Audiovox 8500 Vox Phone (Virgin Mobile)

The Audiovox "Vox" 8500 features a speakerphone, polyphonic ringtones, support for Virgin Mobile wireless Internet services, and much more. This sporty companion will keep you in touch with style to spare. It's the perfect complement to Virgin Mobile service.

Design
The phone features a traditional clamshell design with a black and white display that features five selectable backlight colors. Meanwhile, monochrome supplementary display on the outside of the cover displays incoming call information, battery life, signal strength, graphics and more. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's backlit control pad. The top right side of the unit houses an extendable antenna while the phone's charging port is housed on the unit's bottom edge. The phone also features a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets. Up/down keys are located on the left side of the unit for quick volume control.

Calling Features
The 8500's built-in address book can store up to 99 entries for quick and easy management of your contacts. The phone comes with built-in polyphonic ringtones plus a vibrating alert. Ringtones can be assigned to specific callers so you don't have to look at the phone to know who's calling. Voice dialing is supported, as are voice commands, so you can both dial numbers and control certain functions of the phone without ever touching it. A built-in speakerphone lets you talk handsfree while you're on the go.

Messaging, Internet and Tools
The 8500 covers the messaging basics with support for sending and receiving text messages easily and quickly (Virgin Mobile text messaging charges apply). T9 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.

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. Need to jog your memory? Use Virgin's wacky song ID service. Press the Song ID command, point your 8500 towards a song that's playing in the room, and within minutes a text message appears identifying the song's title.

The 8500 ships with a number of handy tools including a calendar, a calculator and an alarm clock.

Entertainment
The phone features custom Virgin Mobile graphics-- screen savers, wallpaper and menu icons-- that let you dress up your phone to suit your personality.

Vital Statistics
The Audiovox 8500 weighs 3.2 ounces and measures 3.3 x 1.6 x .90 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 2.5 hours of digital talk time, and up to 110 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 1900 frequency. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Audiovox 8500 handset, AC charger, lithium-ion battery, user's manual.

1 no problems for over a year
Let me start by saying I've owned this phone since it came out with no problems to speak of, even after being chewed up by the dog, and thrown from a second floor window by the good ole ex. Let me also state that I hate cell phones. I don't like being reached and hate carrying things that make my pockets buldge out, or paraphanalia which would look right at home on Batmans utility belt (yup, I'm not batman).
With that said, I think you should understand why I don't care if a phone has pretty graphics, a color screen, a camera, a million differant options and/or color cases to show your teeny bopper friends just how cool you are.
I probably make and recieve two to three calls a week, and I pay the minimum. I think it's something like 7$ a month, and I have more than enough minutes for what I use it for. If I want to make a phone call, well, I also pay for a house phone, and am lucky enough to have a job which supplies me with yet another phone. And somewhere inbetween the two, I make very few phone calls.
I suppose in the end if you don't make a lot of calls, then this is perfect. It fits nicely in the glove box, and is cheap. And I also live in a large city (chicago) and it works everywhere perfectly, even when I've driven to the south east all the way out to north cali. The only place I don't get reception is in my office, which is fine, because it has a phone already in it.
I thank Virgin Mobile for making a phone for people like me (people that need a mobile phone ONLY because this new bopper phase of spoiled convienence has eliminated almost all pay phones-i despise all of you)

2 Small.....But everything else a "BIG PROBLEM!"
DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!!! I have had enough w/ it! This is probably the worst phone ever made! I live in a major city and yet do I ever have a decent reception! I have no problem with the company (Virgin Mobile)....just the freakin' phone! There are sooooo many cons about this phone! No games, Speaker volume will fade for no reason, Phone will shut off when in silent mode and turn back on all loud and evrything (which really sux when im in class), Then after using it for like 10 min. (like txt messaging or VirginXtras) the phone will heat up so bad to where it starts to burn ur hand!, LCD Background colours suck! U can't read anything, No good txt message memory, Speakerphone will turn on in the middle of a conversation (OUCH!).....Thankfully this phone broke after 3 frustrating yrs. (it's a pretty strong phone...I give it that) So im now thinking of upgrading to the VOX 8610, But still paranoid if the 8610 will be like the 8500....

3 My Review
I think this phone is the perfect starter phone for a teenager. This was my second cell phone ever. And I just recently bought a new one to upgrade. It works great, I get great reception. (I'm in PA) I took it to FL with me last summer and it worked great! If you are one of those "high tech" people. This isn't the phone for you. But for starters, it's great.

4 Spend the extra $20 and upgrade
I really, really didn't want to purchase yet another phone. For over 10 years I have had a mobile plan and every time I switch companies they make me buy a phone (please, please recycle your old ones. Target takes them. Ok, off my soap box) So I wanted to get the best deal, so I went for this phone since it was on clearance for $80. Big mistake.

To be fair, it's a great looking phone...from the outside. It's the smallest one I have ever seen. But it has a "black and white" screen-- so dated. For $20 more you can get the 8610 and get a full-color screen. The phone is a little bigger (I mean a LITTLE bigger) but the screen is the best. The 8500 does have a backgroung color (choice of 8), but it only stays on for 20 seconds max. and then turns to that outdated green screen with grey lettering.

This was the very first phone Virgin ever had and the 8610 is an upgrade in ever sense of the word. Better screen, better ring tones, better reception. I switched and you should too. You won't be sorry.

But hey, if this model goes on *super-duper* clearance, go for it! It's sweet, and looks and feels great. But I wouldn't pay more than $50 for it.

5 Decent
Firstly, I do not believe any Virgin Mobile phone is meant for the serious cell phone user. With no free nights or weekends and having to pay 25 cents a minute for the first ten minutes you talk a day (10 cents a minute after that), you rack up the bill pretty fast.

There is a serious convenient factor, seeing how you can actually pay your bill from your phone.

It's not very manly either. As said in other reviews, the screensavers are Sunflower, Cuddly Bear, and Flower Cart. You cannot download others from this phone.

If you like MTV and Comedy Central, you're in luck because so does Virgin Mobile. You can get various features from each channel sent to your phone for a fee.

All in all, if you talk alot, go for something with free nights and weekends on a service plan. If you need a phone for emergencies, this is your man (or girl).

6 Virgin Mobile
The Virgin Mobile Audiovox 8500 is a great phone. I did not purchase this phone from Target, but I had to let someone know how wonderful the phone is. It has great features just like the expensive cellular phones that you pay $30-$70 bucks for every single month. I had purchased my phone from the actual company. I am almost 29 and I have a home telephone, so why pay into a cellular phone every month? The Virgin Mobile phone is exactly what any person could bargain for. It's a must have, check this out- I live in another state and traveled through OH, KY, IN and all the way to IL and each state offered this service and I had no problem using my telephone. There are no roaming charges, long distant charges or anything.

7 Um, well...
There are two aspects, the instrument and the service.

I switched to Virgin about a year ago, figuring it would be cheaper, since I so rarely use the phone. It has been, I think, although because of the vissicitudes of life I've used my phone more this year than usual. The service is as good as T-Mobile, coverage is slightly better, at least in the places I go (mostly New York), and in all I think it's working for me economically.

The instrument ... works. It's a phone, it does phone things, exactly what it says on the tin, etc. My one complaint, and this applies to all Audiovox phones as far as I can tell, is that it forces me to organize my phonebook into groups, and while I can change attributes (such as the ringtone) for each group, I can't do it for each person -- and even with my relatively small social circle, I can't assign each person to a separate group.

8 MY VM PHONE
I love virgin mobile, they absolutely rock! You don't have to pay a bill or anything, you just simply top up! This phone itself is very very dependable! I literally have dropped it over 100 times and it still works perfect!! Hehe, I guess that isn't the best way to describe it, but it really is made well. The reception is great, and the features are awesome! Virgin mobile offers a lot of really cool things like MTV Ringtones that you can download right from your phone in seconds. I love my phone, the only thing better would be if it was a color screen and took pics, but it's an older model, so what can you do? THANKS VIRGIN!

9 Good Phone... :)
I love virgin mobile, they absolutely rock! You don't have to pay a bill or anything, you just simply top up! This phone itself is very very dependable! I literally have dropped it over 100 times and it still works perfect!! Hehe, I guess that isn't the best way to describe it, but it really is made well. The reception is great, and the features are awesome! Virgin mobile offers a lot of really cool things like MTV Ringtones that you can download right from your phone in seconds. I love my phone, the only thing better would be if it was a color screen and took pics, but it's an older model, so what can you do? THANKS VIRGIN!

10 Cool...for a teen I guess
This phone is cool for a 16 year old like myself. It has some great deatures such as cool back lighting but could use a bit more games I guess. The Virgin Extras are awesome and the phone itself is so stylish and lightweight it fits anywhere. cool phone to have.

11 Great Phone!
This phone was/is a great phone for people who use less than 300 minutes a month. You have to top up at least 20 dollars every 90 days. It works great as a back-up phone if you are ever out of your contracted phones ranges. IT works on the sprint towers, and is pretty good. I switched to Cingular, because my parents wanted a family plan, and I couldn't be happier. I use my virgin mobile phone as a backup phone that I am responsible for the paying.

12 My trusty phone
I've had this phone for a while, and not only is it an excellent phone, but I've also received excellent service from Virgin Mobile. The one complaint I'd have is that it isn't color, but I recommend the Audiovox 8610 for those people, I hear it's great.

