Coby CDRA147 Digital AM/FM Dual Alarm Clock Radio / CD Player

• Digital clock with large 4-digit LED display
• Top-loading CD player with programmable track memory
• Sensitive AM/FM analog tuner. Dual alarm clock with sleep/snooze timers
• Wake to CD, radio, or buzzer. Full-range stereo speaker system
• 3.5mm headphone jack, Clock backup with 9V battery (battery not included)

I was almost scared off by the negative reviews here. I really need a radio/cd player with a headphone jack to use with my pillow speaker so I don't disturb my husband. This clock radio isn't too large for my night stand and the sound quality is fine whether I'm listening to a CD or the radio. I did hold on to the shipping materials in case mine quit after three days like someone said...I did not get a defective one so I tossed the boxes. :-) I am very pleased with this clock radio and I do think it's a bargain.

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I bought this so I could wake to my own commercial-free music. After three days, the unit stopped playing CDs altogether so now I have yet another clock radio. During the brief period it worked, the CD sound was so terrible it startled me the first time I tried it: crackly, tinny and thin. The radio sound is slightly better, but not even close to my old (also cheap) clock radio. During the three days it worked, the unit woke me every day with the first track of the CD. You cannot adjust the alarm to start with a random track, or pick up where it left off the day before. The unit accepts a battery to keep time during an outage; however, the manual says the time will not display until power is restored, and I'm guessing that means the alarms won't work either.

Other negatives: Time-setting is uni-directional, so if you pass the hour you wanted when clicking through, you have to cycle around the clock again. My cheap RCA clock radio has spoiled me with bi-directional clock setting and digital radio tuning.

The Coby's buttons are flat, stiff, and hard to press. The radio is tuned via an awkwardly placed thumb wheel at the bottom right side of the unit, and it's difficult to lock on the station you want. The clock numbers are nice and large; however, like most clock radios, they are way too bright and cannot be dimmed (except by throwing a sock over the radio, which is what I had to do).

Since I dawdled a month before opening and using the radio, Amazon's 30-day Return window has expired. I'm going to try to return it anyway--without the CD function, it's useless to me. I'm going back to my old clock radio which was just as cheap, but has much better sound. Anyone know a Philadelphia-area radio station that plays fewer than 4 commercials between 5:45 and 6 am?

Positives? I like the rounded shape. And I was able to set the clock and alarm times initially without reading the manual, something I've never been able to do with other clock radios. It arrived promptly and was securely packaged. It was my mistake not to immediately set it up for use.

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I purchased the Coby Radio/CD player recently. The first one I had to return right away because the CD would not play. I received my second one within a week. It seemed to be just what I wanted...small enough for my bedside table, good size numbers on the Clock and good directions. I was able to play my CDs, too.....for a couple of weeks. When I got back from an almost 2 week vacation, tho, the CD no longer played!

I have returned the 2nd Coby and will not buy another one. I am disappointed that it didn't work for me.

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I wanted a cd player alarm clock to play self recorded CD's. I like to play relaxation and meditation CD's if I'm having trouble sleeping. Unfortunately this unit plays only pre recorded CD's. At this point in history this must be about the last of the "CD only" players. In as much as most of my CD's are those I've recorded, this unit is essentially useless to me. Also, the controls are not user friendly. In that most of one's interaction with an alarm clock is done in the dark, this clock's buttons etc, are hard to see and/or feel. Save your money. There must be better quality clocks on the market.

I have no qualms with the Coby alarm as an alarm clock and a radio, it's very straightforward and easy to use, but the CD player was so disappointing (the main reason I bought it). The VERY FIRST time I used the CD player, I played about 6 tracks and it just died, I'm not even kidding. It's worth your money to invest in a higher quality product.

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Naxa NCA-696 Detachable PLL Electronic Tuning Stereo AM/FM Radio MP3/CD Player with ID3 Text Functio

• PLL Electronic Tuning Stereo AM/FM Radio Tuner
• Anti-vibration Auto-insert CD Mechanism
• MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW Playback with ID3 Text Function & ESP (Anti-shock Protection)
• Mechanical Front Face Detachable Panel with Carrying Case
• Station Preset, Station Seek & Preset Scan Function

I was wary to purchase a stereo at this price point and an unfamilar brand at that. I have to say I'm generally impressed. For under sixty dollars you get a stereo that has an aux input, USB input AND a SD card input. You don't find that on any brand names at this price point. I like the idea of putting an 8GB sd card or flash drive and hitting random (which it does for all sources)and not having to mess with much else. The display, which is quite busy, is attractive and fully animated with a pulsing three color equalizer and rotating CD icon when playing discs. The only complaints I have is that its an all button deck. If you are used to a volume knob or jog dial, this unit will take some getting used to. Other than that, I find the scrolling text for the ID3 info annoying, but that's a personal preference. Tuner works fine. Sound is good all around. I've read conflicting statements about the max wattage being from 100 to 400 watts, but the sound is clear at peak volumes in my truck and I don't really listen to music that loud anyway. It did come with a full function remote and hardshell padded carrying case for the faceplate, which some name brands don't even provide anymore. Overall, the build quality is on par with other brands and I think its a great value worth considering.

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This stereo is OK. It's a great value but is missing a complete of really obvious features. For the auxiliary input evaluations, I'm using an LG Optimus Android cellphone.

Radio: Auto tuner, memory, quality are all good. Has 3 FM memory banks and 2 AM. Sounds good.

Audio CD: Plays fine but has troubles resuming once turned off and back on.

Data CD: Haven't tried.

