Customer Reviews for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Model: Optimus V
SKU: 1879739
UPC: 836182002705
This mobile phone features an Android 2.2 operating system to keep you connected and productive on the go and a built-in digital camera and camcorder to capture still photos and video. A 3.2" touch-screen display makes navigating features simple.
Average Customer Rating:
4.2
out of 5
(302 Reviews) 302
Rating Snapshot 302 reviews
5 stars
167
4 stars
89
3 stars
16
2 stars
8
1 star
22
86% of customers would recommend this product to a friend
(
261 out of
302)
Customer Reviews for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Review 1 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Posted by: cubeman
from Los Angeles
on 03/01/2011
Value for Price
5.0
Features
4.0
Ease of Use
5.0
Battery life
3.0
What's great about it: Great Value, good phone, great plan
What's not so great: even with fix it'd be nice if the battery lasted longer but I understand most smart phones have this issue
I had no intention of buying a new phone, but when my company moved and I had no service for most of my waking hours it was time for a change. It decided to look in the world of smart phones. Being a lover of apple products I naturally thought of the of the iPhone, but I was not eager to commit to 80 dollars+ a month for two years. I then discovered this is not just the scenario for the iPhone but for every smart phone from a major carrier. I could afford it but I could not justify the excessive monthly bill. I barely use my phone. My monthly minutes rarely go over 100 and I wasn't sure how much smart I'd need or use. It seemed like I'd be throwing a lot of money away, but I needed a new phone.
I knew there had to be a answer and turns out this phone and Virgin Mobile are the perfect solution for me. 300 minutes is plenty and with unlimited data I could test out the world of smart phones with no commitment.
Porting my phone number only took one 10 minute phone call and 3 hrs waiting. A quick visit to Virgin mobile's web site to set up auto pay and I was good to go. Now I see what I've been missing and it's great. I love being able to stream Pandora at work or browse the web while I'm stuck shopping with my wife or find the cheapest gas price wherever I'm at. The best part is I can do all this paying less per month than I did with my old dumb phone and I get better coverage. I highly recommend this phone for anyone wanting a no strings way to test the smart phone waters. Sure it can't do everything the high-powered phones do but for me phone does just about everything I want it to. Flash support would be nice but the youtube app works really well and the iPhone doesn't support flash either.
Now for the battery tip. When I first got this phone the battery would fully discharge in just a few hours. It would almost completely drain overnight on standby! The phone felt hot, and it would take hours and hours to charge. I thought I must have a defective battery or phone. I did some research and it seems likely that this phone may suffer from a software bug where the radio constantly searching for a signal. This kills the battery. The quick solution is to put the phone into airplane mode for 15 seconds or so and then go back to normal. After doing this my battery life was GREATLY improved. The phone doesn't feel hot anymore and it went from the battery draining 80% overnight to only 10%. Anyone interested in the specifics check out these links.
http://androidforums.com/lg-optimus-v/271220-optimus-v-defective-battery-how-kill-apps.html
http://forum.androidcentral.com/optimus-v/57943-excessive-battery-drain-even-standby.html
This needs to be done every time you reboot the phone. If Virgin is listening, fix this problem or you may be getting a lot of returned phones. Don't let people miss out on this great product and value.
If you get good coverage from sprint in your area and you're thinking of jumping into the world of smart phones or just like saving money, I highly recommend this phone.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1,097points
1154out of 1211found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Great first Smart phone!
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: Easy to use
What's not so great: Battery life
This phone is my first Smart phone. I love having access to many apps, texting, a camera, and my email all in one place! I have had a few issues with the phone screen blacking out and the screen freezing up but both were solved by shutting the phone down, removing the battery for a few minutes and then restarting the phone. I feel like I'm constantly charging the phone's battery but not sure if it's this phone or all Smart phones that are like this. Using wi-fi rather than 3G is usually quicker - especially for things like the Pandora app. Virgin Mobile customer service has been helpful when I've needed assistance. All in all a great first Smart phone!