13 I love this phone!!!!
I purchased this viring moble phone about one year ago, and it is awesome. I am seventeen and I hate having bills to pay, so it is so much easier on me. It would be easier on anyone. I just top up, add more money into the account, whenever i need to. If I dont use any minutes I dont pay anymore for the next month. This is just an amazing offer that I couldnt see anyone passing up!

14 favorite phone
I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for about a year and I'm very happy with my phone. It's very small and lightweight, has a long battery life, and has great reception (even in buildings). On more than one occasion I've dropped it, gotten it wet (it's even fallen into snow/rain puddles) and it always works fine. Their website (virginmobileusa) is very interactive, very easy to use, and I've only once needed to call customer service about my phone (for something that wasn't even a problem). It's great not to have a contract, and although it's not exactly my primary phone, I love it.

15 Excellent phone ... except for the ringtones!
I used this phone for about a year, and was generally pleased with it. I think the menus are easy to navigate, the reception seems strong, and the sound quality is decent. It's very small and easy to tuck in your pocket, but the buttons are big enough to be useable. It allows for headset plugin, but doesn't come with a headset. Contacts are easy to create and use, and the one-digit autodial feature is a nice thing to have.

My main problem with this phone is the ringtones. First of all, they don't get loud enough. It's easy to miss calls if you're in a place with any ambient noise. Besides the volume, the ring tones are just stupid. There is NO PLAIN RING! Not even one available to download from Virgin Mobile's website! Everything is a tune or sound effect, and most of them sound pretty bad. I finally settled on one which was OK, but all I wanted was a real, plain old ring, which I couldn't get.

Virgin Mobile itself is a good value for people who don't make many calls, and they provide high quality customer service in my experience. They stand by their phones. If it stops working under warranty (which mine did once), they replace it without hassle.

At the time of this writing, this phone is being phased out in favor of the newer Audiovox 8610. I recommend either one, but the 8500 is less expensive if you can still get your hands on it.

16 Worst Phone on the Market
I've had this phone for a year, I just bought a new different brand, this is THE *worst* phone I've had the pleasure of owning. The reception sucks, the thing does nothing but search for a line constantly, and under Virgin Mobile I was a week out of warranty when I filed a complaint and after buying three phones through virgin and turning countless people on to their service, they refused me a new plan. Branson should wake up, people stateside don't want to buy this phone, Dont, you'll regret every minute you can't dial out anywhere.

17 Fabulous phone and service
I really can't say enough good things about Virgin Mobile and this phone. It is perfect for my needs.

The phone itself is tiny and cute. It is extremely functional, doesn't hog the batteries [I frequently leave it on for days at a time], gets clear reception, is easy to use, etc. I've dropped it, gotten it wet, and it still works fine. You can get all the ringtones, change the backlight color, and all that jazz.

I also adore Virgin Mobile. People give me weird looks when they see the logo on my phone, but I can't fathom signing myself into a one or more year contract for $40+ a month. I don't talk very much, but on those days when I do, it's 25 cents a minute, 10 cents a minute after 10 minutes. This service is really perfect for my needs. I estimate that I put about $20 a month into this service, so I'm saving a lot more than any other company. Virgin piggy backs off the Sprint PCS service, which I've found to be much better than Verizon and Cingular.

It seems that people who negatively review Virgin Mobile are missing the point of the service. If you are someone who uses a cell phone on a daily basis, this service is NOT for you. If you are someone that doesn't talk a lot on a cell and doesn't want to be locked into something expensive for a year, this could be the perfect solution to having the option when you need/want it.

I live in Upstate NY, but I've taken this phone all over the country. I pay no extra roaming charges and the service has been perfect everywhere I've traveled.

If you don't want to sign yourself into a long and expensive contract, check out both Virgin Mobile and this phone.

18 Good Phone, Great Price
Sleek and Stlyish, this phone offers a variety of features from Txt Messaging to a Stopwatch, World Map/Clock to a Calculator, etc. (...) I only have a few problems w/ the phone. 1- When searching through your contacts list, it wont let you type at your own speed or type 2 letters one after another that is on the same button. 2- NO GAMES!!!!! 3- Its black and white but the backlights make it cool.

4-BAD RINGTONES except mine came w/ free ones like PIMP, Bad boys and ovrnight celbration cus its used.

19 Good Phone!
I don't have it yet, but I'm going to get it. My dad has it so I can post the Pros and Cons by looking at his

-Pros-
* Backlight color changes every time phone is opened
Cool Feature!
* Only 25� the first 10 minutes then 10� every other minute
Nice and cheap if you aren't going to use your phone a whole lot
* <cell number>@vmbl.com e-mail
If somebody e-mails you at <your cell phone number>@vmbl.com, you recieve it as a text message on your phone
* Alarm
You can use it as an alarm clock
* Voice Dialing
Voice Dialing rocks!
* And More!
Alot of other Pros I can't think of...

-Cons-
* 5 default ringtones are bad
You can't resist buying a $2 ringtone from them when you hear the 5 deafault ringtones...
* Checking Voicemail...
Uses your minutes

20 Can't Complain
Yes, I can't complain as a low rate user. Do the math...at $20 every 90 days, that comes out to a minimum of $80 a year's service or less than $7 a month! To understand your total airtime minutes, it's 25 cents for the first 10 minutes of a day. Every extra minute is 10 cents. Therefore, if you use the whole $20 in one day, that comes to $2.50 for the first 10 minutes plus $17.50 for the next 175 minutes for a maximum of 185 minutes. On the other end, if you always use less than 10 minutes any given day, it's always at 25 cents a minute and you get the lowest airtime total of 80 minutes for the same $20 worth. Your useage will likely be somewhere in between 80 to 185 minutes. As long as you don't run out within the 90 days, you get the maximum of 90 days worth for a low $20. Then, you just buy a minimum of $20 to extend your service for another 90 days. If at the end of 360 days, you didn't use any minutes, you'll have had a phone available for use nearly a year, yet still carry over $80 worth of airtime minutes the following year! When you do use it, keep in mind that there are NO long distance charges as it is nationwide service, plus NO roaming charges. All incoming text messages are FREE, too! Compared to my former ATT Wireless service at a cheap $10 per month (but with no minutes), this is a bargain. ATT cost me $120 for a year with no minutes, here it's $80 but I can carry over $80 worth (80 to 185 minutes). Additional bonuses are if you get tired of your model and upgrade, give it to a friend. Guess what? They receive $5 bonus when they start service and you get $5 for referring them. No brainer, Virgin Mobile USA with this phone is a great deal. Forget the long term contracts unless you want to talk all day as a previous reviewer complained about.

21 Phone For Teen
This phone is a really good phone for kids to start out with. They can learn to balance their minutes, and with the touch of a button find out what their balance is, which means how many minutes they have left. It is a very small uniqe phone. The only downside of this phone is that there are no games on it. Everytime you open up the phone it changes a different color, that is my favorite part of the phone.

22 VM8500-Well, its OK
Let me start out by saying that when Amazon says that there are "No Prepaid Minuites Included" Virgin gives 10.00 in your account when you activate....

Virgin Mobile is a great service for kids. It teaches responsibility and yet it gives freedom to talk and stay in touch. Virgin Mobile is a very cheap Prepaid Service. .25 for the first 10 minuites of each day and .10 after that. It works perfect for me. I don't use my phone all that much. My parents give me 20.00 a month if i use that up i pay for more mins myself. Great for kids.

The Audiovox 8500 is just an alright phone. It is cool but lacks many "kid friendly features" Games are one of my many complaints. Also additional ringtones are 2.00. The phone comes with 5 ringtones! They are anoying and boring. The internet sucks. I hate clarity on the phone. Although it picks up decently. Many weak spots in the Sprint Network. Also although it describes this phone as a "Tri-Mode" phone. It works only on the Sprint Network. Which is crap in rural areas. Also lack of true leather flip case.

Few Pro's.........
Looks COOL!
Lightweight.
Battery Life.

I don't recomend it although i am going to keep mine. I recomend either the K7 rave or Vox 8610.

23 Virgin Mobile Takes It
I purchased my Audiovox 8500 Virgin Mobile phone over 3 months ago and I am very pleased with it. It is exactly what I needed for my lifestyle and needs. I don't use it every single day but when I do use it I can count on it being dependable. Whenever I call someone I hear them as clearly as if they were standing beside me. I like having the pay as you go plan and not being locked into high monthly contract fees. I am very pleased with the phone and would recommend it to anyone. Thank you Virgn Mobile.

24 okay phone
Cons of this phone
-When the phone doesn't get any signals and is searching for a signal, it resets itself. i.e during class. this has happened to me during summer school class.
-Has no games
-Bad Reception for me
-Doesn't hav AIM
-What the heck is Net alerts? i don't know what half of the features are for and how to work them.
-the LCD colors are too dark and makes it hard to read the screen
-the voice mail isn't technically free, b/c you have to pay to listen to it through your phone b/c you're using air time minutes.
-the manual doesn't really explain what the features are for, they tell you how to set them up and use them.
-The vibration isn't that strong, and if the volume is at it's max the sounds are distorted. i.e the ringtones.

