Review: Kyocera Wild Card M1000

[pdauser]

It's quite appropriate that Virgin Mobile would carry a cell phone with an alphabetic keyboard. As the carrier's customer bases trends toward younger users, such a handset is a natural fit for the texting set. Its first try at a messaging phone was the Kyocera Switch Back, which the carrier introduced in 2006. While we liked the Switch Back's features and keyboard, we weren't crazy about much of its design. Fortunately, the new Kyocera Wild Card M1000 fixes most of these issues. Though it's a tad boxy and the external controls could use some polish, the Wild Card is a useful and easy-to-use phone for the text-obsessed. It costs $99.99.



The good: The Kyocera Wild Card M1000 has a easy-to-use, messaging feature set and a well-designed alphabetic keyboard. It also offers Bluetooth and voice dialing.

The bad: The Kyocera Wild Card M1000 has poorly designed navigation controls, and its internal display is rather small. Its speakerphone is also disappointing, and the battery cover is difficult to remove.

The bottom line: It may not be super stylish, but the Kyocera Wild Card M1000 is a solid messaging cell phone for Virgin Mobile customers. Just don't depend on the speakerphone.