Aux In: Works, but pretty quiet. Have the volume as loud as possible on both head unit and device, which creates a pretty normal listening level, but the high volume from my phone creates a little distortion. (For perspective; the volume goes up to "45." Talk radio is good around 20. Maxed on both the head unit and phone creates a comparable volume.)

USB In: Not sure what's wrong, here. It works, for a moment, but it seems as if the power is a little irregular or wiring is loose or something. The phone dismounts and re-mounts. It doesn't stay connected long enough to actually play anything. The manual advertises the USB port is for memory sticks: Perhaps they're more fault tolerant and work better?

SD In: Haven't tried.

The face plate feels pretty cheap. It has buttons instead of dials, which make tuning and volume adjustments a little tedious, and the entire removable plate doesn't sit perfectly flat. The brightness of the screen is not great. It's FAR too bright at night, and too dim during the day. I have a query into Naxa to find out how to adjust brightness because it wasn't obvious how to do it with their manual. -UPDATE: 3 business days for a reply, and the answer is the brightness cannot be changed.

Also, the face plate buttons are bright blue. Neither the pictures on Amazon nor the box reflect this.

Basically, it works, but spending a couple dollars more will buy you a much more capable stereo. But it's also a much less obnoxious stereo than many other after-market head units, and that is worth something.

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so far so good. for the price. you get many features. I like the bluetooth feature so I can talk on the phone hands free. and I can listen to my music on my phone thru bluetooth without any wire. and it's auto connect whenever i start my car so I don't have to bother with the setting everytime.

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This product works well. It is definitely a great buy. I received everything new in its original package. I installed it in my vehicle and it fitted perfectly.Thanks!

Save 65% Off

WTH is a NAXA?! anyway, this cheap (price-wise) little deck works great for me. It's been awhile since I purchased it, and it's still going strong. Only downside is, if you use a large memory stick/card, after 900 or so songs, it gets an asterisk and a number and you cannot skip songs. the number changes, but the song doesn't. This deck can only read a certain amount of memory off a card or USB.

02-05-2013 deck is still just as good as it was on day 1.

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Panasonic SC-HC25 Compact Stereo System

• 2 3/4 Slim and Stylish Design
• Push to Open Universal Dock for iPod/iPhone
• Clear Sound

This small radio gives great sound. I wanted a Bose, but was not willing to pay the price. This gives similar sound and really fills my need for background music in my greatroom and kitchen. Not being a technical person, I did find programing the unit a little challenging until I finally stumbled on the "automatic" option. I use this product every day, have had it for a month and am really happy with this inexpensive addition to my home.

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I purchased this unit for my vacation home and it fits the bill perfectly. The sound fills the living room very nicely. There are several equalizer settings and the unit is put together very well it doesn't feel cheap. I also have the Bose system at my house at home and this unit compares very favorably to it for half the price. The only drawback that I have is that my ipod is a 1st generation and it didn't recognize it. My wife's iphone and my kids itouch worked perfectly. In order to get my ipod to work, I purchased a male to male connector for the auxiliary input in the unit and the headphone jack in the ipod. The ipod still has to sit in the cradle but it won't charge the unit. It ran on battery power but played for 5+ hours with no issues.

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I bought one for each kid.

At first, I tried the larger SC-HC30Panasonic SC-HC30 Compact Stereo System but too big for the kid's space but great sound. I looked the newer SC-HC35Panasonic SC-HC35 Compact Stereo System but it does not look as appealing as the older SC-HC30.

This model is great because the iPOD sits in the tray (in front) and does not affect playing of the CD or radio. When you stop playing the CD and turn off the via power button on top, it goes back to charging the iPOD....perfect.

This model is very attractive.

Not wall mountable!

Misnomer:

"It can be mounted on the wall which I am planning on doing for my son."

Thanks John for pointing this out! My wife never want me to try so I never attempted.

They did a great job with this one.

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When I looked at the Panasonic SC-HC25 Compact Stereo System, it looked cool and the reviews were quite good. I was a little worried and hesitant about purchasing this item because I have never bought something like this online. But I was wrong its way better than the old little iPod player I had! The sound is good (for my taste and Im picky when it comes to sound!) there are all these options you can choose from like bass, sound quality etc. I even played one of my songs that was very instrustmental and it sounded very nice. The remote works but you have to point it right at it but thats fine. And the CD player is nice also, the sliding door for it is so cool! I think you will be very pleased with this product. It shipped without any damage, I was also worried about that too. I never reviewed a product so I hope this will help you!

When my old Sony CD Player/Clock/Radio finally died I wanted a replacement CD Player compact enough to fit in a specific corner on the kitchen counter, with simple controls and good sound quality. The Panasonic SC-HC25 meets these requirements very well. I use it exclusively to play CD's as I have flourescent lights over the kitchen cabinets and LED can lights over the counters, in a Florida house under a metal roof, so radio reception is nil.

My only negative is one of omission. My old Sony had a CD "Repeat-Repeat/All-Shuffle-Repeat/Shuffle" feature which I used frequently in the "Repeat/Shuffle" mode to keep one CD playing tunes in a random order throughout long recipe preparations. I wish the Panasonic had this repeat play feature. Omission of a repeat play feature is the one reason I gave this Panasonic unit four stars rather than five. To be fair I must note that sound quality from the new Panasonic is much better than the sound quality from the old Sony Clock-Radio.