*****Pro's
-Small, compact, stylish. my friends were awed by how small it was.
-The cost is pretty cheap for infrequent users. Who use a minute or two once a day to say "mom, practice is over. pick me up now please".
-Customer service is the best, friendly operators. and free to call using your cell phone or home phone
-It does have 7 LCD color display. I use the pink one. Some ppl say they have 3 scree savers. I only have one, which is the flower with a butterfly flying. Strange....
-Free to recieve text messaging when ppl email you at 321777123@vmbl.com I didn't know that until I read it on the reviews today.
-Free long distance, and no roaming since it's prepaid. and you can pay using a credit card online.

-It has a website where you can see your acount history from day one.
-The address book can hold up to 5 numbers. Home, cell, work, fax, pager. but i just use the fax and pager to put other numbers in there. i.e if my friends have two cell phones or two home phones. i just enter the other number in the fax or pager slot.
-There's voice recognition, but I don't know how to use it. It's just easier for me to dial ppl's phone numbers lol.
-(...).
-I bought the last 8500 from best buy in my city. since the 8610 were out they weren't ordering any more of the 8500.

25 i bought it for $80 somethin dollars w/tax
ultimately this phone cost $85.19, the tax was 5.20 for me. this was the last audiovox 8500 from VM at best buy in orlando. i bought this phone in june. this was a good bargain because best buy gives you a $20 gift card after the mail in rebate for it. so i was quite happy about that. at first i wanted to buy the 8610 b/c it was newer, but that was like $113 somethin dollars and the 8500 was cheaper. one that sucks about VM is that it's now with AIM. the phone doesn't have AIM on it. the features are okay and it has no games vs. the 8610 which has two games and is a color phone. there are a lot of features on the 8500 that teen wouldnt bother to use like voice recognition. and the world clock. who needs to know what time it is in tokyo? that was just a waste of memory. the calculator is useless it's difficult to navigate. i get no reception in my classrooms at school, but i get great reception outside of the classroom and on campus. there's not reception at disney, when you're driving out of the parking lot and highway. so that would suck if you got lost or a flat tire. all in all it's an okay phone and it satisfies my expectations.

26 not bad, not bad at all
I have had the phone for a few months. I bought it at walmart for $69.99 and i got $15 in free minutes. starting up the phone was totally easy and i found the workers at virgin so understanding and friendly.
I like how the phone changes colors and i think the speaker phone is pretty cool ohhh and i def. enjoy the caller ID on the outside. Its small size is also a plus! all my friends always say how cute and tiny it is! But i absolutly hate the ringtones it came with! its not that they are bad but they are annoying to listen to. those ringtones are a great way to have people buy the $2 ones from virgin,MTV or Vh1. I also wish i had the ability to assign rings to my friends so i dont just hear the same ring everytime someone calls. Then i can know who is calling just by the ring! instead of looking at the caller ID.
Another thing i didnt like was the choice of screen savers there are only 3 and they all involve flowers (not good options for a guy to own) it would be nice if they had more of a variety for both sexes. I dont like the fact that this phone has not one game on it! but other than that the phone charges up quick and always seems to have service. and the top up option makes it so easy to add minutes to my phone. no pre-paid card crap. i just push a button and it takes however much money i want right out of my credit card. Easy as that! and i never have to worry about running out of minutes because the phone lets me know when im about to run out! so over all if this is a phone u might get, i say buy it! because its not bad, not bad at all. :)

27 worst phone ever
When I first got this phone last novenber. I was happy then later on this phone has problems like right now i don't have good service and most of the time it has to search the system. Also I have problems with the key pad almost all the top buttons I have to press hard in order for me to call and to go to the menu. I also can say that the sprint network sucks!

28 I THOUGHT it was a good phone...
Because I don't use my cell phone very often, I opted to get prepaid instead. At the time, the best prepaid plan offered was through Virgin Mobile. At first i thought it was really nice... I got reception at the most random places while not even receiving it at my school, but that was tolerable. What was NOT tolerable was the incesssant resetting of the phone when I was in an area with no signal. My teachers were not amused when the phone reset, even though I had put it on vibrate.

I DO have to add a star because of VirginMobile tech support. Virgin informed me that they WERE aware of the problem, and recommended that I either buy the Audiovox 8610 or the Slider. All I have to say is thank God I bought the phone at BestBuy, so that I'm not mailing the phone out anywhere and forced to do without a cell. So I guess Ill see what happens...

29 Best Way to Go
This phone is the best service for your bucks. Especially if you dont use it as often as some people. This thing will last for years. The The reviewer who gave it 1 star probably sat on his or kicked it around. And The ringtones are surprisingly good. Only MTV and VH1 fans will like it? I found so many songs that would never even be considered by MTV or VH1... Not that I even want a song to play when I get a call.

30 Cool, but to much???
I really like this cellphone but, the price of 100 dollars is a little much. But, also most cellphones are way more expensive. So,it's probaly worth it. I like the cool features! They rock! To bad I don't have that kind of money right now.

31 Retarded Phone
I'm so sorry to say but this phone SUCKS! I hate it! Nothing ever seems to go right with it.....it's like it just doesn't want to do it's job or something.

32 Before you buy Virgin Mobile beware!
I have 2 VM phones and my neighbor has 1. Shortly after the 1 year warranty expired they began to have problems. These were used for occasional and emergency purposes. When we contacted Virgin Mobile they said there was NOTHING they could do except sell us NEW phones at full price. So I spent over $200 in phones only to find out they are throw aways after 13 to 14 months. Virgin Mobile will make alot of money off the 1.75 million consumers that will have to replace their phones. So if your phone breaks don't expect any help from VM and if you have any prepaid minutes they become part of Virgin Mobile's profits. In other words you just donated your $$$$ to them.

Let the buyer beware when you do business with Virgin Mobile. Expect to throw away the phone in just over a year. Shame on VM as they are targeting the young of this country who won't have any way to protect themselves fom this type of scam.

33 GREAT PHONE
This Phone Is Great..I Recommend It To Any Person Looking For A Cell Phone.. Cheap And WONDERFUL :)

34 THA PHONE IS HOTT, But Virgin Mobile....NOT!!
When I got this phone It came with 10 dollars in minutes, which I used up fast. Then you have to continually buy top up cards. I usually would buy a $20 card every two weeks which would come to about $40 a month. Which made me realize...I can get a plan with 400-600 minutes AND Free weekends for $40 so basically its a rip off unless you dont plan on using it much. I do like the phone, its small and everyone likes it. Its easy to use and has speakerphone. Also you can record sounds and use it as your ringtone(which is what I would do instead of buying a ringtone for $2). The phone doesnt have any games and gets boring when you have no minutes. It comes with animated screen savers but there corny and you cant download any. Also the phone gets a little weak after having it awhile so when it rings you miss calls. Bottom line the phone is great but the virgin mobile service sucks

35 Nice Phone, Some Problems
I purchaced this phone a while ago (when this was the best phone Virgin offered). Overall, I really like the design of the phone. It's so tiny and the button layout is very good. Virgin's service is very cost-effective, almost the best deal you can get, although it is greatly lacking in features. The biggest problem with this phone is the buggy software. It seems like Virgin just slapped together some software without really testing it much. The phone takes an exceptionally long time to boot up or display the web browser, mostly because of the Virgin Mobile logos that it feels it must display. Some of the ways you have to use the buttons can be annoying. When you are creating phonebook entries, it is very easy to mess up and hit "Ok" to try to edit the name, but end up storing the entry with no name. You then have to go back to do it again. It's little annyances like this that are the only real problem with this phone. Something I like a lot is how LOUD the speaker can be on this tiny phone. The rightones are very loud, and you can hear the speaker phone even in very noisy situations. However, I am now selling this phone, because I want something that has more features. If you are unhappy with Virgin Mobile, try a prepaid T-Mobile. Although it is not advertised, you can buy any GSM phone and pop in a prepaid SIM card. This is what I'm doing with a Samsung 715 camera phone. But, if Virgin is good enough for you, this is a nice phone to have.

36 Astoundingly poor service from Virgin Mobile
Virgin's customer service is so astoundingly bad that I believe they HAVE to market themselves to kids so eager to get a phone - ANY phone, that they will put up with Virgin's constantly malfunctioning computer system.
Virgin doesn't have any 708 area code phone numbers available, so get ready to dial 10 digits for every local call.

Get ready to hear, "our system is down right now, you'll have to call back in four hours", or the routine..."I'm not finding any record of your account on my computer"...

I love the pay-as-you-go payment plan, and I really wanted to like them, but...

37 Where are the games?
Whenever I get a new cellphone the first thing I get excited about are the games that come equipped with the phone, but the 8500 has no games. I love games on a phone especially when waiting in line or something like that. Virgin mobile, hook up my Vox 8500 with some games. Please!

