Virgin Mobile Takes A Slice

Virgin Mobile's new Slice phone is less than half an inch thick as is available for jut $50 without a contract.

Virgin Mobile has added another handset to its selection of mobile phones for young, trend-conscious, budget-conscious customers: the new Virgin Mobile Slice. And this time, they’re taking on the Motorola SLVR for a price under $50.

The new Slice phone, also known as the UTStarcom PCS1400, is a bar-style handset measuring just 0.4 inches thick; it also offers a built-in speakerphone, a (comparatively tiny) 1.5-inch (128 by 128 pixel) color LCD screen, 32 MB of flash storage (and 8 MB of RAM for applications and games), support for audio (mp3, MIDI, QCP, and MPD) and images (JPEG, PNG, and GIF), and a battery life which offers up to 230 minute of talk time and 270 hours of standby on a single charge. The Slice doesn’t offer all the feature of a Motorola SLVR or other competitors—most notably missing are a camera, wireless connectivity, and expandable storage—but it’s hard to beat the price: just $49.99 with no contract via Virgin Mobile’s prepaid plans,. The Slice is available now in Virgin Mobile retailers, and will be available online November 2, 2006.

“The Slice’’s stylish design, slim profile and unique flat keypad, combined with Virgin Mobile’s Pay As You Go wireless service, will make this an incredibly appealing handset for our youthful customer base,” said Dan Schulman, Virgin Mobile USA’s CEO in a statement.

“Slice is another example of UTStarcom’s dedication to developing innovative mobile devices that are practical, fashionable, and affordably priced,” Philip Christopher, president of UTStarcom Personal Communications. “We believe this handset will be a popular gift to give this holiday season to teens and young adults.”