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Short battery life, Great picture quality, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Business Professional, moderate texter, love to explore available apps
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
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Review 3 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Occasional phone users love
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: mrpaul
from Tampa, Florida
on 05/19/2012
What's great about it: Easy to use
What's not so great: Short battery life
Since I have VOIP home phone, the cell is for away from home. I rarely use many minutes, but do a lot of texting to family and friends and it works great. Navigation is better than my car's gps factory unit. Cannot complain for the low price and no phony add on fees. For those who do not make a ton of calls away from home, you cannot beat this deal.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Short battery life, Tough/durable, Good video quality, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Heavy texter
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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Review 4 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Fantastic phone for Virgin Mobile
Customer Rating
5.0
Posted by: Mckay91095
on 05/17/2012
This Phone is extremely nice and cool to show off with. I bought one for Virgin for only a total of 123.23$ Great apps and features make it so easy and straightforward. Although, I would recommend you study up on the book they give you so you know the alerts and icons on the top. So in conclusion, Great apps, camera, and interface.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Limited service area
Customer Rating
1.0
Posted by: Postino
from New Kensington PA
on 05/16/2012
What's great about it: nothing
What's not so great: could not get service at my shop
this is the first smart phone I have ever had. It would not get service at my shop which is located in Tarentum PA. I took it back for a refund, I went back to verizon, old style phone, too much involved with the smart phone for my likes, plus service area was limited. too bad cause I like the price but............
About me... Budget Conscious
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
-2points
0out of 2found this review helpful.
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Review 6 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Lousy phone and service
Customer Rating
1.0
What's great about it: Nothing
What's not so great: Very slow network, phone freezes too often
I used this phone for nearly 6 months. I suggest every one read the negative reviews on this phone first before making a decision. I consider myself to be knowledgeable about gadgets, but I was very frustrated based on my experience with this phone and virgin mobile so far.
Initially I thought I was getting a good deal, but soon I realized that virgin mobile network is very slow you will be lucky if you can get EDGE speed (and I live in a metro with 2 million+ population). This is a smartphone and the overall experience is very much dependent on the quality of the network, since this phone is usable only on virigin network. There are many occasions when the speed is less than dial-up (even though it shows "3G" on the notification bar). Recently I had to travel to another metro area which was supposed to have better coverage, but there I got 0 bars more often than my hometown, could hardly access data. So virgin lies about their coverage on their website. When they marketed this phone as 3G, my expectation was a consistent ~500kbps download speed, but I could get that on very few occasions.
On the phone, it is an entry level phone with nothing great to write about. Battery life sucks. I rooted the phone, and installed link2sd app to get around the miniscule storage they have available. So I have around 100 applications installed on the phone, but the phone freezes too often (at least once a day) and reboot will often take 10 minutes. I haven't tried any custom ROM yet, since custom ROM can not solve the problems associated with the network.
Virgin customer service is terrible. Most of their reps are clueless. Their solution for all problems is to take out the battery and reboot the phone.
If you are looking for prepaid, I suggest looking for other options out there like tmobile or straighttalk. Virgin probably should be the last option. I will probably go to iphone when the new iphone comes out later this fall.
This product is... Short battery life
About me... Budget Conscious
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Awesome phone!
Customer Rating
5.0
A really great phone especialy for the price, would recommend this product.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Lightning fast, Great picture quality, Good call quality
About me... Use for phone calls only
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
2out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 8 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Ok phone............
Customer Rating
2.0
What's not so great: CAn not get Pic messages, Virgin Mobile as unsuccesfully tried and now ignoring me
this phone freezes up to much, can not receive Pic messages, not sure if this is the phones fault or Virgin Moble, but it has been a month, and unable to return or exchange, I was so excited to have a Droid, I would rather go back to my flip phone
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+1point
2out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Great Smartphone for the money
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: Contact801
from Washington, DC
on 05/02/2012
What's great about it: Loads of features including an excellent GPS Navigation App
What's not so great: Battery Life is short
Overall, this is a great bargain priced Android smartphone!
