Virgin Mobile "Slice" Review

At just over a quarter of an inch in width, the Slice is definitely pocket friendly. It's also one of the nicest looking phones I've seen. But when I purchase a phone, I expect a few things. One of which is a menu that doesn't make me debate what the designers smoked before heading to work. I also don't expect the preinstalled screensavers to resemble a really freaky dream I had after drinking too much. The horrific menu screen and equally terrifying preinstalled graphics are just plain strange. Here's what I'm talking about. After activating and programming my phone, the first thing I did was press the menu key. Here are the menu icons I was greeted with, and no, I am not kidding.

1. A red pig with wings. (My Account)

2. A fire breathing dragon with a horned nose. (Messaging)

3. A donkey. (My Stuff)

4. Three humans in front of a huge red ball. (Contacts)

5. An old, corded type of telephone that appears to have just exploded. (Recent Calls)

6. A gloved fist with a gold star on it holding some red thing. (Tools)

7. And last but certainly not least, a wind-up robot. (Settings)

The talk time is just over three and a half hours. Plenty of time to call the manufacturer and ask what they were on when they designed the menu. And you'll have plenty of time to wait for a response with the Slice's excellent 11.25 days of standby time.

If Virgin Mobile was going for something different, they sure got it. But it's not only different, it's just plain weird. However, they didn't stop there with the weirdness. No, they were just getting started.

The screensaver options consist of butterflies, a psychedelic color changing eagle, and a sparkling hot dog dripping with some sort of blue ooze.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when they were designing the graphics for this phone. "Hey Todd, I don't know what else to add for a screensaver. So far I have some butterflies and a psychedelic eagle. Any ideas?" Just about that time, Todd looked down at his half eaten lunch next to an exploded ink cartridge and said, "I Got it! How about a hot dog dripping with blue ooze!"

And it seems the design team didn't stop the madness with the internal structure of the Slice. Externally, the phone does look great. Just don't try and dial a number or text message and you'll be fine. The reason for this is that the keypad on the Slice is just the right size ... for a leprechaun midget who was born prematurely. Somehow I don't think many of those are going to be purchasing this phone though.

Sound quality is seriously lacking in the Slice as well. While the person you are speaking with will have no problem hearing you, they will sound like a robot with a tin can over their mouth standing in an empty aircraft hanger.

The Slice has a whopping four ringtones. Three of which sound like sheep being slaughtered and the last a plain old generic ring.

The Slice does however have many nice features that most like to have in a cell phone. Things like the ability to make and receive calls and a screen.

If you're looking for a phone that people will look at and think, "Hey, cool phone," then the Virgin Mobile Slice is a great phone. If you are looking for a phone that you will use more than five minutes a week, I'd look for something else.