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iLuv i189 Speaker System with 3D Sound and Dock for iPod (Black)

• IPOD DOCK STATION

I have two of these and absolutely love them. I didn't want a clock or radio. I just wanted speakers for my IPOD with a charging system. I got what I wanted. For such small speakers, they deliver good sound. In fact, I love this product so much, I've ordered two more and am thinking of ordering more for gifts! This is definitely NOT a stereo system, but it is great for the kitchen, bedroom and office.

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First one had crazy whine noise all the time. Replacement still does it some of the time. Replacement through customer service was a pain as they took a long time and were rude.

This product works decently with my 4g iPod. Sound quality is passable. I tried using it with my iPod Touch, but their is no dock adapter included. In fact, there is no connector beyond 4g ipods, even though it is pictured using a Fall 2007 Classic on the box. If you want to use with a Fall 2007 or later iPods, you will need to use it through the aux jack on the back...kind of defeats the whole point of a dock system! I would suggest going with a different product and a different company.

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Good desk top dock for iPhone 3G for office type setting. Doesn't play that loud and is smaller than expected. Often hear a vibrating sound from the speakers when playing music from iPhone. Good for the price I guess.

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If your looking for big sound this unit is not the one you will want. With that said if you are looking for something with a small footprint that charges your device as it plays, and has good sound at lower levels then this is a good choice. I am using it in my office and is is almost perfect for this setting.

Our 10-month-old baby likes music. In discussing the matter, my wife and I remarked that we should probably get some type of small sound system for his room that would play something a bit more sophisticated than the usual baby-toy fare. Well, wouldn't you know it, Grandma overheard the conversation and presented the gift of an iLuv dock. We both have iPods, so it's a welcome addition.

The dock works fine and we've had no problems with it. The baby seems to enjoy the musical background. We usually play it at fairly low volume, just enough to fill the room without letting the sound bleed out into the rest of the house. This has worked fine. On several occasions we've had the iLuv dock out into other parts of the house. On one recent occasion, there was a lot of extraneous background noise so we upped the volume on the dock. The results were unsatisfactory and grated on my nerves. Afterwards, I eliminated all the other noises and just listened to the iLuv deck at fairly high volume. It's just terrible! Don't get me wrong, I love listening to loud music, but from my stereo system where it's pumped out through a large multi-speaker system. The iLuv dock is inadequate, but it wasn't made for that purpose.

So, in any case, this little dock is all right when limited to supplying sound to a small room or sitting on top of a desk or counter, but don't expect much more out of it. But, of course, it suites our needs well for the baby's room.

Gary Peterson

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LG Optimus Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile)

I had to abandon my ATT family plan in favor of letting my youngest daughter get on it and enjoy the free family minutes and unlimited texting, etc., which I don't use so much (already had 5 lines and they won't let me add another one). So, I was looking for the cheapest alternative to getting a 6th line, at least comparable to what I would have paid for the 6th line on ATT. I looked all over and all the individual plans where $40+ or so, without including texting. Then I came across the Virgin Mobile $25 unlimited data, text, web + 300 minutes and it seemed that it would fit the bill.

I got the phone on sale for $105 and it is just the best phone I have ever had, although I have not activated it yet (more on this later), at an awesome price. Why haven't I activated it yet? Well, it turns out, this android phone lets you install all kind of apps from the android market via wifi without activating the phone, you can pop in an 8Gb, 16Gb or 32Gb SDHC card and use this as a pretty awesome (and cheap) ipod/iphone substitute. I have installed apps for watching TV shows, read news (USA Today, NYTime, Bloomberg, etc), Pandora radio (sound through the speaker is very full for such a tiny device), GPS navigation/maps, calculators, MS Office documents viewer, a few games, GasBuddy to find cheap gas locally (pretty handy these days), etc. All FREE from the Android market. But, BY FAR, the best applications I installed are Google Voice, which together with SIPDroid (after signing up for a free GoogleVoice account and a free PBXes.org account) allows me to link them together and configure the phone to use VOIP to make my calls through the internet instead of using the limited 300 minutes I would get if I signed up with Virgin Mobile for $25/month, I can also use it to do unlimited free texting through my Google voice number.

I wanted to do this to make sure I did not go over the 300 minutes and start racking up a huge bill with VM once I activated the phone, but as it turns out, this has worked out so well that I am still undecided as to weather I will need to activate the phone and sign up for the monthly service. Granted, I can only make/receive calls when I am within WIFI range, but, WIFI is so prevalent these days. Many of the establishments a person does business with have free internet access for their customers: Starbucks, Dennys, Mcdonalds, Barnes&nobles, Homedepots, Panera bread, Hooters, highway rest stops, libraries, Krogers, Quiznos, Schlotzsky, FedEx offices, Hotels... the list goes on and on. I also installed a WIFI Analyzer App which shows if there is a free/open WIFI within range and its signal strength. You can get a nice directory of wifi spots in your area here-> which of course does not list all the available ones.

What happens when I'm outside WIFI range? Well, of course I can not make calls, inbound calls go to my GoogleVoice voice mail and as soon as I get into WIFI range and connect, my inbound text messages get delivered and/or I get a notification of a missed call which I can check right away. Obviously not something I would want to use as a business phone, but for personal use when you do not need to be available 24X7 this works great! You also get a great excuse when you don't want to answer someone, later you can say... "Sorry, I was not in WIFI zone...", you can even put that in your answering message. This setup would be great for students who live on campus where they have free access to the campus WIFI network (many of them provide free open WIFI all over campus). All these for $0 a month plus the cost of the phone.