It's fully loaded with everything that a smartphone should have.
I was surprised by the ability to use my voice to write text messages and e-mails with high accuracy. I also was very pleased to get GPS Navigation with this phone; now, I have no need to buy a GPS Navigation System.
It's fully loaded with everything that a smartphone should have.
I was surprised by the ability to use my voice to write text messages and e-mails with high accuracy. I also was very pleased to get GPS Navigation with this phone; now, I have no need to buy a GPS Navigation System.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Short battery life, Lightning fast, Great picture quality, Tough/durable, Good video quality, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Heavy texter, Heavy apps user
I would recommend this to a friend!
+8points
8out of 8found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Love my phone!
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: Easy to use, Easy to become familiar with, price, quality
What's not so great: Haven't found anything yet
My family made the switch from Tmobile to VM as our contracts expired and we couldn't be happier. This is my first "smart phone" and I love it. I get great service, great connectivity, its fast and its easy to use. Only occasionally do I have to reboot to reset the internet - I had to do this every two days at the beginning but now maybe once a week as it has gotten used to my usage.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Lightning fast, Great picture quality, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Business Professional
I would recommend this to a friend!
+7points
7out of 7found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Better Than I Expected!
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: Excellent First Smartphone!
What's not so great: Occasionally need to force close
This is my first smartphone. I had an LG Envy Touch from Verizon before, and we were on a family share plan with 1400 minutes between the 4 of us, and my husband and I were responsible for $110 or so of the bill. I was reluctant to switch to Virgin Mobile because my whole family is on Verizon, so my minutes felt like "unlimited", but my husband really wanted a smartphone. We switched to Virgin Mobile, found a deal at Best Buy for these LG Optumis V phones for like $85/phone + $35 top up cards, so the phones ended up only being like $50! For that kind of money I wasn't expecting much, but boy am I impressed! I have an iPod Touch gen 4, and I have to say...I love this smartphone! I'm not a super expert on operating systems, so don't bother flaming me. I play spider solitaire and Words With Friends on my iPod, check my email and Facebook, and it works perfectly. I have a few workout apps on this phone that I use and they work perfectly! I use the myfitnesspal app to lose 2 lbs a week, started it a month ago, cheated 5 or 6 times and I'm down 6lbs! Love it! I use a HIIT app and the Cardio Trainer app to run/bike and I love them! Every now and then I have to force close an app, no big deal. Once in a while I have to remove the battery and completely restart my phone. No big deal. I charge it every night because I doubt the battery would stand for less charging. No big deal. None of those things are a deal breaker for me. I'm super happy with this phone, I don't need it to do anything particularly impressive, but have to say it definitely exceeds my expectations! Compared to my iPod Touch, I think honestly it works just as well, plus it has Swype, which is SUPER COOL! Camera kinda sucks, I don't know how tough it is, I haven't dropped it (yet). Battery is ok, just charge it every night. I was surprised at how easy it was to adapt to a touchscreen keyboard. Swype is very easy to use! I was also surprised that I do NOT use 1200 minutes a month. Go me! Glad to know that the $45/month plan is perfect!
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Lightning fast, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Heavy texter, Heavy apps user
I would recommend this to a friend!
+9points
9out of 9found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
I didn't get good 3g service.
Customer Rating
3.0
What's not so great: I didn't get good 3g service.
Dissapointed I didn't get good 3g internet or phone service and I live in a medium size city of 200,000. Otherwise, the wifi worked well.
About me... Budget Conscious
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
+3points
4out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Good phone for the money
Customer Rating
4.0
What's great about it: Easy to use
I am enjoying this phone. This is a great phone for kids to older folks. Everything is so easy to use, camera, video, keyboard, etc.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Tough/durable
About me... Budget Conscious
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
great smartphone
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: price and apps.
What's not so great: batery life
it's a very goos smartphone for 35 dollar a month, it's great.
