Red Virgin Mobile Cyclops

The Virgin Mobile Cyclops has long been a bargain in prepaid camera phones. It's a fairly basic flip phone with big 1.3 megapixel camera stuck on top!

Update: Discontinued

The camera, a step above the VGA-resolution camera found in most basic camera phones plus its relatively low price still make it an attractive option. The phone originally came in a white finish but now also comes in red. The camera even has flash so you can get some decent evening pics with your friends.

Unique "Cyclops" Look for 1.3 MP Camera

The design prominently incorporate the camera's eye hence the mythical name.

Basic Features

Internal Storage

The Kyocera Cyclops has 256MB of Flash memory so there's plenty of space to store your photos

Small Color Screen

The phone has a pretty standard (for the time) 126 x 160 color screen which you can use to preview your pictures. You can also download your . . .

Wallpapers

Downloadable graphics are available from Virgin Mobile for a small fee. Or, even better, use one of your own pics as your cyclops wallpaper.

Speaker phone

The speaker phone allows you to use the phone in a quasi-handsfree manner though you are vulnerable to ambient noise and some echo.

Mobile IM

You can do instant messaging with the Cyclops. Check the plans.

Surf the Web

As long as your prepaid plan included Mobile Web, then you can surf the web and you're only restricted by how usable the site is, as Virgin Mobile doesn't appear to wall off the internet to just the site they want you to visit.

Battery Life

Talk time is the usual 3.5 hours, but the standby time of 7 days is a below average, though if you remember to try to charge it every night, that should not matter.

Bottom Line

If you wanted a cheap basic phone with a better camera then this was one of your best choices at the time.