Now that Virgin Mobile has finished the process of gobbling up Helio, they’ve started launching devices which utilize some of the partnerships the buyout brought to the table. The first one out the door is the Virgin Mobile Shuttle, which purportedly totes Buddy Beacon, a locational application that began its life on Helio handsets. I haven’t actually found it (or any other hints of Helio) on the handset, but I’ll keep an eye out and let you know whats up in the coming review.
Though there’s not all the much box to be seen, we’ve gone ahead and stripped it down and documented the process in photos.
One click makes them bigger – click that second shot for the high res image:
looks great, in red and black
Does Virgin Mobile use SIM cards. Can it function with a local SIM From South America?
no they dont use them unfortunatly
no they dont use them unfortunatly
I made of day of it. Eagerly awaiting Best Buys roll out I had to visit two stores to find it. Th first had no idea what it was which tells me that the manager has not been doing his job. The second had it and I bought it. Actual proce IS $99.00 NOT THE $79.00 which seemed to good to be true anyhow.
Its my 49th pre-paid phone over 10 years. Its hands-down the best I have had. Its sleek, not “cheap” to the touch as a pro-reviewer said.
The screen is worlds above previous VM handsets. Its plenty big and visually stunning.
Web is fast and naviagtion is the best I have seen in any phone (though I never tried Helio)
The touch-sensitive keys work remarkably well.
I can not find the you-locate app the reviewer of this column mentions because its not pre-loaded in the handset. I have to assume that VM will roll it out as a downloadable in the next few days.
I really hope they offer some sort of navigational app as well.
Lack of that would be a major disappointment in an otherwise excellent phone.
Ari
i bought mine for $79.99 on e-bay
bought it today and also bought a 1gb micro sd card for it. i was really angry at the fact that it was being advertised for 79.99 and it was actually 99.99 when i put in the sd card and set everything up to save to the card, i tried to load up the camera. didnt work. when i tired to load it, the screen goes black, the phone freezes, and then it restarts. i dont really get it because it works fine with the video. but for some reason when i have the camera set to save pics to the sd card it wont work. the only way i can get it to run is if i make it so the pics save directly to the phones (unfortunately small 23.47mb) internal memory. but on top of that, even if i have it saving to the phone, if the card is in at all i cant even look at my pics. the same effect that i mentioned before takes place again. i think it might be a card problem, probably not the phones fault but i need to find a way to fix it. also, i was under the impression that the phone was equipped with stereo bluetooth, when i tried to send songs to my phone from a friends it didnt work. the lack of compatability with sd cards, the lack of any of the “buddy beacon, and where” applications which are nowhere to be found, and the lack of the bluetooth it is supposed to have are all wrapped up in a nice little package that is more then it was supposed to be. overall im not that impressed. it is hardly an upgrade from my previous samsung slash. maybe someone out there can help me with my problem?
Check your card; perhaps try a different brand. The phone works with Micro SD and SDHC cards, up to at least 4GB, if not more (this has been tested). Also ensure that the card ‘clicks into place’ and your pushing it all the way in. I have the Shuttle and I can put photos right onto the card. Note: When you first get the card you should put it in the phone so it can write the appropriate directories (pix, flix, my music, etc.) Without these directories the phone will not know where to write the data to. Put the card in your computer and format it first if you need to. You should be able to look at pics that are in your ‘my pix’ directory (supports .jpg, .gif, .png, and .bmp) The phone is supplied with stereo bluetooth, but VM has crippled it’s ability to transfer files between headsets. This is done to avoid copyright lawsuits. You can use stereo bluetooth headsets or other devices but you cannot receive data from others. Buddy Beacon and Where applications will be coming out soon, there is also the where.com website where you can test drive the service. The Slash simply doesn’t have as many features – also the screen alone is almost worth it to get the Shuttle. The Shuttle is only $20 more than the Slash when it first came out.
Would an 8gb SDHC work? Since you say it has been tested could you please provide a link where you saw this?
WOW!!!! i bought this phone yesterday from best buy…and the EXACT SAME THING is happening to me with the camera and memory card…i only have a 1GB micro SD card, and it is doing the restart thing and everything… =[ and my speaker button seems to not work..and i cannot connect my bluetooth headset with it like i could with the LG FLARE
Its the card. I had a Sandisk 1gb microsd and it made my phone freeze when i attempted to look at pics too….go to amazon.com and get the 4gb kingston Micro sdhc for like 15 bucks and your problems will be fine!!! i got mine today and the freezing is gone!
