get service.

I like it!
Fed up with "traditional" plans - I decided to go the prepaid route and purchased this phone for myself and my kids.

So far, so good. We really like the Wildcard phone (and Virgin Mobile's pricing options are reasonable and not too much more expensive than the traditional plans).

Now, I should say that I'm a simple person. To me, a cell phone is brilliant if it allows me to make and receive calls(and texts) in the most concise, efficient, inexpensive manner possible. All other features are icing IMO.

That being said, as far as the prepaid market is concerned, I think the Wildcard is a great phone. The calls are clear (though the speaker function sounds kinda scratchy) the signal is strong and the ringer is loud. Physically, the phone is attractive and a convenient size. (We, too, initially had a problem getting the battery compartment to open - OMG! Fort Knox is less secure!).

The qwerty keyboard is as nifty as it is handy to use and the screen has nice colorization. The battery life is really good. I absolutely love the backlighting and 1-touch and voice activated dialing features. The internet works fine - though I'm too cheap to use it often (LOL). I do have to confess I've downloaded a ringtone or two (OK, three) as me and my kids really love that feature. The camera works OK - pictures could be clearer, but then again, I use my digital camera - rarely my phone - to take pictures.

I haven't tried the IM or Bluetooth features yet.

As with any product, there are things that can be improved: Now, I realize I'm way older than Virgin Mobile's young, hip, computer savvy target market, and that the Wildcard is not a Smart Phone - but the phone could be more intuitive. For instance, the process of setting up contacts is fine, however, I wish managing contacts were less cumbersome. I would love to be able to have something like 1-touch texting cuz as it stands now, I can click my handy-dandy quick text button on the phone, yes, but I still have to enter the phone number of the the contact I want to text - each time.

Also, I found the description of a couple of Virgin Mobile's monthly plans a little confusing - especially the whole "cash balance" part. However, when I called customer support they were very helpful and informative.

In conclusion - as I said before, I'm easy to please so I really like this phone and all it has to offer. However, if you are looking for a phone akin to a Blackberry or Sidekick, the Wildcard is not for you.