ARC Camera Flip Phone is Latest Cellphone Offering from Virgin Mobile USA

Virgin Mobile USA, which offers affordable prepaid cellphones, listens to it customers. It's now come out with a sleek and handy mobile phone from UTStarcom, which includes Bluetooth wireless, a camera and more. It's called the ARC.

I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for a long time now, because I like saving money. With our iffy economy, more mobile phone users are discovering that prepaid/no yearly contract is the way to go. According to Virgin Mobile USA, two-thirds of their customers want simple phones for calling, e-mail and messaging; they also want Bluetooth. But they want something stylish, and up-to-date. The ARC from Virgin Mobile and UTStarcom fills the bill.

While the iPhone gets a lot of attention and buyers, it's not an affordable option for many people. And for many users, it's simply overkill. If you avoided prepaid phones in the past, the ARC from Virgin Mobile will make you a believer.

The UTStarcom ARC is small, only 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches. It weighs in at 3 ounces. So it pops easily into your pocket, bag or phone holder. It's thinner than my own Virgin Mobile phone, the Audivox 8610. And unlike my phone, the charger jack is protected by a small cover at the bottom of the phone.

The ARC has a small external display, which shows signal strength, time/date and battery status. Also in front is the camera lens and speaker. On the left side us a strap hole, headset jack, camera key (for quick access) and side volume key. On the upper right you have the VR (voice recognition) key. The inside keys and buttons are intuitive, and include a Web key.

The VGA camera takes up to 640x480 resolution photos, and you can also set to high/medium/low quality. There's a self-timer, self-portrait capability, fun frames, and image control settings (white balance, contrast and color effects). There's no video capability. The ARC also includes e-mail and messaging, Web browser, games, calendar, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock and voice memo.