Its the card. I had a Sandisk 1gb microsd and it made my phone freeze when i attempted to look at pics too….go to amazon.com and get the 4gb kingston Micro sdhc for like 15 bucks and your problems will be fine!!! i got mine today and the freezing is gone!
Do any of you all prefer anyone to buy this phone? If so, I am thinking about buying it myself, I was just reading up on it though, to make sure that it was a good decision.
Its looking less and less like Buddy Beacon and WHERE are likely to be available for this phone. The current infrastructure and system menu don’t seem to support it as did Helio. Its a cool phone but lack of GPS functionality is making me feel some buyers remorse. Also, the version of Text-2-IM for this phone is terrible. It takes like 8 clicks to get a message sent.
The camera is pretty good, I was impressed with that.
Im not sure I will have this phone for very long if the GPS stuff does not come soon.
Oh yeah, and it wont play Youtube vids either. Even though its supposed to.
When i put my sd card into the slot and go to play a song from the media player, the phone freezes and shuts off…what is happening? Is anyone else having this problem?
First, format the card with your PC. Next put the card into your phone where it will write the directories automatically (my_pix, my_flix, my_music). Then make sure your music is put into the my_music directory. Otherwise the phone will freeze because it doesn’t know where the music is.
@ Greg.
WHERE which includes Buddy Beacon is included on this device via the mobile web browser. To access WHERE, click menu > surf the web > Local & Nightlife. You will find WHERE listed there.
The user experience requires self reported location today. We are working with Virgin to enable location via cell ID in the coming months.
Dan @ WHERE
hello i am very interested in this phone but i do not know where to buy it please help
OK, The music problem is because either you are not using MP3 Or else a variety of other issues. If you are using MP3 it seems you CAN NOT upload an album folder. The phone wont recognize the folder. Every track must be in the same proprietary file. First put the SD card into the phone. (not the PC to format it as someone suggested) You need the phone to format it with the phones file system. Then put it in your PC and browse to that drive. You will see the folders the phone put in. Then you can copy mp3
’s to the appropriate folder.
The problem Im having is I can upload a single album.
If I try to upload more than one the phone wont recognize the others because you will have duplicate track numbers. The only way I can figure to get around this is to burn a CD of all the music I want to include and let the numbers get assigned that way. Then transfer those MP3’s en mass to te card. Its allot of work. I’m not happy.
As for WHERE and BuddyBeacon. No offense to Dan but this is total crap. We have to enter our current address? What then, exactly, makes this a 3G service? Its just WAP!
This is no HELIO!
How the heck is Buddy Beacon supposed to work if its not GPS enabled? According to what Dan says, any ole’ VM phone could have just as easily be WHERE and BB enabled. Its not a 3g system you are paying for. Its WAP. I could have spent just $20.00 on the VM TNT and got the same WAP capability.
VM Screwed up with this phone and I think it will hurt the reputations of VM, Helio and WHERE.
The instructions given for how to use WHERE failed to work. Texting never produced a link. I ignored that instruction and just proceeded to WHERE and was prompted to enter my location. Thats lame. Why is Buddy Beacon not a Java App that ties into the alleged GPS capability of this phone?
I still cant get the phone to work with Youtube. You can browse but it just says “connecting” when you try to play video. I upgraded to a 2 gig card hoping it just needed some room, but no. Now I see that you cant even send a video message using any video stored to the card. Once you move a video out of internal memory into the card it cant be returned and sent as a message. Lame.
The limited functionality of this phone reminds me of the Samsung S95 from 5 years ago. The S95 was full of good ideas but the technology was not really there yet. So whats the excuse here?
You can ONLY get it at Best Buy.
Can anyone with the shuttle say if the phone has better reception than other VM phones? I dont think the 3G capabilities will help that, but does it have a stronger antenna?
So I have this phone and a microSD. Is there anyway to take pics and have them saved directly to the SD? Or do I have to individually save each one? =/
Thanks for any help.
I’m having trouble with my media player on the Shuttle. I uploaded some home videos, but when I try to play them, I get a Resolution Error, does anyone know how to change the resolution of my videos? Another problem I’m having is that when I try to play a mp3, I hit play, but it plays the wrong song. The songs are all on there, but the media player won’t play the right song….ever. Can anyone help?