If you feel you need capability to make calls from anywhere in case of emergencies, or for 24X7 availability, then just activate the phone and pay the $25/month. You would get many other benefits which would make this device a very capable business phone. I've read that once activated, you can install an app to make the phone a WIFI hub for up to 4 or 5 devices (supposedly there is an app for that, :-) pun intended, in the android market). This would provide internet service to your WIFI based laptop anywhere. I will investigate this more if/when I activate the phone. I have to admit, it would be fun to be able to go on trips and have internet in the car for my kids ipod touches or laptops while we are on the road. The more they can entertain themselves, the less "are we there yet?, are we there yet?" questions we will get... :-)

Summarizing, if you activate the phone, you get unlimited texting, phone web browsing, tv watching, internet radio, etc. + unlimited internet based calls using the provided unlimited data service + internet for your computer/ipod touches anytime/anywhere. All these for $25/month? Sweeeet! I don't think any carrier can beat that, the closer unlimited everything plan is cricket for $55/month for an android or blackberry phone. ATT, Verizon, etc? $70 and up... Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint 3G network, so, it's coverage (at least here in Houston) is pretty good.

I hope you find this useful.

Enjoy!

Nov. 23th. 2011 I finally activated the phone this summer which I spent away from the family working up North and they wanted 24X7 access... (great to be loved so much!). It is now even better. I have an app that shows how many minutes are left and when I'm getting close to using the 300 minutes, I can dial out using the internet and google voice through the data service from anywhere (where there is 3G signal). Came in handy to have Pandora on the phone when my car radio stopped working and it's great to be able to do everything I used to do only within WIFI range now everywhere. GPS worked great while I was traveling through the North East, except when cruising through the Adirondacks (no 3G service out in the sticks :-) ).

Virgin has raised the price of the plan to $35 a month for newcomers, (previous users are grandfathered in at the $25 rate) but even at $35, it still the best deal around as far as I know. Finally, Target has the phone on sale for $50 for the next two days...

After being a T-Mobile customer for 8 years I finally dumped them when I found the phone and plan I'd been waiting for: the Android 2.2, LG Optimus V with the Beyond Talk plan.

The Phone:

An Android 2.2 operating system powers the LG Optimus V (V stands for Virgin... the S is Sprint's phone, but both share the Sprint mobile network) and allows for zippy web surfing via the 3G network. Apps open quickly and transitions from one thing to another are smooth. The processor seems up to multitasking and I had no problem downloading apps and emailing at the same time.

The body of the phone is comfortable to hold with a slightly rubberized feel, and the screen is bright and clear. I did note the back cover of the phone is a tad flimsy, so be careful pulling it off and on to put in the battery. Bear in mind I'm used to a Nokia E71 phone, which has a metal back, so that may just be something that bothered me and won't phase anyone else about this phone. The four navigation keys on the front of the phone are sturdy and responsive.

The touchscreen doesn't seem to respond as easily as my iTouch does, but then again, it may be me and the way I was gingerly giving it an initial once over. I have texted and emailed using Swype (a cool technology included on this phone that basically allows you the ability to move your finger over a keyboard and have it intuitively guess at what you're trying to type without you lifting your finger) on this phone, and it works well. I'm pretty slow at it, but practice will undoubtedly help.

The camera is a 3.2mp without a flash. I'm not overly impressed with the quality of the photos I've taken, but I don't use my phone-cam as my primary camera anyway. You can also take video with this phone.

Charging this phone can be done by two methods: USB or travel adapter. The travel adapter (included in the package along with the USB to phone cord) attaches to the USB end of the cord that attaches to the base of the phone. You can charge your phone via either AC or USB AC seemed to do it a tad faster, but be prepared to have a full recharge take 1 to 2hrs.

This takes us to the downside of this phone: the battery life. If you are downloading or surfing the web, this phone sucks down the juice. There is a free app called Juice Defender, which will prolong your battery life I highly recommend it along with Hotspot Widget, which allows you to use Hotspots for Wi-fi. Talk time on the battery is estimated at 6hrs, with up to 3 days of standby time. This would only work if you never checked the web, emailed, texted or played with apps!

The phone weighs 4.69 ounces and is a tad thick, but not much more than an iPhone with a hard case on it. It ships with a 2GB micro SD card in it, but I recommend picking up at least an 8GB card or larger to replace it. Adding apps will quickly diminish the 2GB.

No flash player is yet available for this phone or so I've heard, thus 'flash' doesn't play on it. You can view YouTube videos and there are several TV apps, so not really an issue for me yet and probably something that will be fixed with firmware in the future.

I suggest purchasing a case to protect it, as none is included in the phone package. LG Optimus S and T cases will work with this phone. Deals with a case, charger, screen protector, etc... like this: LG Optimus S LS670 Full Diamond Bling Black Zebra Skin Hard Case Snap on Cover Phone Protector Sleeve + Mirror LCD Screen Guard Film w/Cleaning Cloth + Free Biodegradable Screen wipe are available on Amazon.

The Beyond Talk Plans:

No deal out there comes close to this one. Yes, the phone is an initial chunk of change, but it's an Android phone that will offer excellent call quality on the Sprint network and data at 3G speeds unlimited data, text and email for $25 a month with 300 anytime minutes. GREAT deal! A bump up for $40 a month gives you 1200 anytime minutes a month and unlimited data, text and email, or for $60 a month you get unlimited everything. NO CONTRACT. You can pay via gift cards you purchase with cash, or have a debit or credit card on file with Virgin Mobile. You can choose to have them take the plan fee out each month, or you can tell them you'll do it yourself via the online payment section. Really, really easy and no taxes or hidden fees. If you go over your minutes it's an additional 10 cents a minute, and minutes don't rollover to the next month.