This product is... Easy to use keypad/keyboard, Short battery life, Great picture quality, Good call quality
About me... Heavy apps user
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
4out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Nice smartphone
Customer Rating
4.0
What's great about it: good price and plan price
What's not so great: short battery life
I'm guessing that the listed specs for smartphone batteries are as reliable as the specs for laptops & notebooks, ie, not at all.
Other than the battery issue I am very pleased with the phone and the Virgin Mobile service.
This product is... Short battery life, Great picture quality, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
4out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Nice phone
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: Apps
What's not so great: Not sure
Got this phone for my 11 year old son. He seems to enjoy it. Caused him to put down his PSP. He doesn't call anyone on it but he likes having mobile internet.and the ability to be the GPS while in the backseat. I guess it's a nice phone. He hasn't complained about it.
This product is... Lightning fast, Great picture quality, Tough/durable, Good call quality
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
3out of 5found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Learned a hard lesson
Customer Rating
1.0
What's great about it: Great when it works!
What's not so great: Didn't last long ...
Bought the phone March 15th and it died on April 15th ...
The phone may be salvagable but the battery is dead beyond any fix.
Called the store and was reminded that I bought no warranty ...
Shame on me!
Was told where I could purchase one for $40.00 ...
Leaving on Vacation tomorrow for a week with No Cell Phone ...
I suspect I will survive but, I am highly dissapointed!
The phone may be salvagable but the battery is dead beyond any fix.
Called the store and was reminded that I bought no warranty ...
Shame on me!
Was told where I could purchase one for $40.00 ...
Leaving on Vacation tomorrow for a week with No Cell Phone ...
I suspect I will survive but, I am highly dissapointed!
This product is... Short battery life, Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Use for phone calls only
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
0points
2out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Long battery life but freezes up
Customer Rating
3.0
What's great about it: battery life
What's not so great: screens freeze very often
Long battery life but screen freezes more than what I am used to. Good first Droid phone for my son. He does enjoy it. Key pad is also on the smaller side making it a bit difficult for texting which he uses it for all the time. Other than that, pretty good phone for the money.
This product is... Good call quality
About me... Budget Conscious, Heavy texter, Heavy apps user
I would recommend this to a friend!
-3points
0out of 3found this review helpful.
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Review 19 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Use it alot for GPS, email, twitter, games, music
Customer Rating
5.0
What's great about it: GPS and Internet work great.
What's not so great: Battery
I am not a great talker so usually only use 100 mins of the 300 available. I use the 'unlimited' internet alot. Blue tooth works well, spent more on Speakphone and Tunelink adaptors for the car. Has it's hiccups now and again. I use this more than my IPod Touch.
This product is... good bluetooth music player.
About me... music is my life., app developer
I would recommend this to a friend!
+4points
4out of 4found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V No-Contract Mobile Phone - Black
Pretty good phone
Customer Rating
4.0
Posted by: lightningcount
from los angeles
on 04/04/2012
Got my Optimus V from Best Buy about 1 1/2 weeks ago. And I don't have any serious complaints about this phone. It's my first android phone, just came off of using a Razr (I know, I know#.
It DOES get very hot, you have to set the phone on AIRPLANE MODE=ON for a few seconds and then set it back to back to AIRPLANE MODE=OFF and it does the trick. Doesn't eat as much battery, stay cooler and it lasts longer without having to recharge it.
Only complaint is, my phone didn't come with the Facebook app on it #Twitter neither) so I'm like "wtf!" about that. It's 3G and a bit on the slow side. Nothing major.
It DOES get very hot, you have to set the phone on AIRPLANE MODE=ON for a few seconds and then set it back to back to AIRPLANE MODE=OFF and it does the trick. Doesn't eat as much battery, stay cooler and it lasts longer without having to recharge it.
Only complaint is, my phone didn't come with the Facebook app on it #Twitter neither) so I'm like "wtf!" about that. It's 3G and a bit on the slow side. Nothing major.
About me... Budget Conscious
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
3out of 4found this review helpful.
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