38 Virgin Mobile Audiovox 8500
I recently upgraded to the Slider from my old 8500. The 8500 is nothing but trouble. In Sept of 2003, just a mire 8 months ago, I bought the 8500. Within 4 months, the thing died and I had to send it back to Virgin Mobile to get a new one. It kept freezing for no reason and would randomly turn on and off by itself. The phone Virgin Mobile sent me had already been used, i think, because it already had 4 hours of call time on it. It also didnt do half the things my first one did. Dont get me wrong, I LOVE VIRGIN MOBILE and they have great customer service, but that just made me mad. Then at the end of April of this year, the phone stopped telling me when I would get voicemail and text messages. Also I couldnt get IMs from AOL anymore but I think that has to do with Virgin Mobile's service or AOL. Then finally, earlier this month I got the Slider for my birthday and I could be happier. I recommend the Slider over the 8500 and the new 8610 that Virgin Mobile came out with May 20th. If you do choose to buy an Audiovox phone from Virgin Mobile, make sure that you buy the extra warranty with it because in a couple of months, if you're lucky, you going to need it.

39 Some experience
I ussed this cell phone about one year. I would say this is a good cell phone and Virgin provide good customer serivce other than their very sorry reception. Though Virgin lease Sprint network, there is a huge different quality between these two carrier. For example, I can't get any singal in my house near SMU. On the contrary, my friends get full reception by using Sprint service in the same place. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume Virgin just lease part of towers of Sprint network or Sprint discriminates Virgin by providing worse quality.
By the way, if you are SMU students, the Vrigin's signal around the campus is weak. And could be the worst one by personal investigation during my friends. So,you'd better check this point before using their service. Moreover, they really can't do anything to prove it. If you report such problems or complain to them, they may ask you to change another carriers.

40 Great at first, then down hill from there.
I purchased my "VOX 8500" last September, I thought it would be a great first phone. It is a great phone if you are looking to show off the very small size , but not that great if you actually want to use it. From the first time i turned it on i noticed that it got terrible reception! I mean i could stay in one spot and it would go from no bars to the searching for signal screen. Even when i got all bars the calls were very staticy and sometimes it would just hang up. Around December I noticed that the red LCD had quit working. Followed shortly by the yellow one and the deep green one. Just yesterday the blue screen became so dark it was unreadable. Also the ringtones that came on it sucked they sounds like carinval music, and Virgin Mobile rips you on the $2.00 per ringtone. Over all i would never recommened this phone to anyone it has been a terrible experince.

41 Good For Older People
This phone seems to be directed towards more of an older crowd. As i read though the reviews i hear nothing but good things from older people and nothing but whinning from the younger people. I think this phone is very nice for my ocasional calls while im out and about. It almost has too many "bells and whistles" for me which some might find rather odd. Although this phone lacks for some i find it rather nice, because we all know that phones are used for...phone calls. Not playing games and such non-nessisitys, If you want to play games buy an xbox...Or perhaps you are young and dont have money, in that case have mommy and daddy pay for it!

I belive im right and this is a nice phone for anyone that makes a few calls a week. (not every other minute kids!)

42 Virgin Cell Phone Plan
For people who do not use a cell phone very often, this is the plan for you. Every 90 days you must buy at least $20 worth of air time (top up card). You can find them at various locations from Target and Sam Goody to your local gas station.

Every day, the first 10 minutes cost .25 cents, anytime after that the minutes cost .10 cents.

For anyone who is hesitant in buying a cell phone and plan, I recommend this route. Pay as you go. The only downside is that you can only use Virgin phone cards to apply to your phone.

However, the minutes you add to your cell phone include long distance and roaming fees. When you buy your Virgin phone and minutes there are NO credit checks as you would experience when you buy a monthly phone plan from the competitors.

43 Great Phone
This is a wonderful phone. I got mine in September and it is great. The features are great, service is wonderful!!!, and the phone is just really nice. The plan is great for me since i dont talk 24/7, but I still do use my phone for a good amount of time. Battery life is very good as well. I would highly recomend this to anyone.

44 Great little phone!
I had wanted a cell phone for years but kept putting it off because I'm really bad at paying bills on time and didn't want to put a lot of money out on a cell phone and have it shut off in a few months. So, I started looking at pay as you go. A friend who was already with them highly recommended Virgin. So, I decided to give it a try and have never regreted it. It's the perfect "emergency" phone. I love the small size, I love only having to top up every three months and getting to keep my minutes. I love knowing that no matter where I am I can always reach my family and that they can reach me. I have had no problems with this phone or Virgin's service. I highly recommend it!

45 OK phone
This phone comes off SO cool..but..
Negatives:
- theres only 5 ringtones... u need to buy the rest! (i suggest mission impossible, pink panther, and smoke on the water)
- After a few weeks Virgin Xtras cost you $0.10 (it adds up)
- Service is very in consistant
- My phone had a malfunction and they sent me a new one fast (that was fine) it took VM over a MONTH to reactivate my phone
- My text messaging doesnt work anymore and they said they'd fix that.... 3 months ago
- the animations are for girls ( cute bear, sunflower, and flower carts.... i use the clock)
- NO GAMES!

Positives:
- 7 backlights
- nice sub lcd screen
- cheap
- nice starter phone if you dont want features
- good reception when you have service very clear
- small design fits in small places

46 Great!
Clear reception, external caller ID, a choice of backlight color. The only thing that could make this phone any better would be a color LCD display. I guess you can't have it all with this phone, but if you are looking for a great deal this is an excellent choice.

47 Perfect for Parents and Teens
This phone and the Virgin Mobile plan is terrific! The phone is small and robust. It has most basic features - but no games. I had a look at all the phones on the Virgin Mobile plan and this is my favorite so I bought it.

The Virgin Mobile plan is spectacular. If you are a casual user, it only runs you about $7 a month to have a phone. But, better yet, if you have a teen, it is a great way to teach responsibility. Instead of a Family Plan, where your kids use up all the minutes then rack on more, Virgin Mobile allows you to put a set amount on the phone each month. Then, if your kid uses it all up, make THEM pay you to add more. It has worked out great with my daughter. In fact, she has twice lost the phones and had to pay for new ones herself (that is why I have seen the different phones). We are easily able to freeze the account until she buys a new phone then transfer the money to the new phone. She was more upset last time about losing the phone than I was - realizing how much she was going to have to save to get a new one!

48 Bad reception, better deals out there
I've had this phone for about a year now. I never get reception when I go inside buildings, and after dropping it, about half the lines on the display don't work anymore, so I have to guess when I'm making a call. The sound quality is also not too good. I would recommend the new "Slider" phone if you want to go with VirginMobile.

49 DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!
I got this piece of crap for Christmas, and man was I disappointed. I don't even like using it. Let me say this: no color, small screen, no ring tones, bad service and connection, no games..This is a horrible phone, and if you ever have the misfortune of coming across it, RUN AWAY!

50 Lemon
I've had this phone for a year through Bell Mobility in Canada. Disconnect problems and missed calls mostly. Its been out for repair once while I was stuck with an old beater phone(but it worked)Both the local Bell store and one of their phone representatives say this phone is bad news. The store will not sell them unless the customer insists.
Bell Mobility will not replace the phone but they will allow an early upgrade at my expense. Bell refuses to accept responsibility for the phone. I am still having a dialog with Bell and am waiting to hear from Audiovox. Why should I have to replace an obviously defective phone?
More negatives are: Very hard to program and operate features, need good eyes to see screen and print, and user's manual is poor. This phone is not easy to use!
On the positive side: This phone has excellent clarity when it picks up a call. It is small and light. The battery is decent.

51 sucks
this phone is gay. it doesn't have three-way calling.

52 Good plan, lousy phone
I wrote a good review of the Virgin prepaid plan some months ago, which I'll stand by as it has saved me hundreds as an infrequent user, though their choice of handsets is by now LONG overdue for updating. But I can't recommend this phone.

The Virgin line has gotten thinner and staler--they only have three models now, all old, all bare-bones, and all obscure brands with no supporting hardware or software to speak of as there is for Nokia or Motorola.

Using this Vox is a nightmare compared to the no-longer-available "super model" I used to have. The simplest operations require blundering about in series of counterintuitive, or at best unhelpful, menus. This user interface belongs in a design textbook... as a "before" example. The only good things about this impossible phone are the Virgin plan, the tiny size, and the loooong battery life. But mid-2004 is just too late in celphone history to bother with a small, low-res, monochrome LCD! The included ringtones are unbearable. The phone seems to have a connector for some sort of cable, but you won't find it, or anything about it, at Virgin.

The only tolerable phone in the Virgin line is the "slider." They seem to be asleep at the switch. Let's hope they wake up sometime and offer a mainstream model with features suitable for the 21st century.

53 The Versatile Phone
This is a great phone for low minute users. You don't have to deal with the hassle of paying monthly bills, but its still there whenever you need it. The Audivox 8500 has great features such as a variety of downloadable ringtones, several backlight colors, splendid volume, and multiple setting options. It can fit in a pants pocket or purse with ease. No pockets? You can get a great little inexpensive belt clip easily. The only downfall I think this phone has, is the lack of reception it gets inside buildings. If you drive a lot, however, the reception is generally wonderful in your car.

54 the best
im a teen and i needed a cell phone that dident have a plan cuz im not yet old enough to get a job to get the money-per-mont. i did already use 5 dollars and i just got it yesterday but o well i got happy and called alot of people.i DONT like the 25 cents for the 1st ten minutes but o well i love the phone its so cool. it lights up 9 dif colors automatic,green,yellow,blue,deep green,purple(which i think looks like pink),and white. THE outer LCD lights up the same color you put it to too!i dont like the fact that ot dont turn red but it does when u think about it . it turns red when u have a virgin alert ! so i recommend this to you . and if you just buy it .... activate it online its MUCH easyer , same with topping it up.