Virgin Mobile coverage maps are available on their website. Check it with your address to see coverage in your area prior to buying the phone. There's a way to check voice coverage and then click over to data coverage.

'Porting' Your Number (Keeping Your Old Number):

If you want to keep your same cellphone number (the one used by another carrier) you need to keep these things in mind.

1. You have to be in the same area code to do it.

2. You cannot cancel your previous service prior to calling Virgin Mobile to set up service.

3. You cannot activate your LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile's website, you must call them to tell them you want the same number.

4. You need to have your old number, account number for the other provider, and a bit of time (up to 72hrs, although it took VM only 1hr to port my number...) to switch the old number to your new phone.

5. You must have your LG Optimus V charged to be able to receive a text letting you know the number has been switched and your old service has been cancelled.

6. Calling your old provider to make sure your service has been cancelled and to pay off any lingering debt with them is advised.

Call to 'activate' your Virgin Mobile service after the number has been ported to your new phone. They will ask you how you are paying for your service and have you do a test call.

If you don't have an old number, you can either call Virgin Mobile to activate the phone or do it on their website.

The LG Optimus V phone is my first android smartphone and so far, I'm very impressed. GPS, email, web, checking in on eBay and Amazon... all very exciting and something I thought I'd never be able to afford as I couldn't justify spending $70 a month for it with T-Mobile or ATT.

In a few months the purchase of this phone will pay for itself and with no contract I'm sure I'll feel good about having the option to change, even if I never do. If you don't want to be under contract, but want to enjoy the perks of new technology at a reasonable price per month get this phone and the Beyond Talk plan. Heck, get them for the entire family! You won't regret the purchase.

UPDATE: March 13, 2011

Found several FREE apps in the 'Market' of note.

1. ShopSavy: uses scanner technology to scan items in the store and then give you the best price for that item online or locally. Works very well!

2. GasBuddy: gives you the current prices on fuel at different grades. Type in a zip code or name of a place to get the listings. You can also add a price as you see it to assist others using the app.

3. Speed Test : gives you the current speeds of your internet upload and download. Noted that my wifi is much, much faster than the 3G network, thus when home I switch my settings from mobile to wifi.

4. Amazon Kindle: read all content on your Kindle, also on your phone.

5. Radar Now: shows current weather maps as shown on your TV weather report (satellite maps) in real time, via GPS.

6. HP Photo Print: found my home network printers and printed photos taken on my phone after uploading to the printer via this app. Also can use Photoshop Express (also free) to tweak the photo prior to printing.

7. SilentBoot: once downloaded an on, this allows you to turn your phone on and off without any noise.

8. AVG free antivirus: still a good idea to run an antivirus whether it's on your PC or phone.

9. Google Sky: really fun app that shows you the night sky (stars, constellations) and moves with you according to GPS location... play with this one!

10. Quick Settings: very easy way to turn on and off wifi/gps/mobile... and a host of other things like uninstalling apps you no longer want.

11. Zedge: lots n' lots of wallpapers and ringtones for free.

12. Memory Booster lite: frees up unused memory to use by the processor.

13. JuiceDefender: runs in the background to save your battery from draining too quickly.

14. World Newspapers: just like the title implies, access to worldwide news via newspapers, but also magazines, webnews, social networking, etc... fun to browse and in many, many languages.

15. Tune In Radio: allows you to pick up radio stations and podcasts by state. The 3.5mm headset jack (standard like on iPods and other MP3 players) is great and this app plus your music library on a SD card means you can choose to leave your music player at home as it's all on your phone!

Battery drops quickly with a lot of app use, but without it the phone holds a good charge for several days. I simply keep topping the battery up whenever I'm home and near the charger. The manual says not to let the battery be completely discharged.

Also on the subject of 'battery': The battery also is somewhat loose in my phone. Not sure if that's all Optimus V's or just mine. Sometimes my screen goes black and it's a loose battery. A small bit of tape fixed the problem and is unseen under the back cover of the phone.

The Voice Recognition software on this phone seems to be fabulous! Both voice dialing and voice input for texting (instead of typing) seem to work great for me. One suggestion for texting via voice: make your sentences short. This seems to give me the most accurate input.

Overall I love this phone and look forward to using it and Virgin Mobile for a long time! Call clarity is great and so far the Android Experience is all I would have wished it to be. I've watched lots of YouTube videos, emailed, msg'd, all with great ease. The calls have been clear on both the sending and receiving end, and I've yet to find an area where I have not had service. That's a pretty big deal considering I don't live in a major metropolitan area. Great find, and happily discovering new things I like about the phone every day.

UPDATE: 9/27/11

Phone continues to give great service, but occasionally freezes when trying to dial. I end up taking the battery out and reseating it, which seems to solve the problem. Did I mention you can't turn the phone off either? I'm considering a new battery for it...can get it off of Amazon for about $13. Anker 1600mAh Li-ion Battery for LG Optimus V VM670 (Virgin), LG Optimus S LS670(Sprint), Optimus One P500, Optimus T, Optimus U, Optimus C LW690, Optimus M MS690 Fits LGIP-400N White

Service for the phone has gone up in price from $25 a mo to $35 a mo for 300 minutes with unlimited talk and text. Fortunately for me, as I got in with the $25 plan, my price DID NOT go up. Thought that was darned nice of Virgin Mobile! Hope it lasts.

