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VM Intercept worth it?

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fastshadow171

Lurker
ok well im new to the forums and figured i would register and get a few answers before i pick up anything after christmas. i really like the virgin mobile plans i mean $40 a month for unlimited txt and data and 1200 mins has me sold on the plan. but is the intercept worth it. i have heard mixed things saying its really slow and is a pos. so trying to get a real answer is it worth getting and is the data speed slow?
 
fastshadow171 said:
ok well im new to the forums and figured i would register and get a few answers before i pick up anything after christmas. i really like the virgin mobile plans i mean $40 a month for unlimited txt and data and 1200 mins has me sold on the plan. but is the intercept worth it. i have heard mixed things saying its really slow and is a pos. so trying to get a real answer is it worth getting and is the data speed slow?
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The VM Intercept is slow, but...for the price of VM's service, it is worth it.

I have recently read that VM is releasing other Android phones early in 2011, so it may be worthwhile to wait a few weeks and see if their new Androids will be better values.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!
 
thanks for the replay. yea i changed my mind on getting this anyways. i decided to go with somthing different. i got a free tmobile htc hd2 phone from a friend just going to go with there even more plus plans with flex pay. no contract with it and its like 59.99 a month for 500 mines and unlimted data, and text.

merry christmas to everyone and happy new years.
 
It's my first android, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think it's great. And compared to my old phone on AT&T, the data is freakin FAST as heck. I love it!
 
I have heard that virgin wasnt going to update the intercept to froyo, because the processor couldnt handle flash. Many apps were very laggy and froze, the notifications bar refused to come down after using the phone for a while and i had to restart the phone, the touch keys also were very unresponsive.
 
I'm doing a test on a Virgin Mobile Intercept as we speak...so far...not bad. Google Navigation works, although it's pretty basic in terms of guidance compared to most GPS units. Tethering works with EasyTether, although it's a pain to install everything including the added Samsung drivers - I am using the OEM cable provided in the box (no special cable needed, as some have been told elsewhere). Test speed tethered was around 430kb down and 56k up, which doesn't surprise me for EV-DO Rev 0. Keyboard is okay, as is movie playback sized for 400x240 at 128k H264 AVC video/96k AAC audio/15FPS - although it is landscape mode only. At that video rate there is some fairly minimal blockiness in the video...I'm going to get a faster card for test purposes. The 2GB card included with the phone is a Sandisk Class 2, so a faster card might help with frame rates and allow a higher video bitrate, but the playback doesn't look too bad. The video players for Android are much less developed at this point than say, TCPMP/Core Player for Palm and other platforms. It will play Angry Birds without too much trouble, but I'm not a gamer.

The mount/unmount of the card seems to confuse Windows Explorer (Vista 32), sometimes requiring a PC system reboot to get the card recognized - transfer speeds are around 2.5MBps. Most of the other apps I normally want a phone to run (call recording, call blocking, music, weather and a few others) seem to run okay. Swype is not available for QVGA. 3.2 Megapixel camera does not have a flash, pictures are okay.

At $40 a month for 1200 minutes and unlimited data and text, it's hard to beat this. VM has announced they will upgrade their Intercept to Froyo 2.2 "sometime this spring", which would help because of being able to run apps from the card. Onboard memory is getting maxed out fairly quickly. Wi-Fi needs to be used to run any kind of video like YouTube or TV.com with any decency. It's difficult finding a decent custom car mount for the Intercept...to me the sticky Clingo mounts might make the most sense...IGrip has just come out with a mount with onboard power. I haven't tried the Bluetooth yet but it's 2.0 and supports A2DP, so I expect that won't be an issue. Battery life is tolerable, but it will need to be near a charger as often as possible.

The Micro USB power input is on the top of the phone, which makes powered car use somewhat ugly at best...but it can be done. Body Glove's rubberized case seems to be the best bet as well, but there are cheaper cases out there. A good custom-fit leather case is very hard to find, especially with a button to use with a belt clip/mount...Monaco seems to be the only maker I can find to this point. I do like the fact it has a 3.5mm headphone jack, and that the Micro USB card can be accessed from the side, rather than having it under the battery.