55 its good
ok i just bought the phone today and im in love with it i mean its soooo tiny it can like fit in the palm of ur hand and not touch to fingers. im only 14 and oh my god it seems too small. this is a phone for kids like me for a very 1st cell. I like the pay-as-you-go plan cuz uh... i dont have a job and when i get money i can buy a topup card :) im only using it for emergencez cuz if i use it on a daily bassis then ill run out of money reeealy quickly :\ i mean i had 30 dollars on it and i called my house for the 1st time and it was like 5 seconds and i got charged the 25 cent...i thought it was 25 cent for a minute not 5 secons lol . I like it but i wouldent get it if ur gonna b on it every day cuz if you are .. get a plan but still if you do want it and talk all day....plan on getting a 50 dallah top up card every week .... O_O lol well i like it and i say get it

56 Good for Low Use Cell Phone Users
In General - This is a good, inexpensive phone for those people who don't use a cell phone often and live in the network calling area (operated by Sprint PCS).

The reviewers that said this phone and service were too expensive obviously didn't do their homework. This phone and service are targeted to people who don't use their cell phones much. I think it's annoying to see people yacking away on their cell phones. If you want to yack, do it in the privacy of your own home and quit interfereing with my right to quiet enjoyment of life!

I don't use my cell phone much. Generally less than 30 minutes a month. I am spending less than $10.00 per month for the service. That is in complete contrast to the Sprint PCS phone I use to have - where I was spending nearly $40.00 per month for thousands of minutes that I never used. It is definitely nice not having to spend the extra money for unused service. Why can't the cable companies offer a similar service???

For long distance needs, I usually get a calling card. Costco has cards that sell for 3 cents a minute. That's better than just about every major phone service out there.

The biggest drawback is that the Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint PCS network. Any Sprint customers will tell you that you have to deal with poor network connections, busy signals and voice mail that mysteriously shows up days after being posted. Sprint has one of the worst customer satisfaction ratings according to the FCC.

Another example is the signal strength in my neighborhood. I get a connection, but no signal strength bars in my house. Two blocks away from my home, I get full bars.

Virgin markets its service towards the 20-something crowd. There are plenty of 30-somethings and older folks that want a low-cost service like Virgin Mobile, but don't want to deal with the MTV-wannabe customer service reps.

Finally, the menus on the Audiovox cell phone I got are more complicated than they have to be. The designers should cut back on the number of features and the number of buttons and simplify the phone.

Overall, if you are looking for a reasnably priced pay-as-you-go plan, Virgin Mobile is worth trying.

57 NO GAMES
I really like the phone! The only thing I did not like about the phone was that there were no games, and i was really hoping for there to be games.

58 Great value, great plans, way to GO!
Bought this phone for my 22 yr old son, and it is everything it needs to be and more. He lives in a rural Wisconsin area near La Crosse, and I was concerned about reception, but no problems! He is wild about the features, espec the text messaging (same cost on this plan as even on the contract cell plans like T-Mobile and such - a dime a message), thinks the set-up is great, that the color screen rocks. He only wishes he had more (and cooler) ring tones, but he'll have to grab those on his own $1 or $2. This is his primary phone - without a credit rating he couldn't get a "regular monthly contract cell phone", so cost concerns figured in big-time (there was no point in putting him on my T-Mobile contract since he lives in an area where T-Mobile is poor to weak). Once he got over his initial total fascination with being a cell-phone owner/the "toy" factor, it has proven to be fairly reasonable for a pay-as-you-go plan... well, so far anyhow.

The phone is easy to handle, read, and, if you take the time to read the manual in a fast once-over, easy to use, even with its semi-fancy options.

TWO SIGNIFICANT DRAWBACKS that make this a 4-star instead of a 5-star deal: (1) RELATIVELY MINOR: lack of a true FLIP PHONE leather case - the drop-in case is pointless, awkward and don't bother with it. Get the belt clip if you really need to carry it that way. The earphone for it seems to work very well - that's the only accessory a person REALLY needs, since this is tiny enough to go even in a jeans pocket without discomfort. And (2) - MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR: the 1st 10 min EACH day are 25 cents EACH - that's $75 A MONTH just for 10 minutes a day if one uses it daily - which I think is VERY STEEP...and probably not necessary for good business/profits. However, there are no roaming charges, so make LOTS of long-distance calls to make this cost factor worthwhile, I guess! But it does mean this is not a true "daily use" cell-phone/plan, no matter how Virgin Mobile tries to get around it.

Read my review on the K7 Rave, too - I got that for my older son, and he is totally in love with it and Virgin's service.

59 Good for Cell Phone Users Who Make Calls Infrequently
In General - This is a good, inexpensive phone for those people who don't use a cellphone often and live in the network calling area (operated by Sprint PCS).

The reviewers that said this phone and service were too expensive obviously didn't do their homework. This phone and service are targeted to people who don't use their cellphones much. I think it's annoying to see people yacking away on their cellphones. If you want to yack, do it in the privacy of your own home and quit interfereing with my right to quiet enjoyment of life!

I don't use my cellphone much. Generally less than 30 minutes a month. I am spending less than $10.00 per month for the service. That is in complete contrast to the Sprint PCS phone I use to have - where I was spending nearly $40.00 per month for thousands of minutes that I never used. It is definitely nice not having to spend the extra money for unused service. Why can't the cable companies offer a similar service???

For long distance needs, I usually get a calling card. Target and Costco have cards that sell for 3 cents a minute. That's better than just about every major phone service out there.

Another annoyance is the marketing towards the 20-something crowd. There are plenty of 30-somethings and older folks that want a low-cost service like Virgin Mobile, but don't want to deal with the MTV-wannabe customer service reps.

Finally, the menus on the Audiovox cellphone I got are more complicated than they have to be. The designers should cut back on the number of features and the number of buttons and simplify the phone.

Overall, if you are looking for a reasnably priced pay-as-you-go plan, Virgin Mobile is worth trying.

60 Simple. Flexable. COOL!
I have owned this phone for about 4 months. It has proven to be very durable. I have also enjoyed not having to buy minuites so much. There is no roaming charges, unlike most contract and other prepaid phones. This phone is also VERY COOL!

Pros:
Small, lightweight, durable. It is a phone you can count on. My parents both have phones, One through Alltel, and one through tracfone. Both like my phone ALOT better. They also use my phone then theirs when we go on trips because mine does not roam unlike BOTH of theres, Yes, my fathers PREPAID phone does roam.

Cons:
Sometimes, i wish i could roam, since at times coverage is not avaliable. Although on trips, etc. coverage is always basicly there. Sound Quality is not as good as some phones. I had the Kyocera K7 Rave and i liked it a LOT better. It had better ringtones, sound quality and at times better reception. Coverge is spotty I can get 0-2 bars at my house MAX. But if i get out on the highway i get 5 bars! Full Coverage. Also, when i drop it, (which happens pretty often) it gets scratched a little, so i bought a case. They dont have a case that its usable out of. So i got a drop in case instead.

Overall:

I do recomend it. it is cool, neat, and durable.

GET IT!

(...)

61 Great!!!!! phone.
I dont know where to start but this phone is so cool. the design the feature(xcept games) but who cares, reception is great considering that i live in bk ny and toping up is easy as 1-2-3. If you are a teen like my this is the ideal phone for you .

P.S. trust me when i say get this phone

62 Extremely pleased with phone and service - A Great Find!!!
I've waited about 4 months or so before writing this review. I wanted to make sure I had ample time to review this product/service properly.

If you're looking for an occasional use phone, and not looking for a phone to spend hours a day on, this is one you should definitely be looking at. You must pay $20 every 90 days to keep the phone active, but when you break it down, that's about $6.67 a month. Compare that to a $34.99 plan from Verizon, that comes out to $45 after all the taxes and fees, and you got yourself a pretty good deal. And another great thing is you keep your balance, you don't lose it. When you add money to your account, your balance just builds and builds. Now and then when i build up a balance, I'll treat myself and just make some extra calls to friends on the other side of the country to chat it up. Oh yeah, no roaming charges, no long distance. Just that flat rate. 25 cents for the first 10 minutes talk time of the day, 10 cents after that. There really is nothing hidden, it's all spelled out really clearly. Text messages are 10 cents to send, but they are free to receive. Your friends and family can actually email your phone from their home computer, and it will arrive to you as a text message. And yes, this is FREE. Perfect for the wife/hubby/kids to kick you off a message during the day like "bring home chinese!".

Like I said, if you want a phone for emergency calls, and calls from the grocery store such as "honey, they don't have peppermint tea, anything else you want me to get instead?" kind of calls, this is for you. Virgin markets this toward the Teen/MTV crowd, but for us somewhat older crowd, this is a great find.

I bought this phone from Best Buy for $89.99 and I got a $20 gift card free with it. The one thing I hear most people complain about is reception. I myself, have never had a problem. The great thing about picking this up from Best Buy, is you can use it for a month, and if the reception is no good where you need to use it, just bring it back to Best Buy for a full refund. So there's nothing to lose.

I use this phone in New York - Rockland County, Westchester County, North Jersey, and New York City. The only place I've had reception loss is in some areas in Orange County. But as long as you're semi-close to a major highway, signal is very good.