UPDATE: 1/25/12

Received a text from Virgin Mobile today informing me that Internet speeds would be reduced for Beyond Talk customers if they go over 2.5GB of useage per month. The Internet speeds for 3G with Virgin Mobile have been spotty lately, which makes me wonder if that's part of a transition to this new policy. Time will tell if I will stay with Virgin Mobile or switch to something else. I don't use much data, but it bums me out that Virgin Mobile is going the way of several other providers and doing this now. The phone is still a good one, and the plan is good for the money, but definitely not for those who don't want to wait too long for Facebook to load!

UPDATE: 8/29/12

Over the past two months or so the LG Optimus V has been acting fussy. The touchscreen became less responsive, sometimes the phone wouldn't turn off, and hanging up from a call became impossible without taking out the battery! I have been very gentle with the phone and it's only been dropped twice, while wearing an Otterbox case. 3G speeds are excellent in the right location, but terrible in others. I don't blame the phone for that one.

I read a bunch of phone reviews and decided that for my budget, Virgin Mobile is still the best deal out there next to Tracfone which has such a poor phone offering I can't convince myself to jump ship. Today I purchased the HTC One V Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) and can activate it with my current number online, once I log in to my Virgin Mobile account. I chose the One over the HTC EVO V 4G Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) because the EVO is $100 more and I don't have 4G coverage in my area, so paying for that option when I can't use it seemed wrong for me.

I will update again when I activate (I'm waiting for Amazon to ship my OtterBox 77-20718 Commuter Series Hybrid Case for HTC One V 1 Pack Retail Packaging Black before I do so. I'm optimistic that the LG issues will not be present on the HTC phone, and since the LG Optimus V has been replaced in the line-up with the LG Optimus Elite Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) which gets so-so reviews, I feel good about this new purchase.

I'll also let you know if a phone call to Virgin Mobile won't help me keep my grandfathered in $25 a month with the new phone. Fingers crossed!

UPDATE: 12/2712

Been using the HTC One V Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) for about 4 months now had to upgrade to $35 plan to get it to work and I love it! It's a huge step up from the LG Optimus in both speed and features. The LG Optimus was good and I'm glad I bought it initially, but the HTC One V is great and what I would recommend over this phone at this time for 3G users on Virgin Mobile's network.

Buy LG Optimus Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) Now

I have never had a cell phone plan, and I don't plan on having one any time soon. When I first started using cell phones, the curse of prepaid services were the phones. Companies like Net10 had fantastic deals, but the phones were always cheap and disposable, which of course is the great part about prepaid service. I'm not stuck with a phone for two years and if I need one, I'm not worrying about the price.

Another great part about prepaid service is that I will never have to speak with a representative. Virgin Mobile is an easy set up and upon start up, the phone was quick to activate and start my service. This two reasons are high on my list for why prepaid trumps contract phone plans.

When this phone was announced, I was a bit skeptical. I was worried that it would be a watered down version of the LG Optimus S, but I am happy to report that it is essentially the same device. The following will mention the look, feel, and speed of the device.

The touch screen: Nimble! Going from screen to screen is fluid, transitions are visible. For every single touch and swipe, the device is right there with you. There is no lag to be found. However, there are times when I'm playing Angry Birds, and there is considerable lag. It usually happens for the first thirty seconds of the game.

Screen resolution: High quality but with the plastic front, it cheapens the device. However, I am not complaining. Zooming in and out on a webpage, you might notice that it's a little pixelated when you get close to the text.

3G capabilities: Testing this against my friend's iPhone, it's very fast. I was incredibly surprised by the responsiveness and how quick I could go from webpage to webpage. But, I will say that there are times there is absolutely no service. After looking through forums, one easy way to fix this is by activating the phone again. I did this once, and it helped tremendously.

App store: Although it's not as big as Apple's app store, it has everything one would need. The great thing about Android is that if there's something you don't like, you can change it. Widgets are absolutely one of the best features about Android's app store. You can even change the web browser if you don't like it!

This phone does not support Flash, so don't be disappointed.

Navigation: A dream. It works better than my Garmin, the voice is loud and concise. I will say that after plugging it into my auxillary connector that it does sound a little muffled. But I'm not disappointed at all. The maps are amazing. There was one time the directions were a little funky and another that it was taking a while to acquire satellite.

Camera quality: I have to say, the quality of the camera is amazing. With auto focus, it's great. And with the camera apps, you can create some great effects.

Overall, this phone is a great value. I talk a lot, so I use the unlimited everything plan for $60.00. It's not a bad deal considering I would be paying well over $100.00 anywhere else.

There are a lot of other prepaid services you might want to consider if you want to go prepaid. If you aren't someone who talks a lot and just need a phone, Net10 is the perfect service. But if you do talk a lot and browse the internet, then services like Boost Mobile, AT&T GoPhone, Straight Talk, and Virgin Mobile are great alternatives to the high cost of contracts.

The problem with prepaid still? The phones need a lot of work, but this is the first I've seen to make a huge step toward a great future with prepaid service.

Update:

I love this phone. It has efficiently replaced my iPod and GPS Navigator. Put in a 16gb micro sd card, and you're set. Apps like Double Twist make music listening a great experience (and for $4.99, you can sync your music wirelessly, listen to radio stations, AND podcasts)

If your car as an auxillary connector or even a tape adapter, connect your phone, and you can listen to Navigation WHILE listening to music. I know it's a weird thing to obsess about, but I always thought it was one or the other. Directions are precise, so I'm not constantly looking at my phone wondering where I am.

Streaming on Pandora and NPR is great. However, after a few hours, it completely stops and you have to get back into the app. It's not terrible, but I like to listen while I'm at work.

