Virgin Fly SL500i

...were; budget price around £50, Virgin network (for 3p texts), nice looking with megapixel camera and MP3 tones, alarm/calender and either flip phone or slider (so it doesn't dial out in my bag or if my mischeivous twins get hold of it!)

I spotted this phone in Argos, for £49.99, and liked the look of it, the girly colour and I was amazed at the features it had for the price (eg bluetooth, 1.3 MP camera). Other 'bigger branded' phones ...
...see it before buying due to the nature of Argos and also found very little on the web about Fly phones and this model (hence me writing this review!) I was a little hesitant to buy it for this reason, especially after my very bad experience with the Mia phone.

When I got it out the box, it looked very nice, quite a dark metalic type pink. The sliding action was nice and smooth and easy to get used to. Charging is easy and like any ... more

I was very silly and dropped my Motorola Pebl phone in the bath! Hence I needed a new phone. I got a BenQ Mia but had to take it back twice due to very poor reception and ended up back at square one. My priorities were; budget price around £50, Virgin network (for 3p texts), nice looking with megapixel camera and MP3 tones, alarm/calender and either flip phone or slider (so it doesn't dial out in my bag or if my mischeivous twins get hold of it!)

I spotted this phone in Argos, for £49.99, and liked the look of it, the girly colour and I was amazed at the features it had for the price (eg bluetooth, 1.3 MP camera). Other 'bigger branded' phones with the same features were twice the price. I couldn't see it before buying due to the nature of Argos and also found very little on the web about Fly phones and this model (hence me writing this review!) I was a little hesitant to buy it for this reason, especially after my very bad experience with the Mia phone.

When I got it out the box, it looked very nice, quite a dark metalic type pink. The sliding action was nice and smooth and easy to get used to. Charging is easy and like any other phone, just plug it in. The menus are quite technical but you get used to them. Here are the phones main features.....

Slider style handset.

Colour screen - 176 x 220 screen resolution.

Built-in 1.3 megapixel camera with zoom.

Video capture and playback.

MP3 player.

Bluetooth.

60Mb internal memory (this is quite good and you can store alot but you can also buy an extra memory card for it)

Triband.

Talk time - up to 150 minutes.

Stand-by time - up to 150 hours.

Vibration alert.

games (mine has 5 ...blackjack, panda, jet, puzzle and Icarus).

Downloadable games.

WAP compatible.

Size of handset (H)87, (W)44, (D)16.2mm.

Weight 90g approx.

PC disc and headphones included (not used these yet)

USB cable (have used this, easy to download photos from phone to PC)

It is used like any mobile and compares well. The camera is not as good as I thought but it is at least as good, if not better, than a good VGA camera, and it does have a flash light. Video, again, is reasonable quality. There are holes where a charm can be attatched . The bluetooth works well and messaging is quite easy. The phone includes some animations (simple smiley face ones) and you can download your own. There are also some quite nice screensavers or you can use your own photo.

The keys light up in a nice blue shade but it must be said the keypad takes a while to get used to as the keys are not individual buttons but on 'strips' like a Motorola Razr style handset. You do soon get used to this though (but may put some people off)

Battery life is average, using it alot I maybe charge every 3 days.

I haven't used the internet but there is an option for it. There is also a melody composer if you get bored. the tones are not as bad than those that come with many other phones. There are some cute photo editing features too.

Overall, I am very happy with this phone, one of the best I have had. 

...less