Virgin Mobile Gives Us More Choices

It seems like it was yesterday when I wrote a post about the survey I had taken in which Virgin Mobile was asking me what I thought of the potential names of their upcoming phones.

Almost one month to the day of that post, today Virgin Mobile announced two brand-spanking-new models: the LG Optimus Slider and HTC Wildfire S. Strangely, neither of these phones bear the names for which I was surveyed but with the addition of these two models, Virgin Mobile now has a total of five Android phones for consumers to choose from.

Virgin Mobile’s LG Optimus Slider (MSRP $199.99)

With its slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the LG Optimus Slider looks pretty much like a replacement for the LG Rumor Touch only it’s running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Virgin Mobile’s HTC Wildfire S (MSRP $199.99)

Speaking of clones, it looks like the HTC Wildfire S could be a clone of the LG Optimus in terms of screen size (3.2”), processor (600 MHz), etc. It’s a little thinner and lighter than the Optimus but comes with a 5MP camera and a flash, something previous VM Android models (except the TRIUMPH) lacked. Like the Slider, the Wildfire S also boasts Android’s 3.2 Gingerbread platform.

But with the few pluses comes a huge minus: talk time. According to the specs, this model has an astounding 3.8 hours of talk time. By comparison:

• Motorola TRIUMPH: 4 hours
• Optimus V: 6 hours
• Samsung Intercept: 6.4 hours

Granted, with texting often being the preferred choice of communication these days, talk time may not seem to relevant but hey, I’d expect a little more than that.

All in all, Virgin Mobile seems to be sending in the clones with these two models and I don’t see myself rushing to sell stuff on eBay to buy either of them. The only good thing here is that the prices will definitely drop on all other Android models to make way for these, which is great news if you’ve been eyeballing that Optimus V.