Rating: 
Summary: Lemon
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: sucks
Review: this phone is gay. it doesn't have three-way calling.
Rating:
Summary: Good plan, lousy phone
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Versatile Phone
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: the best
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: its good
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: Good for Low Use Cell Phone Users
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: NO GAMES
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great value, great plans, way to GO!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Cell Phone Users Who Make Calls Infrequently
Review: 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. 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 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.
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