If you need an entry-level Android smart phone with a keyboard and inexpensive plans with data, this phone is worth a serious look. I bought mine for $199 from Radio Shack with a $25 one month 300 minute plan to test. Unlimited plans are $60, and all of the plans can be set up as recurring debit/credit card charges, and in many states include the taxes and fees added by Sprint and other carriers as extras. All of these rates are about half of what Sprint charges for very little more in the way of service for most users - you don't get free nights and weekends, or Sprint TV, or roaming...but other than that, it's mostly the same. Insurance is available and comprehensive for $5 a month, but the Intercept also has a $65 deductible. You can return the phone to RS within 30 days and only pay for the one month's usage.

At this point I don't know whether to keep it or not...I might be more tempted to get one with Froyo 2.2. I'd expect the coming VM upgrade will probably wipe the phone out, and everything would need to be reloaded...hopefully I'm wrong. I have no desire to root anything. I'm a long-time Palm 700p user and would like a smartphone with navigation that costs less monthly, hence my test.
 
I was bummed about not being able to get swype.

The body glove case is the best!

Maybe I'm just in a good service area, but I can watch youtube and other videos pretty much flawlessly with minimal load time.
 
I'm glad to hear your YouTube performance is good. And I spoke too soon about Angry Birds...It turns out that the game hangs after it's played for a while, as is being reported elsewhere here at Android Forums. The new Lite version of AB won't run at all.

The Body Glove case is nice, although it does make using the top row of number keys a little tougher. The clip for the case includes a little kickstand, which is useful, and the fact it has a conventional button (which can be removed to give a flat back, if desired) means it can be used with a normal belt clip, and with car mounts that use that button, which can still be found. That allows me to always have the unit in a case, have full functionality, and be able to mount it in the car and on my belt, which is what I've been used to with my Palm Treo 700p.

A lot of folks seem to be excited that the LG Optimus S is coming to Virgin Mobile around February 1...the Optimus has Froyo 2.2 and EV-DO Rev A, and generally gets good marks from users. The downsides are that there is no physical keyboard, and that the processor is only 600Mhz, compared to 800 for the Intercept, and it can't run Flash even with 2.2. I wish the VM Intercept had 2.2 already to see what kinds of performance improvements will be had, and to try and run apps from the card. I'm using the ArcMedia Player for movies, and although they look okay, the player is warning about frame rate issues on exit even at the bare minimum settings I'm using. I have a 16GB Micro SDHC Wintec Class 10 card on the way to arrive next week to see what improvements, if any, can be had with a higher speed card.

There is a memory manager program I started using called Memory Booster Lite that reports 169MB available to install and run apps, which suggests even more how much the Intercept might benefit from running Froyo 2.2.
 
If you want a Samsung Intercept on Virgin Mobile, this week might be the time to get one. Radio Shack has been selling them for $199, and VM has now confirmed that they will begin selling the LG Optimus, perhaps as soon as February 1 according to some of the information out there. As the displays of retailers like Radio Shack and Sprint only have space for 4-6 VM phones (and Radio Shack is getting the Optimus), the thought has crossed my mind that the Optimus may replace the Intercept as VM's "high-end" Android phone. There is a VM "alpha" site folks on another forum have pointed to as one where early announcements of phones are sometimes featured...and I've noted that while the Optimus isn't there yet, the Intercept isn't either. It's speculation at this point, but if you've been on the fence about an Intercept, and want a VM Android phone with a physical keyboard, the Intercept is the only choice. The Optimus has the same size (3.2in) display but a higher resolution (480x320 vs 400x240) that will handle Swype and has more colors (262k vs 65k), and has a dual processor (600 mhz CPU/400mhz modem) rather than the Intercept's single (800 mhz), and will handle things like Angry Birds the Intercept does not, even though it's a slower CPU. Both phones are EV-DO, but the Optimus Sprint has been selling is the faster EV-DO Rev A. The Optimus also already has Froyo 2.2, which means VM won't be getting bugged about upgrades, and have to deal with the crash related issues that an upgrade from 2.1 to 2.2 will certainly cause for some users - VM has committed to go to Froyo 2.2 for the Intercept "sometime this spring". The Optimus also scores much higher in customer ratings than the Intercept at Sprint, which means VM/Sprint would be getting fewer complaints and better feedback, most likely.
 
Now I'm thinking it may be the Rumor 2 that goes...Radio Shack has removed it from their Web site.
 
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