The Android App Market has everything you're looking for as long as you know how to search. I would recommend joining forums, because that's how I found out about different apps. One I love in particular is the WiFi Hotspot widget. With a simple click, you can connect your laptop and computer to the phone's 3g network. Other apps like Car Home allow you to travel and easily find navigation, music, and manage what apps you need on the go.

Depending on where I am, Youtube can lag a little. I expected this. But for the price and the fact that I have completely replaced a few gadgets I own, this is totally worth it.

FINAL UPDATE:

I have had this phone for five months, and I thought I would give my final impressions of the device.

First off, the battery life isn't amazing, but I've found that turning off data while I don't use it is really helpful. The phone lasts for days. If I need to check something online, I quickly go into my settings, turn it on, and check what I need to check. Before I started doing that, I realized that the phone would last MAYBE six or seven hours.

Web browsing has actually gotten a lot better. I was a little worried after three months in. There were times I couldn't get on a web page at all, but I feel that the problem has been resolved.

GPS is still reliable and better than my Garmin.

I actually no longer use this phone as an mp3 player. Even with Double Tap, I felt that it lacked organization.

I have experienced a few dropped calls. One time in particular, I was calling a friend, and our call was dropped four or five times within the hour. I'm not sure if it was his phone or mine, but it had never happened before, and it hasn't happened since.

This phone is really your best bet if you're on a budget yet want to experience a midrange smart phone. Does it have the capabilities of an iPhone or Droid? It's actually pretty close and for the price, I can't complain. $60.00 a month for unlimited everything and a quality phone is fantastic. If I decide I never want to see this phone or this company again, I'm not forced to pay a fee for having a choice. I can easily go online and cancel my services, and I'm not waiting on the phone to speak to a representative. In the five years I've used prepaid phones, I've never had to speak to one person regarding my phone, terms of service, etc. That alone is worth the price in saved time and frustration.

A DEAD PHONE:

So, my phone died after days of being unable to hold a charge. I'm not sure what the problem was. I had to keep it connected at all times, or it wouldn't turn on. Then even while it was connected, it just died. It's a shame, because I truly loved the phone and was sold on Android until I experienced numerous problems with the device. Don't get me wrong. I love Android and their innovation. However, I seem to notice that while their phones are amazing devices at first, they cannot stand the test of time. I was looking forward to keeping this phone for quite a while.

Internet seemed to be incredibly slow as well as time progressed. I generally like to use data if I'm lost or need to check my e-mail. I found that it was faster finding someone polite enough to give me directions or just wait to go home. This could just be a defect on my phone, but my raving reviews about it in the beginning are a thing of the past.

This phone is great for someone just getting into the smart phone world. That person was me. I'm not sure if my demands or wants got higher, but I am switching over to a contract phone. Yes. Even after all of my talk about how much I hated contracts. But if you look at it, you're paying either way. Do I want to spend money on a new phone every few months with spotty service? While I can't predict whether or not I will be left with a lemon is up to fate. Until then, hello Verizon Wireless.

Read Best Reviews of LG Optimus Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) Here

This is a truly great phone. We have been with TMobile for several years and finally got tired of the bill and our Blackberrys. VirginMobile has a plan that can't be beat. I wish I had switched over sooner!

Here are some of the features I like about the LG Optimus V:

Voice to text is awesome.

You can speak an email or a text or a search on the internet and this phone almost always gets it right. I never used texting before. I don't have time, patience or skill to hunt and peck on a tiny keyboard. Voice to text makes this so easy. Just punch the microphone button on the keyboard. I'll say it again, awesome.

Use GoogleVoice and GrooVe IP for free minutes.

With VirginMobiles Unlimited Text and Data with 300 minutes plan you can place and receive calls without using any minutes. Set up a google gmail account and add google voice. It is a really simple process. Buy GrooVe IP from the Amazon App store for about $5. Setup takes less than 5 minutes. When you are near a good wifi connection, GrooVe is exceptionally clear. You can make calls even in places where you are not able to get cell service. Forget Sipdroid and all those other difficult apps. GrooVe is simple to set up, simple to use and it works!

Great price for VirginMobile plan.

We were paying over $75 per month per phone. Virgin mobile is cutting that by about half. $35 per month for 300 minutes and unlimited text and data. By the way, there are not a bunch of fees on top of that like other carriers. My total is under $39 with all taxes and fees.

Free 60 minutes when you sign up with a kickback code.

As you set up your phone, you will burn through some minutes with you voice mail setup and trying it out. When you activate your phone on the internet you can use a kickback code to get 60 extra minutes for free. Here is a code you can use: 8TE0VXNQ (note, the 4th character is a zero)

Tips:

Download the pdf file for the LG Optimus User Guide from the VirginMobile site. Along with the Basic Guide booklet that ships with it, this will help you get the most out of your new phone.

My favorite apps besides GrooVe IP are Amazon Kindle, Gas Buddy, and ShopSavvy. There are several apps preloaded on the phone. GoogleMaps is my choice for best. It gives spoken turn by turn instructions and a street view of the address you are looking for. This is a lot better than my TomTom.

All in all, this is a great phone with a great plan.

If my review was helpful, please give it a click below as helpful. Thanks.

Want LG Optimus Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) Discount?

I purchased this phone at my local Radio Shack a couple days ago, and it has been awesome so far! The performance of the phone is zippy, and it actually performed faster than the Samsung Intercept, which is also from Virgin Mobile, and has a faster processor. Also, the screen is much clearer and colorful than the screen on the Intercept. It's glass covered instead of plastic, unlike the Intercept.