I’m having trouble with my media player on the Shuttle. I uploaded some home videos, but when I try to play them, I get a Resolution Error, does anyone know how to change the resolution of my videos? Another problem I’m having is that when I try to play a mp3, I hit play, but it plays the wrong song. The songs are all on there, but the media player won’t play the right song….ever. Can anyone help?
I’m so glad this phone came out, I was planning to switch to ATT Go Phone so I could get an MP3/Camera/Cell Phone but their plan costs more. Thankfully, this came out just in time so I can continue to save money with Virgin and have a great phone. The activation was a little difficult, don’t use the serial number sticker on the bottom of box, you actually have to follow the instructions and press a code on the screen.
MP3 music took a while to load because I misread an earlier review so I thought the music had to wma format but really it has to be in mp3 format so it took some time to convert. it doesn’t see music put into sub-folders, everything has to live on the default my_music folder which is created by the phone when u first put the memory card in it.
I had no problems with the camera, took some shots and moved them to the external card with ease. I bought a 2GB memory card because that was the highest capacity that the Best Buy salesperson said worked with the phone. Anyway, I’m one happy customer.
Actually a 4gb works.
That’s what I’m using
Thanks for the tip! I’ll try a 4 GB!
Having problems with the phone reading the sd memory card. the card was formatted on phone first to get the directories. Copied the files from Media Player (used the sync process) and this created a file called music. I transferred this file into the “my-music directory” file from the phone and when I put sd card in phone, it says “no contents”. Please help.
you cant transfer the music file into the my music directory!! you have to transfer mp3s not files made by the sync thing! just drag and drop the mp3s from your computer to the my-music directory on the sd card
you cant transfer the music file into the my music directory!! you have to transfer mp3s not files made by the sync thing! just drag and drop the mp3s from your computer to the my-music directory on the sd card
I purchased the shuttle last sunday,couldn’t wait for it to come out after dealing with the Marble phone.It was a nice upgrade although i looking for a little more excitment out of the Shuttle. I’ve been having problems with it freezing up on outgoing calls while dialing out and the touch buttons are a little bit too sensitive for me. The video messenging was one of the top reasons why i bought this phone and its not capable of doing that kind of sucks!! I wish VM could have taken a little bit more time with this phone.
Uh… you can send video messages.. I just sent one..
=/
Does anyone know if a 8gb SDHC would work or has worked on this phone? I have the phone and I am planning to purchase one of these 8gb cards.
I’m not sure.. Yeah, it says it was tested so it could work
Overall, everyone would recommend this phone over the Arc. Or does it basically have the same features except for music and video messaging?
Please tell me if the following Best Buy information is correct:
1) To transfer files from my Macintosh to this phone I must also buy a MicroCard reader. I can’t just use Bluetooth to transfer the files to the card?
2) I can have the phone plugged and still use it. My Marble refuses to let me do this.
3) I can transfer over my own video files and watch them on the phone. If so, what format do the files need to be in?
4) Play time for videos and music is the same as talk time when it comes to battery life.
1) not sure
2) yes
3) yes you can. I know music should be in mp3 format. But I”m not sure what format for movies
4) yeah I’m pretty sure. It has a great battery life
The video formats that can be used are H.263 and MPEG-4. I found info at http://www.megamobilecontent.com/specifications/Virgin-Mobile-Shuttle/multimedia/Page-1/
I had to download a video converter from download.com, converted my files, transferred and everything went smoothly. The name of the converter I downloaded is Any Video Converter.
Joe –
Thanks for your tip about Any Video Converter – it was a big help in getting videos to play on the Shuttle.
on what screen size/resolution did u put it?
Can you watch youtube on the vm shuttle? If so…How?
It seems that everytime that i try to watch a video it never loads..whats the deal???
no, youtube seems to not work on the shuttle
any good websites you can watch video on????
Saw on the VM website that you get “1 year of service free!” (in the flashing banner on the VM site) for this phone, Slash or Wildcard – anyone know about this? Banner is not clickable so it doesn’t link to anywhere.
You have to top up at least once after buying the phone, then you have to contact customer service, they didn’t automatically extend the expiration date on my balance until I contacted them. They extend your balance for 1 year if you contact them. Banner ad isn’t clickable.
how exactly did you contact them and what did you tell them
Great Find!! Is the 1 year free service for continuing VM customers? Or is it only for new customers?
can anyone tell me how loud the vibrate setting is on this phone??
hows loud is the vibrate??
hows loud is the vibrate??
it’s not that loud at all
Regarding Blue’s comment that you get 1 year service free with purchase of the Shuttle per VM website. Does that apply to continuing customers or only to NEW customers?