The Vox 8500 phone itself is wonderful. It's the smallest cellphone I have ever seen, but calls sound crystal clear, and there is plenty of volume. I dropped the phone once, from pretty high up, on hard concrete. The phone is fine. No damage. It looks like a fragile phone, I was sure something would be wrong with it, but it works like new. NO problems at all.

Extra ringtones are $2 a piece, but normal users won't really care to add any rings to the phone. It's unnecessary unless you find something you really like. I added the Peanuts song (Shroeder's Theme) to my phone as my ring. There are plenty of useful rings that come with the phone, so like I said, no need to buy more rings.

I hope there's nothing I left out. I can't say enough good things about this phone. For casual users, at $6.67 a month, with no extra hidden fees, I'd say this is a phenomenal find.
Just buy the phone from a store such as Best Buy that allows a 30-day return policy so you can try out the reception where you live. If reception is good, and it most likely will be, you win. If it's bad, you take the phone back, get your money back, and no harm done. It's a no brainer!! Virgin Mobile rules!

63 This Phone Is Fantastic
I purchased this phone because I needed a cell phone for emergency use only. I got tired of looking for a pay phone when I was out and needed to use the phone plus they are usually very dirty. This phone is fantastic. It has a lot of features and the volume is very clear and adjustable. I use it at home also and have had no problems with interference. The Top-Up feature of $20 every 90 days is great and you can do it over the cell phone or online. It will also give you the date when you will have to Top-Up again. The only con is that you have to buy extra ring tones but I just use the ones that came with the phone. It has ring only or vibrate only or vibrate first and then ring. It has text messaging,a phone book that holds 300 contacts and it's easy to program, plus an answering machine and you can rename the phone's home page. I would highly recommend this phone for anyone who needs a cell phone and does not want to be tied down to a 1 or 2 year plan.

64 a perfect starter phone
This phone is a Virgin Mobile pre-pay phone, and I owned it for three months before decided to write this review. How this phone works is simple: you purchase the phone from a store (Amazon, Best Buy, Target, etc) and call Virgin Mobile to activate the phone. Customer Service will take your information and activate the phone in your name and give you a phone number for your new cell phone. You will then have 10 dollars worth of time on your phone. You will want to then purchase a top-up card to put more money on the phone. At least twenty dollars must be topped-up every three months or your number will not be active anymore. Another way to top up is to have your credit card charged instead. One note about this: Virgin Mobile does not accept Discover Card, so if you have Discover, you will have to purchase a top-up card (as I had to).

Once you have your phone and it is activated and charged up, it works like any other cell phone. Because this is a pre-pay phone, this phone is likely best suited for those who do not intend on using it very often as well as it being the first phone for a teenager. Virgin Mobile charges twenty five cents a minute for the first ten minutes of use every day and I believe it is ten cents a minute after that. While twenty five cents is a lot per minute, if you are not using the phone very often it can be a good value because there is no monthly fee. The one thing to note about the charges for the phone is that the rate is the first ten minutes you are using the phone every day. This means that if you only use the phone for 4 minute on Monday you are charged twenty five cents a minute, and if you then use the phone for 9 minutes on Tuesday you are still charged twenty five cents for each of those minutes. Obviously there is a greater value the more minutes you use in a day, but if you are going to use the phone that much then you might want to consider a regular cell phone plan. Text messages are ten cents per message you send. Receiving the text messages is free.

Overall, this was an excellent phone for my initial needs. I had it for three months and it served me well. It was only inside a building (such as a mall or a department store) that my reception failed. Otherwise I had no problems with the signal within the Twin Cities area. Obviously I cannot speak for other regions of the country. My needs for a cell phone changed and I purchased a different model with an actual service plan rather than a prepay phone, but this was the perfect phone for my first cell phone. It helped me realize what my needs would be and what sort of value I would get out of a particular cell phone.

65 Audiovox 8500-Small Sweet Little Phone
I recently purchased an Audiovox 8500 Cell Phone and it is sweet. It has a screen that has about 6 different colors available, voice activated dialing, an enormous phone book, and is really tiny compared to most cell phones. The external caller id is a nice feature, and you can answer the phone (depending on how you set it) by flipping open the phone, or by hitting the call button. It comes with only a couple ringtones (you can download more), but it also has a vibrate mode as well. It doesn't include any games, which can be a bummer on a boring day. The only real downside of this phone is that you have to charge the phone more than other Virgin Mobile Phones. I used to have the Kyocera K-7 Rave, and that one definately allowed for more talk time and standby time before I'd have to recharge it. I've had three cell phones, and this is definately my best one so far.
-I would recommend a cell phone case of some sort, because that will protect the phone a little better. My last phone I dropped on the ground and scratched it all up.
-I also put a screen protector on the external caller ID to make sure that it didn't get all scratched up either.
-Another recommendation would be to buy a travel charger because you never know when you might need it. I put one in my car the other day. It just might come in handy.

66 Virgin Mobile Audiovox Cell Phone Review
This phone is very good for a child's first cell phone. I shoud know, it is mine. The phone has absolutely all the bells and whistles! The only things it lacks are a color screen, a camera, and games. Ideal because Virgin Mobile is extremely friendly and affordable...a $20/90 day minimum (a pay-per-call plan). Perfect for those who need a few quick calls once in a while...typical of "Mom, I need you to pick me up" or "We're running late at the movies...be there in ten minutes" senarios. Not recommended for people who need the phone daily for long lengths of time.

67 Perfect basic occasional use phone
After trying out my daughter's Party Animal phone (which got better reception than my ECall Plus/AT&T network phone), I bought the Audiovox 8500. No signal problems using it in (so far) Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, or Phoenix; on several occasions, even though no signal bars were showing, I still had service.

The phone's tiny size is a tremendous advantage. I'm a small woman, and I can comfortably carry it in the pocket of my jeans, or fit it in a small purse with my wallet and Palm Pilot, something I've been unable to do with any other phone.

The pay-as-you go aspect is great for someone like me who only uses the phone when away from home or office. This is not a plan for people who use the phone frequently.

Downsides: Additional ringtones are pricy, and there are no non-musical rings; I prefer a short "beep" to a 4-second music clip. Though the customer service quality is outstanding, the teeny bopper voice on the Virgin voicemail system is annoying. Virgin might think that middle aged people aren't their target audience, but I've seen quite a number of 8500's in the hands of older folk :-)

68 vox
this cell fone is pretty good. it is sleek and the service ok. its good if u want a cell fone but dont talk alot. the reception is ok but not as good as nextel or tmobile.u should go prepaid if ur getting slammed hi monthly bills and u only use about 50 minutes.u can go to virgin xtras n go to mtv vh1 to go and other fun stuff.

pros
design
service
virgin xtras

cons
battery life

69 Great for my needs.
Phones are mighty annoying. To me, a phone is to call OUT, not to allow others to disturb me by calling IN. I needed a very small phone to put in my fanny pack when I bike, or my pocket when leave the house via car or on foot, and stay there, switched off, until I need to make an emergency or urgent outgoing call. This phone fill the bill perfectly. I've had it for almost a year, and made only about a dozen calls.

Their service covers everywhere I go, and reception is just fine.

70 I LOVE THIS PHONE!
I have had this phone for awhile and I love it and would reccomend it to anyone! Its nice not to have a contract. I get good recption on my phone. Some people complain about the ringtone not being loud enough and the vibrate not being strong enough....um all ya gotta do is turn it up under settings. The phone itself is so cool, I guess the only thing that sucks is that there is no games I love this phone. I was a little hesitant to get it at first because of all the bad reviews on this site but I am so glad i got it now. I actually got mine at Best Buy though were I paid an extra $10 to get a 2 year insurance so if anything goes wrong with the phone I can get a full refund. In conclusion if you want a cool phone that you dont have to sign a contract and if you dont mind not having games then this is the phone for you!

71 Cool phone but the service area isnt to great
I love my phone i got it for christmas and I take it everywhere I go.I always use it except at home cause i dont have a signal .I wish I did so I wouldnt have to use the regular phone hopfully the virginmobil people will help me with my problem one day

later

72 Good Product
This is a very good phone. This phone is great to give to someone for their first cellphone.

This phone includes things like Virgin Extras such as Ringtones, *MTV, Daily Doce, Voice Greetings and more. This phone has Voice Mail, a numeric pager, SMS, and tools like a Calculator, a World Clock and a StopWatch.

The only thing that I don't like about this phone is that the extra Ringtones cost 2.00 each, which I think is a waste of money. I also don't like the fact that the vibration is kind of weak like another person said in a review. And no, the phone doesn't have games that are free. The other games cost money, the same amount as sending a text message, thats 10 cents. And almost everything extra costs money. This phone isnt a color phone but it does have Backlighting with the colors Green, Yellow, Blue, Deep Green, Purple and White.

I do recommend this phone to give to someone as their first phone. This phone is also good for young teens like me.

I give this phone 5 stars.

73 If there was a rating of -5 stars this would get it
This phone is cheaply made. I have problems with it all the time. The company is even worse, if that is possible. Someone should inform them of the definition of two simple words- CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! This is the company you should give your business and money to if you are 12 years old or under, because if you have any kind of service problems with them they treat you like you are that age. I am throwing this phone out my car window. It services me just as well as two cups with a string...

