The Simple & Cheap Mobile Device: Virgin Mobile Samsung Intercept – $169.99
The Plan: Virgin Wireless $25/Month – Unlimited text, email, data, web & 300 min. No contract.
Remember when you had a bunch of stuff that all did different things? The camcorder was for shooting video. The phone was for making telephone calls. Your computer was for the internet. And now all that and more can be done by something not much larger than a deck of cards. Smartphones are the swiss army knives of the digital age. But unlike your pocket knife, you’re not on the hook for paying Victorinox $50-$100/month for the next two years.
Virgin Mobile and their small but growing base of smartphones is the balance between a traditional smartphone experience and buying a pocket knife. Like the knife, you buy the gadget up front and there’s no crazy expensive contract attached. And like a traditional smartphone… well… it is one.
I’m not huge into gadgets so I don’t know every single last detail on this or any other phone. But what I do know is that I’m paying $25/month for unlimited everything except minutes, all while some of my friends shell out upwards of $100 a month for a plastic rectangle they feel obligated to look at every spare moment.
.
Here’s what I can do with my Samsung Intercept:
– Stream Pandora, without worrying about costs.
– Text till my thumbs bleed w/ the touch screen or slide out keyboard
– Update the Dappered Twitter and Facebook Status easily
– Take reasonably good pics for the site with the 3.2 mega pixel
..camera, & email them to myself for editing.
– Shoot video at the touch of two buttons so I can show our vet the
..weird hacking noises our cat sometimes makes, only to have him
..tell us that the cat is actually having an asthma attack.
– Find any restaurant / store / place of business and call them with the easy google search box
– Have my phone/google calendars one in the same through auto sync
– Keep it in an inside blazer pocket without it adding too much bulk or weight.
To be fair, it has some drawbacks:
– The network can be total crap, so if you’re used to something like Verizon? Forget that kind of coverage
– Touch screen isn’t super responsive. It’s good, but sometimes it takes my fingers a few tries to get a touch right.
– The Battery seems to drain pretty fast. It’s best to plug it in to charge every single day.
But those disadvantages are puny compared to the good stuff and Virgin’s incredible $25/month plan. If you’re the type who doesn’t like to talk on the phone much, isn’t addicted to his mobile device, and just wants something that works well at a minimal cost? Then you’ll almost surely love the Intercept. Because I’m that same type, and it’s one of the best purchases I’ve made in recent memory.
Questions and other feedback goes in the comments section below…