Samsung Intercept for Virgin Mobile

Being a former mobile phone sales person and avid geek it takes quite a bit to impress me electronically. Samsung has had quite a good reputation for having well made phones and intuitive designs. This slider touch screen android phone hits the spot for versatility and value.
The start up and activation process is a breeze as well as learning to navigate the phone's android interface. Samsung has a good history of having well made speakers in their phones so it was no surprise that both call and sound clarity were excellent. If you are new to android phones you should know that it's vital to any android phone to have an app killer (ie: advanced task killer), they're free to download and close out of programs running in the background thus saving you battery life and speeding the phone back up. The phone gives you an option to sync your email, contacts through facebook as well as a few other applications. The syncing and updates run very quickly and smoothly. Downloading any apps may take longer depending on your location because of data capabilities. What is nice is that this phone can be switched into a wifi mode to utilize the speed of a local wifi network. It works even with the highest level security wifi WEP, granted you have the password. Now i mention this because some phones and devices (ie: nintendo ds lite) need you to step down the encryption for the wifi to work. I will say whether on wifi or not for downloading do not try multiple downloads at once, its much quicker to que one after another when the prior file is done downloading as phone only have so much computing power.
The QWERTY keyboard is a huge plus as tactile response (physical buttons you push with active response) will always be most accurate over the touch key pads for any text inputs. The only downside I see with this keyboard is that the keys are not raised. Raising the keys gives the button a better separation and ease of use so you have less chance of pressing any adjacent keys. The keys themselves are well sized even for those of us with big fingers. The keys are easy to read and are back-lit when in use. The touch screen keypad is more accurate then most but considering that the phone comes with an easy to use qwerty, you'll probably opt to use the slide out more than the touch keys.
The screen is very vibrant and the touch response is very accurate. There are a sea of games that you can download for free that utilize the touch screen, internal gyroscopes and gorgeous screen that this phone offers. I was at first leery that the screen of the Samsung Intercept would be too small as I have many friends with Droid X, incredible and a few others have massive screens but with a price as they have a brick-like quality to them. The samsung intercept screen size and total weight and size are a perfect balance of function, quality and form which in my mind puts this phone ahead of its much more cumbersome, bulky android siblings.
Bottom line is that if you want a phone that still feels like a sleek smart phone but with the functionality of a larger smart phone then this is the phone to get. High quality and functionality at a low cost = win.

This is the phone you want to buy. It's a no-brainer.

Simply put, unless you are into extremely high-end video or in-phone gaming, this is the phone you want to buy.

At this time, it's the only real Android phone you can buy witout either getting stuck in a 2 year contract-from-hell or paying a boatload of money for something only slighly better.

For the rest of us, the day of ANDROID for the masses has finally arrived! Now regular, normal people who's lives don't revolve around their phones and who refuse to pay a small car payment every month can have a nice smartphone that will show you what all the excitement is about.

The Intercept has the right combination of features and performance to make almost anyone happy and you can see it in the reviews. Hardly anyone dislikes this phone and for good reason. It's fast; it has a touch screen *AND* a nice keyboard; you can get a $25/mo plan that includes 300 minutes and unlimited everything else; and, because it's Android, you have available to you a vast catalog of FREE and CHEAP apps to make this baby do whatever you desire.

Android is the open-source phone system from Google and that means thousands (millions???) of both professional and hobbyiest programmers are writing really great apps for the phone. Everything is available from the Android Store app right on the home screen and even the most expensive apps are usualy under 10 bucks, but most are FREE.

With the included stuff, you can use Google Maps to use the phone as a talking GPS that give you turn by turn directions. You can view and take your own pictures and videos. You can surf the Net and I mean the REAL Internet; not just watered-down mobile sites.

Oh yeah. And it makes phone calls too! Good clear-sounding ones that are better than my landline over Sprint's 3G network. Did you know that Virgin Mobile in the US is actually a division of Sprint? Well, now you do and they are trying to do with this phone and their new plans what you and I have been waiting years for: A cellphone that has all the tricks, doesn't cost a lot and has reasonably-priced service plans (300 min w/unlimited data and txt) that start at $25 and never get higher than $60!!!

You heard me right. SIXTY BUCKS A MONTH and NO CONTRACT past the month to month one.

So, it's hard to find a down side to this one. If you don't like it or if other companies stop being so greedy and lower their prices, you should easily be able to re sell this on Ebay for close to what you paid for it. There's no penalty from VirginMobile if you change your mind. Oh, and this is a really nice phone, so I doubt any of this will apply anyway.

A true NO-BRAINER.

[PS: I'm not even a dealer for this product (maybe I ought to look into that), but I am a very happy owner of one. Get it while you can too. I think this is going to end up being a REAL HOT product this season.]

Great phone!

I love this phone! I already have an internet tablet (Android) so it was a cinch to set up and navigate. It's the best of both worlds having a touchscreen and qwerty to work with. I use it as an mp3 player and store all my photos in it as well, plus it has a 3.2 megapixel camera/video camera, making it a useful multimedia device. I expanded my storage with an 8GB micro SD card. There are a slew of apps you can download from the installed market. I installed the Borders app so all the books in my Borders library are accessible to read on the phone. I installed Pandora to listen to my existing stations I have on my PC. So much more you can do with it! I would recommend the Intercept to anyone interested in a techy but not overwhelming phone. As a phone itself it has good sound quality and reception. The threaded text messaging is great. I have wireless backup but I couldn't use it with this phone. I had to punch in all my contacts myself or take it to a Sprint store where they could transfer it (free of charge). That was somewhat inconvenient but the phone as a whole is awesome.

Great little toy

I had played with a friends phone which was from another carrier, before purchasing this. I have to say, I like this one a lot better. It takes a little getting used to, a little hard to find things and to use programs that I was used to using on a standard cell phone. There is some adjustment to this format. I still cannot always find what I need in a timely manner. That is not the phones fault, it is user ignorance. Some apps take a little longer to load than I would like, I just have to remember that this is not as fast as my laptop is. All in all I am very happy with this phone. It has a large clear screen, the slide out keyboard is great for my fumbling fingers. I would not be happy with a touch screen only as I tend to get cranky about my inability to touch the exact right spot on command. Again, user error. The camera takes nice clear pictures and it is easy to post them to facebook or where ever. I like that I can download audible books right to my phone. If you are not into using all the apps and little gadgets, don't buy this phone. If you are looking into getting a great little toy and phone in one, go for it.

Perfect for my needs

I use my phone mostly to tell people where we'll be getting together or hanging out at and a lot of that is done texting to the masses. This phone is perfect for that. Picture quality is good, and the nice bright clear screen is nice. QWERTY is smooth as a charm. The buttons are solid enough to make you feel like you are actually typing unlike touch phones that are simulated, but they are soft enough to not make too loud of annoying click sound when you are in a quiet place.

Battery life is great! I don't use the facebook/myspace features as those things come to me by text anyways.

It might look like its bulky but its really not that bad at all. I had its predessor the rant and its actually shorter a bit but just a tad wider (google for exact specs)

So if you txt/talk and take a couple of vids/photos and thats all you need your phone to do...then this is it. Straight forward, fast simple, and cheaper on ebay!!!!