74 Poor Poor Reception
I tried this phone out - and it didn't take me more than a few days to figure out...yes, it's cute, and has cute little bells and whistles. But the reception is horrible!

I've heard that this phone has some internal problems with soldering that can be fixed - but who wants to deal with that.

Also, the phone seems quiet. The ringtone, and volume of calls didn't meet my satisfaction.

The one pretty good thing was the battery life did seems to hold the way explained to me.

75 I Know What the Problem Is...
I recently read several reviews for this phone. I could not believe how many of you blame this great product for your own inability to properly read the instructions and for your inability to properly budget your time and money towards it.

A majority of these bad reviews seem to be coming from teenagers who either spend too much time watching MTV or wander aimlessly at the mall. You kids seem the type that want things to work the moment you take the product out of the box. That only happens in cartoonland.

Here's an idea: Why don't you turn the boob tube off and take out the instructions and slowly follow the simple rules to operate this phone. Perhaps you won't be so quick to blame the product for not working. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Nothing valued is lost by taking time."

For those teens who whine that the phone is expensive to maintain, I say learn to budget your money properly towards using it. Yes, it's expensive because you want such b.s. accessories as text messaging, fancy shmancy ringers, and so forth. Add the fact that most of you are blabbermouths who seem to have this item dangling from your ears as if it was your latest lobal piercing and the result is a very generous donation to the Virgin people every week/month.

Just because Coral from "Real World" or Jack Osbourne has the latest gadgets on their cel phones doesn't mean you have to get them too. Just get hooked up and keep your conversations at a minimum and you'll see how much money you'll be able to save. And those savings may be spent on other youthful necessities such as a bikini, the new Dave Mathews CD, or, dare I say, a college education.

I am 40 years old and recently bought this phone for emergency/appointment/travel use. It is very easy to hook up, simple to set up your voice mail, and doesn't weigh heavily on my budget. Other than learning which buttons to press, this is a really great toy when used properly.

By the way, this is the first time I ever bought a cel phone. If this latecomer can use it, then so can some of you stubborn teenagers out there.

76 Love my phone!
I received this phone as a gift and almost returned it for a regular cell phone with a contract. I'm really glad I kept it. The reception has been great and the phone is easy to use. I really like the features that allow you to track the balance and minutes used. My firm doesn't pay for mobile phones, but it will reimburse the cost of phone calls. I don't have to be distracted by trying to keep track of my minutes while I'm on a call and trying to calculate how much each call cost. No more trying to bum a cell phone off someone else or trying to find a pay phone, but, at the same time, I'm not stuck with a monthly bill. I love the etiquette feature. It allows you to use the phone without having all those loud button sounds when dialing.

77 hi tech phone
this phone is awsome. i bought one for christmas, and its gotten me out of going to different places that i didn't want to go, and i can stay at different places for longer periods of time. also, my parents don't have to worry about me anymore, they can just call to check up on me.

78 Very good phone,but the vibration mode sucks.
The phone has very good features for a pre-paid phone, but one of the biggest things that annoys me is that the vibration mode is so weak, almost useless. I need a phone to use while in school and I need a phone with good strong vibration and if you need a phone with good strong vibration, you will be dissapointed with this phone. I missed several calls while I had this phone in my pocket in vibration mode because I barely even feel it.

But the vibration is the only bad thing I found in this phone. I get perfect reception here in California and I like the polyphonic ringtones very much.

The phone doesn't have a camera or games, but who cares! I don't play cell phone games and don't take pictures with cell phones anyways! If you look at the cell phones with builtin cameras and games, they are over $200 and average at around $400 and the games suck, and the camera pictures suck also. The very best cell phone games suck and aren't even worth playing, and also the very best digital camera cell phones has crappy picture quality anyways, so why would you spend hundreds of dollars extra for those crappy features anyways?

If you want to play handheld games, get a Gameboy Advance, and if you want to take pictures, get a real camera, a GBA and a real digital camera would be cheaper than a cell phone with these featuers, and yet the GBA and a real camera has better quality.

79 Do not attempt to buy this poor phone!
I purchased this phone with Virgin Mobile. The good things about it are fairly easy navigation and the keys are very easy to read and type text messages. The bad: this phone's earpiece is used when you have an incoming call, thus this phone's music/ringtone quality are literally down the drain. When you have an incoming call and the volume of the ringer is loud enough just to barly hear through a pocket, the ringer speaker (earpiece) is very bad and sounds like it's pumping too much volume for what it can handle. Another thing, the keybad and badlights are not bright at all, making it hard to see. This phone is CHEAPLY made and by far has the worst service and SIGNAL. The signal quality had NOTHING when I was in the rual area of where I live. VERY TERRIBLE. I would suggest that you do not pay $100 for this junk. You can get a WAY BETTER PHONE for a WAY BETTER price. I promise you will be UNSATISFIED if you purchase this "phone".

80 Poor reception
This phone has a very nice design. It is small and fits well into any purse or pocket. However, I have experienced nothing but horrible reception with the phone. I miss dozens of calls because of the poor reception in many areas. The phone was sent back to the manufacturer once to check for defects and to be 'fixed.' It was returned stating there were no defects and that it was fixed, but the phone still has very poor reception.

81 VirginLuver
I love the phone and the Virgin Mobile Service. I have the Audiovox 8500 and I love it. The only thing I dont like anout it is that there are no games. BUt you can play games through daily dose. I like that you cna listen to clips of realy songs and download ringtones that everyone knows. I strongly reccomend this phone to anyone who doesn't want a phone to use for hours everyday but occasionally to call long distance or while you are somewhere where there is no phone. This is a great phone for younger people like me only because it is small compact and has alot features.

82 Good phone, bad service
I resently perchased this phone and it's great. The phone has tons of cool features and even though it's not color, the backlighting choices make up for this. However, the first day I activated it, I couldn't make calls or receive any. I called customer service, and apparently, they assigned me a number that is actived on someone else's phone. Well, so far, they fixed it so I can now send out calls, but I'm still waiting to receive them. I can't send or receive text messages and I actived the International Calling, that doesn't work either, "go figure!" It's been about 7 days now I'm patiently waiting for some kind of service.
25 cents a minute is pretty pricy, but it's perfect for me since I only need a phone for emergencies. So I love the phone, love the plan, BUT STILL WAITING FOR THE SERVICE TO KICK IN, GETTING EXTREMELY ANNOYED WAITING!!!

83 Weak Vibration.
Though the phone is an ok phone, the vibration mode is very weak and I can't really feel it even when it is in my pocket touching me. If you are planning on needing the vibration feature, look for another phone, but if you don't need the vibration feature, it's a good phone if you buy it under $80 bucks, but anything over $80 would be too expensive and if you are going to spend over $80 on a phone, I suggest to get a better one.

84 question
I am seriously considering buying this phone with my own money, and i was wondering if you need a credit card, or if not, how do you would give them the money. ( i am a teen so i don't have a cedit card or anything like that.)

85 I'm liking this phone....
...and because I'm in a major metro area, I have no trouble with connections. Topping up is easy and painless and best, best,BEST of all,there is NO billing whatsoever. I'm never going back to a "regular" cell and I love pissing off the salespeople who try to get me to do so!

86 Inexcusable terrible customer service
I constantly have trouble with this phone. I cannot top up on the phone because it will never make a connection. One time I tried to top-up my minutes with my credit card. The phone would not top-up my minutes,a text message said "There are gremlins in the system" and would not give me anymore info. So I had to go to a pay phone, call Virgin Mobile, and go through the irritating computer voice commands that don't work half the time. The representative was clueless. I still had no minutes to use and called my bank (suspicious by now), and sure enough there were 9 charges on my bank account from Virgin Mobile all within a few minutes , all for twenty dollars for each transaction. Yet I had no minutes to use, even though they had just charged my bank one hundred and eighty dollars. So I email the customer support, the reply on the email was a bunch of stupid jokes and a p.s. that said "please call our customer support service" (even though I had no phone minutes to use) and that was it!!! No offer to help me.
I never talk on this phone very much and only use it for the basics, yet my minutes are constantly running out. The average monthly cost to use this phone, and only necessary phone calls, is usually eighty to one hundred dollars. It is very expensive. And once your money gets down to a certain point, it won't allow incoming calls, even though there is still a balance.
Do yourself a favor, and don't take the easy way, put a deposit down on a real phone plan, don't do this pre-paid rip off. I gave it 2 stars because I do find the text message handy, that is all I use it for now.

87 great, but not if u talk a lot
i got this phone for x mas and in the past month my nonthly bill that i calculated was about 8 bux. i only use it to say like, pick me up or text message in school. the only thing that is bad bout the phone is it that doesnt have games. if u dont care get this phone. if you talk a lot though dont get it. this phone is perfect for somebody who doesnt use all there minutes on a contract, and the phone itself is great.

88 This phone isn't worth it
I bought the audiovox 8500 phone december 28, 2003 and its january 24 and i don't want the phone anymore.It is an expensive phone that doesn't have many features such as, games(which is the main thing people need when there bored), color in the phone and also the minutes take to much of your money. This phone is not worth your money for the simple fact that this phones doesn't have anything interesting.