Does the shuttle play videos off the internet at all?
I really need to know please
not youtube
That looks so ugly. The design is hideous. Back in the day my favorite colors were Red and Black…. I think everyone has that phase…. but anyway, the shape of the phone is horrible…. and why can’t Virgin Mobile get some decent screens? Every VM screen I have ever seen has been horrible quality, low resolution and extremely pixelated.
Love the phone but have had a couple of problems with it. It locked up on me twice while receiving calls. I had to pop the battery to get it to clear. Locked up another time while dialing out. Fortunately the nice people at Best Buy let me return it for another one.
But now I have another problem. Downloaded 3 different ringtones from VM but it uses the same ringtone for all calls. I assigned the other two to different contacts, but it won’t play them. Always plays the default tone. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this? I assigned the ringtones like the manual said. I hate to have to return this cool phone again…
i plan on buying this phone . one question. does it work with 8gb cards. i will buy it even if not beacause it works with 4gb.
i boought the phone and love it….but it doesn’t have any cool apps like it said it would no myspace, facebook, youtube, or ESPN
The touch sensitive keys suck! 1/2 the time I go to grab the phone from my pocket I roll over the touch key & ignore the call. I just found out this was happening when my girlfriend gets mad at me for ignoring her calls. Why would you ever design a phone with a touch key 2 ignore calls. The designers must not keep the phone in there pockets I guess. I love the colors, the looks, & the SD card reader but the touch keys got to go. They make the phone a piece of CRAP! If anyone knows how to change the settings so you cant ignore calls w/ the touch keys let me know. Thanks.
yea that happens to me all the time too. also another problem with them is sometimes when im in the middle of a call and someone else calls me, sometimes my face hits the answer button and it switches over. its not a huge problem, but it gets very annoying at times.
yay
What!!!? i hear that all the time with this phone, the keys are sensitive when you F^%#$ put your finger over it for a second, but learn to use, it took me 1 hour to get use to it. no problem whatsoever. Best phone, reception is great, i even took it to brown spot areas and got all the bars, perfect.!!!
You can change the touch sensitivity of the keys you know. Problem solved.
does the phone come with the SD card?
i looked on ebay and it didnt have this fone on there. is there any other way 2 get this fone without goin 2 bestbuy?
Please help me. I am planning on buying this phone but I need to know.
1. Was the price lowered to 79.99
2. Can you take videos with the camera on the phone
3. Can you set your mp3’s from the SD Card as a ringtone
Thanks so much
For all of you having problems with the SD card make sure you “FORMAT” it first you can not do this from your shuttle (unlike most other phones) but if you put it into your pc with adapter it will come up in the computer section right click and scroll down to format it should work fine.
ok so i am having a serious problem with this phone. for some reason it is stuck in a loop with restarting. i was just playing around with it as i normally do, i changed the background to one of my pics. and it all went downhill from there. the screen went all messed up and the phone restarted. ever since then it has been stuck in a loop of restarting, almost booting up, and just restarting again. i have no idea what the problem is! i have tried taking the battery out, plugging it in, unplugging it and nothing is working. it just keeps restarting. even now as i am typing this review its sitting next to me restarting. the only thing that i have been able to do with it is hit the talk key as it is booting up. then it goes to my recent calls. i can still call people by hitting talk again but i cant dial any new numbers. and if i try to back out of the recent calls menu it just pops back into the same cycle. this has never happened before and i have no idea what to do. someone help!
I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM! and i didnt save the fuking receipt. It’s been a while since you posted that comment. So tell me… WHAT DID YOU DO?
I ALSO have the same exact problem. Everywhere I look there is no answer to this problem and I need damn help.
Did anyone ever figure this out? Mine is doing it too!!!
Can you set your mp3’s from the SD Card as a ringtone
Nope
ugh……..that sucks
i realy want this phone!!!!!!!!! is there a major problem with it though!? i mean is it one of those phones that looks awesome but as soon as you get it u regret buying the flipping thing!? cuase i keep hearing that it freezes ALOT!! so if i get a 4SD card then it wont freeze! PLZ HELP!
Does the Shuttle feature a FM radio??????????
Does the Shuttle feature a FM radio????????????????????