Virgin Mobile Marbl Cell Phone Review

After reading several reviews regarding Virgin Mobile's Marbl phone I decided to see if it's as bad as most reviews claim it to be. Virgin Mobile is a prepaid cell phone that currently doesn't require any credit checks and is powered by the Sprint network. There are plans that are pay-as-you-go for a basic rate of $0.20 a minute, to monthly plans that offer anytime and night minutes.

Marbl is a slim flip top phone that is very basic. It can fit in most back pant pockets and in most stores the only option for the phone is in black. If the phone is ordered online you can choose from 5 colors, activate and shipping is free when ordering directly from VM. It has a medium blue keypad with easy to use speaker phone, back and calling buttons.

On the main screen there's contacts and menu. You can choose to have the menu has icons or a list. The options for the menu are: My Stuff, My account, Settings, messaging, VirginXL, contacts, tools and recent calls. My stuff contains ring tones, games, graphics and sounds. Surprisingly the phone has two games already preloaded on the phone. Brice Attack which entails a ball smashing out bricks and Race 21 which is similar to blackjack. Settings includes everything from sounds, display, convenience, call options, txting and more.

There are some good aspects of this phone such as: The phone offers a hold call options where the call is answered but the caller hears a recorded message from you until you answer it. There's a tip calculator that allows you to put in how much the bill was and then the amount percentage of how much you want to tip. There's also a splitting of the bill that allows you to put in how many guests and then divide with the tip being included cost for each person. There a quick alarm feature that allows you to have the phone alarm you in 15 minutes. The keypad is easy to understand. The phone has a loud speaker and a couple of the ring tones aren't so bad.

The bad aspects: Some of the ring tones sound a little bit scratchy, the speaker is loud but clarity isn't so good. There's no outside display of an incoming call, text or the day/time. This could become a problem if you use the phone to check the time. Also there's no camera in this phone to take pictures or video. It's pretty plain looking for the menu and the phone itself.

VM currently requires $20.00 to be top up every 90 days even if you do have a balance for phone service to be active. One reason for trying out Virgin Mobile again was because Verizon's prepaid requires a top up every 30 days regardless of having a balance. If a payment isn't made, phone service can be interrupted. VM allows you to view your account balance up to five times free daily and then changes $0.02 each time after.

Overall if you're looking for a very basic phone for calling and texting, you may want to check out this phone.Right now at the convenience store you can purchase this phone for $7.11 but it's only for a limited time. Pair it up with a $10.00 top up card to try out the service. VM currently offers $2.50 included with the phone. It depends which phone plan you choose to decide how many minutes you'll have with the $2.50 included. Always keep up to date on all charges and fees to avoid any surprises. Check out VM calling plans before purchasing any phone to ensure the plans will work for calling needs. To purchase or check out other phones and plans by VM, log onto: http://www.virgin.com/gateways/mobile/