89 relly cool phone
This phone is great. It's small but not too small. It's very easy to carry around and looks really cool everywhere you go. You can get great ringtones for a good price and there are no contracts which makes it even better. You don't have to worry about monthly bills, all you have to do is Top-Up when your balance gets low. The features on this phone are great too. You can get about 7 different backlighting colors and outer caller id. You can even have different groups (family,friends, etc.) have a different ringtone. if you choose this phone yuo made a great decision

90 would be great if it was reliable
I switched to Virgin Mobile from Tracfone because it was cheaper and I could buy this phone (that would actually fit into my purse). Unfortunately, I was unable to get a signal inside my office, so incoming calls that I wanted to receive got pushed to voicemail. I don't know if that's because of the phone or the Virgin Mobile service. I also had to leave my building to check how many minutes are left (since unlike Tracfone they aren't displayed on the phone itself). As soon as you leave the coverage area, the phone stops working (unlike my tracfone, which still gets a signal 3-1/2 hours from the border) - not that I held this against this phone. The menus are annoying -> it's way too much hassle to call someone in your phonebook. I wound up switching back to Tracfone and my huge klunky Nokia because of the poor signal.

91 Excellent!!!
This is my 5th cell phone.
This is the BEST!
Smallest,cute and perfect working.
Great many features, like speaker phone, answering machine, voice dialing, voice memo(record up to 10 minutes), send and receive text messages, T9 text input method(fast and easy typing), voice alert,etc.
Voice alert is very fun, record your own voice like "Pick up the phone or incoming call" anything you want and then activate it.
When you got incoming calls, your recorded voice will alerting you instead of ring.
I was record my 9 years old daughter's voice as "Dad incoming call" every time when I got calls I always laughing my face. also,all menu display with animations, it looks nice.
Polyphonic ringtone is awesome.
Press only one button to check balance, V-mobile will send text message within few seconds.

Some people complains about signal reception, but I think it's not the phone problems, they live weak signal areas, my phone reception is perfect than any others. You must check the coverage before buy this phone at virginmobileusa.com.
sound is loud and clear.
This is not color or camera phone, also no games.
I don't need them, phone is just phone,

You don't worry about monthly payment due date,feel so
comfortable.
Virgin Mobile customer service is friendly and nice.
This is cheap rate than any other prepaid service providers.
I'm going to buy another one later.

I have information about battery, $69 at virginmobileusa.com,
But, please check www.cellphoneshop.net, there is only $12.90.
Battery goes up to 5 days in stand by mode, not bad.

Only one minus is no roaming available, I wish roaming available in the future.
Nothing to complains.
Go buy and enjoy with your phone.
Thank you,

92 a pain in the @$$
I spent a lot of time looking at phones before I finally decided on this one. It is a pay-as-you-go plan which I thought would come in handy, but in fact it has proven to be a huge hassle.
I didn't find out until after I bought the phone, but time is 25 cents/minute for the first ten minutes then 10 cents/minute beyond that, EVERY DAY. This makes it very expensive when you make short but frequent calls. Also, in order to "top up" you must pay a minumum of $20, which can also be annoying if you have a meager salary like mine.
Ringtones are a pain as well; the phone doesn't come with any and while there are a lot on the virginmobile website, they are $2 each. When you consider the fact that mp3s are cheaper than that, and these ringtones aren't even mp3 quality but crappy 30 second midi clips, the price is just outrageous.
Let's see, the phone is not in color, surfing the net costs money, as well as using the "virgin extras" and even checking your voice mail (though text messaging is free). Also, RECEIVING calls costs money.
Oh, and reception sucks. Speakerphone is useles if you are beyond six inches away from the phone.
On the plus side, it is very compact and cute. Battery life is decent.
This phone is not worth it. It has a lot of neat features, but because its type of technology is still fairly new, there are still plenty of bugs and defects. I suggest looking at something more reliable.

93 great phone
It's a lot better than everyone says .. if you own it you'll know what i mean BUT your missing something very big here.. its key.. when you press the vx button it takes you to the Xtras menu.. thats no good. its accually WAP thats locked into the xtras you can get out of that and for no cost at all surf the internet when i first got mine i wondered what it could do i stumbled across the article telling me how its amazing.. send me a note on AIM .. novsun88 and i'll step by step guide you how no charge nothin =) all you need is the vox 8500 w/ you =)

94 audiovox 8500 is a great phone
I really like this phone.It is small and is easy to carry around with you.It has a lot of potential.The only thing i dont like is that wallpapers and minutes cost a lot.

95 place title here
i think this fun is good for occasional use or for people who dont want contracts this fun has differnt lcd screen colors which is cool (i wish it was color) i didnt like the slider so i got this it has like a couple ringtone and if you want to buy more their 2 bucks each the little rubber piece that goes in is not attacheed and is easy to lose they say you can go on the internet but really it is just a menu where you can read their so called reveiws which are .10 cents each and their not reveiws the its a 2 sentence thing that says nothing close to a reveiw

96 1st time Cell customer
I decided on a pre-paid phone as I didn't want to be locked into ANY contracts. Of the pre-paid phone plans Virgin Mobile was the best. It has a better customer service and a web site than the rest and is overall less expensive. I wanted the Audiovox as it is the smallest phone and it will fit in the coin front jeans pocket with no problem AND this phone has many nice features. I bought this phone for my convenience and do not give the number out and screen all incoming calls. It's cheaper than the ATT calling card I was using to charge calls to my home number so .25� a minute for the first 10 minutes and 10� for the rest is not so bad. You only have to add $20 every 90 days. I have had this phone for 2 months and have only used about $15 so far. I wanted something for emergencies and occasional use and this was the best for that purpose.

97 Fun phone
This phone is really good for teenagers. I have recently purchased this phone. It cost too much money for the minutes to talk to I mainly just text message [i am sorry of .25 a minute is too much]. It has bad reception but it's good for text messaging. It's also cute and very very very brag worthy. People just love playing with it. But my friends all have the same phone, and one day when one of them opened it, the screen didn't work. He didn't even drop it or anything, it just didn't work. The next day my other friends Key Pad stopped working. I must say I am terrified that I will have wasted 120 dollars on a phone that has a life span of 3 weeks. But I do love it, it's compact, fun, cute, and perfect for teenagers. PLUS THE RINGTONES ARE AWSOME

98 Ok phone, aweful service
I recently moved to the US. Back at home I use a prepaid system, which works for me coz there we only pay for outgoing calls. But when I get charged for incoming calls also, prepaid gets ridiculously expensive! I payed over $50 on a week's worth of phone calls (most incoming) when my apartment phone wasn't working! Most of my calls wouln't come in, and half that did would brake in the middle of the conversation. Also, I could hardly place any calls. The concept is great on paper, but in practice it didn't work at all for me. Oh, mind you, I'm a first-year student in a University, so most of my friends only call from/to a cell phone, so even though I had my apartment phone, I received most of my calls on my cell phone.

The XTras are really cool, but pricey. The service is obviously aimed to a consumerist, young market. But even being a 19-year-old, MTV follower, not-for-long teenager, I was not willing to spend my money on them (enough with what I waisted on bogus connection).

The phone was kinda OK. It's really compact, which was one of the most important features for me when I bought it, since Rave and Model (or whatever) are too bulcky to carry in your pocket (the slider wasn't available yet). The seven different back-LED colors is also nice (OK, I was kinda consumerist in that sense). The dual display was a wonderful feature (I owned two different Nokias before, so I'm used to open faced phones, so being able to get my info without opening the pohne was a big plus). The keyboeard layout is kinda bogus, I would keep on hitting the wrong key and would end up typing in a contact 20 times before I would save it coz I would accidentaly erase it (but then again, put an ULTRA-compact phone in the hands of a 6'2'' guy and you can't expect anything else). The system was nice for me, I liked it, but after using a Nokia 5110 for a year and a Nokia 3310 for a year an a half, I missed the user-friendly, fool-proof Nokia system (although the VOX has a nice menu system). But in short, people would awe in marvel when they saw such a nice and compact phone, and if that's what you are looking for, the VOX is the one for you.

After praising the phone (well, somewhat), I have to go back into trashing the service. I was so glad I got insurance on the phone, so I returned it on the account that I could never place or receive a call without problems. I switched to a real plan with real minutes, cancelled my land line service and ended up paying much less for my communication services! I'm planning on buying a Slider, but as a gift for my brother, and I'll take it home so he can use it with a real service provider (I want to stress that the phone wasn't as bad as the service).

99 Good Phone, Awful Customer Service
I have been using this phone in the Seattle area for about two months. The phone is full of features, relatively intuitive to use and has worked well. I've not had problems with reception.

Be warned, though, that Virgin Mobile customer service is among the worst I've ever experienced. I attempted to buy new ring tones from the Virgin Mobile website about 6 weeks ago. After 3 conversations with customer service, I still am unable to download the tones. The first two times I was given wrong information about the problem and when it would be fixed; the last time I called, the associate told me that the problem was network wide, she didn't know when it would be fixed and could not notify me when it was fixed. This experience has left me with the impression that the company is immature, both in how it treats its customers and in its technology.

The target audience for the service is the teenager crowd, so their website and phone support will seem obnoxiously trendy to anyone over 30.

100 i want to buy
i am really interested in buying this goods from your site which i got through a search engine,Thanks for your coperation