Virgin Mobile Slash

The Virgin Mobile Slash by Samsung gets basically good reviews as an inexpensive slider cell phone -- reviewers say it's a good deal considering there's no service commitment. Virgin Mobile offers even cheaper options, such as the $50 Virgin Mobile Arc. They're very different cell phones hardware-wise -- the Arc is a clamshell -- with different manufacturers. But they offer many of the same features: a "poor" VGA camera, basic web browser, Bluetooth, voice dialing and speaker phone. One area in which the Samsung Slash excels is battery life (although not all owner reviews agree). In independent testing, CNET got six hours and 18 minutes of talk time on one battery charge, well beyond the promised 3.5 hours. Most reviewers find call quality to be good.

While CNET says call quality is good and doesn't critique the web browser, the credible InfoSync concurs on the former but trashes the latter: "Many of the included functions, like the Web browser and the e-mail client, were so below par that they were unusable."  While CNET disses the keypad as cramped, InfoSync says, "We found the keypad to be easy for typing, thanks to the nicely rounded rows of keys." Owner reviews are generally positive, with most saying that the Samsung Slash is a good value for what it costs if you can live with the absence of advanced features (no music player, for instance) and what's generally acknowledged as a minimally effective camera. The Virgin Mobile Shuttle is a viable alternative.

We found the best reviews at CNET and InfoSync. Both are reliably thorough and do plenty of hands-on testing, but they reach different conclusions overall about the Samsung Slash and are radically different in their assessment of several key features. Unfortunately, Consumer Reports doesn't rate the Samsung Slash, and it isn't clear whether About.com's review involves hands-on use. We found about 40 owner reviews apiece at BestBuy.com and RadioShack.com, with much fewer reviews at Target.com and Amazon.com.