I've been with Virgin Mobile for a little over two years, now. As a cell phone consumer, my needs -- and expectations -- for these little gadgets are relatively few, compared to the average user. I don't require a lot of bells and whistles; just that a phone have decent enough reception to communicate with the person on the other end of the line, be compact, and easy to use. Since I talk very infrequently on my cell phone, there's no way I can justify paying at least $30/month for a cell plan with a major carrier. It's just a waste of money. Pre-paid cellular services suit me just fine.

Without a doubt, Virgin Mobile's marketing is aimed at the younger crowd. This makes sense, of course, since the lower income -- and credit challenged -- sect of the population find pre-paid cellular companies the most attractive. There is enough pimply phraseology and buzz words distributed throughout the copy on their web pages to cause the average middle aged person a considerable amount of nausea. But that aside, I like VM. Their phones aren't great, but they suit the needs I've already outlined, perfectly.

I'm now on my third phone with this carrier: A neat little clamshell model called the Flare, made by LG (model LX175), costing just $30 dollars. Taking it out of the package, it looked nice and shiny -- and very plastic. The latter doesn't concern me too much, since most of VM's phones are of mostly plastic construction. They've held up well for me, anyway. If you bang phones around consistently, they might not do so well. Believe it or not, I've never dropped a cell phone on hard surface, so I really can't comment much further on that.

The Flare is 3.54" long, 1.85" wide, and 0.78" thick. It weighs in at about 2.6oz, according to my postal scale. The one nice upgrade from some of their other entry level flips is the full color external screen; although it's difficult to read in bright light. Inside, the 262,000-color, 1.75-inch diagonal display is more than adequate. Other features include text messaging (of course), mobile web, speakerphone, Bluetooth® wireless technology, ringback tones, and voice dialing. The speakerphone worked well enough -- I could hear the other party sufficiently, and vice versa -- but the sound gets a bit tinny and distorted at high volume levels, however. The call sound quality during normal use is quite adequate, I think, with very little distortion. I've heard worse; I've heard better. But this is a $30 phone, folks. Enough said.

Other basic features of note: A phone book which holds up to 500 contacts. Each contact can hold up to five numbers, three email addresses, and a web address. Of course, there's a vibrate mode, notepad, voice memo function, alarm clock, calculators (tip and regular), and a world clock. It has a dedicated web key, exterior sound level adjustment, and exterior dedicated voice dialog button.

The one thing you'll find on most VM phones is a lousy selection of ring tones. I suppose this necessitates the need to download additional ones from their website - savvy, huh? So far, I'm happy enough with the classic tone, so the rascals aren't getting any more bucks out of me for the time being.

The one feature you might have noticed that was missing from the features list was a digital camera. Did I forget? Nope, it doesn't have one. As shocking as that revelation may be to many, I'm totally ambiguous about it. In my opinion, phones are for talking; not taking pictures. If I want snapshots, I'll carry my high quality digital camera, thanks. Actually, every phone above the Flare comes with a camera. But even the megapixels on their expensive model, the Wild Card manufactured by Kyocera, is a mere 1.3. No, VM is not exactly on the cutting edge of cell phone technology.

All-in-all, I have no major complaints with either the Flare or Virgin Mobile. All the phones I've purchased from them have held up very well. They do the job for which they were intended, which is enough to earn my praise. If you're a person who talks a lot on cell phones -- and simply has to have the latest electronic gadgetry -- you're not going to be satisfied with a pre-paid cellular company. But for cell phone curmudgeons like me, VM suffices quite well.