The phone looks great, it seems to be built very well (especially considering the low price), and it looks like a more expensive phone.

Most apps on the Marketplace work, and there are some that really add to this handset's functionality.

The camera is great, takes awesome images for a 3MP shooter.

Get this phone, you will not be disappointed, especially for the price!

Save 36% Off

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Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Red)

• Product Type - MP3 Player
• Connectivity - USB 2.0
• Memory - 2GB
• Dimensions WxDxH - 2.19" x 1.39" x 0.5"
• Clock; Keep Track of Time

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)The Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB doubles the size of the iPod Shuffle and adds a monochrome screen for viewing track names and settings. Add in the functionality of a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder at $65 and you have a great value.

Pros -

+ good stereo sound

+ nice capacity for a decent price

+ light-weight

+ FM tuner with 32 presets ( though it's just average )

+ voice recording

+ simple design (no more click wheel!) with more color options

+ great navigation and sorting features

+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, WAV, WMA, Audible)

+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity

+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage

+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via Creative software

+ Nice extras like stopwatch function

Cons

average battery life of 10 hours (OLED screen sucks the battery)

mediocre backlight ( but it can be disabled )

some DRM song transfer issues with some firmware versions

not expandable few size options 1GB and 2GB

Creative software is buggy

larger than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles

Creative's Zen Stone line was meant to be the upgrade to the Zen nano, aka Muvo mini. Unfortunately, the 1GB Zen Stone had some quality issues. With the new 2GB Zen Stone Plus, Creative has tried to improve on previous models and compete with the Sandisk Sansas.

I love the new Sandisk Sansa's. The Sansa Express has the advantage that you can plug it directly into your USB port without a cable. SanDisk Sansa Express 2 GB MP3 Player (Black) Still, the Creative Zen Stone feels nicer in the hand. It's not as sleek as the Sansa Express and doesn't have all the cool cache' of an iPod shuffle or iPod nano. But it is priced very attractively and has some NICE features. It's good for a starter, workout unit, or gift for a kid.

The Creative Zen Stone Plus is lighter than the competition, but is still larger than the new iPod Shuffle 2nd and 3rd generations. Unlike the shuffle, you can actually see your track names! The OLED screen is perfect for a player this size but does suck more power and shorten the battery life.

The controls are an improvement from the Zen nano days. While I didn't mind the toggle wheel, it has been replaced by intuitive buttons for the standard functions (select, up, down, play, pause, forward or reverse). There's a headphone jack, microphone hole, and a USB port.

Another change from the Zen nano days is the Lithium Ion battery, which gives you about 10 hours if your lucky. This is less versatile than the old battery operated unit, but more convenient.

What about sound? The sound is great, and it comes through in pure stereo. As usual, you will hear complaints about the earbuds. Most people replace their standard earbuds so I won't hold that against Creative.

The Zen Stone doesn't have larger storage options. For those needing more space, you will have to explore the Creative Zen, Sandisk Sansa or new iPod Nano. All of those units have higher price tags.

Creative Zen 4 GB (Black)

Creative Zen 8 GB (Black)

Creative Zen 16 GB (Black)

Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Player with SD Expansion Slot

SanDisk SDMX4-8192 Sansa e280 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)

Apple 4 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)

Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Black (3rd Generation)

This unit is ideal as a player and not for those who primarily want to use it for recording. The built-in microphone is nice for short reminders.

The price isn't a give-away, and the plastic case could be more durable. Still, this is a nice starter unit that can last you a while. Check it out. Enjoy!!!

Buy Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Red) Now

I was enjoying the player immensely when after only 7 weeks it just stopped working. Since it was past 30 days i could not return it via amazon.com and had to call Creative directly. Their customer service staff were insulting. I explained what was wrong and told I needed to "troubleshoot" over the phone. When I said to Arnold, the rep, "there is an on/off switch, when I press it nothing happens, what exactly do you think we can troubleshoot?" his response was, that perhaps I wasn't charging the unit correctly. Now if it had only been 2 or 3 days I would have seen the logic in this, but after 7 weeks this was a ridiculous suggestion. I was then directed to a web site to request RNA. The website did not work. I searched the entire Creative web site and found only one place were a text email could be sent. After sending email to this link, I was finally provided an RNA and am still waiting to receive the player back. I would most definitely not recommend this or any Creative product.

Read Best Reviews of Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Red) Here

When I received this item, I thought it was cool, small enough to carry anywhere and durable so I could listen for hours. Well, I was in for a rude awakening; when I tried to play back my downloaded songs, after about 1 hour of play the battery was already at two bars, then after 2 hours down to one. Needs constant charging. Also, shuffled songs keep playing over and over, making you sick of hearing the songs. I'm not surprised though, how could such a small unit possess longevity and good sequence. Nice try Creative Zen but no cigar!

Want Creative Zen Stone Plus 2 GB MP3 Player (Red) Discount?

I purchased these for two of my children. For the price, I think they are a great value, but the earbuds must be upgraded. I have a pair of $8 Sony earbuds that sound much better than the garbage that comes standard with these. The sound levels all blended together, produced static, and sounded muffled. That rant out of the way, upgrade the headphones, and this is really a nice little mp3 player. The equalizer works nice and this unit really does produce nice sound. I like it better than the ipod shuffle just because of the equalizer settings and the LCD display that allows you to see what song is playing, artist info... That being said, the LCD display does drain battery life a little quicker.

I bought $10 headphones for these, and still came in $20 cheaper than the shuffle, and there are some pretty decent inexpensive earbuds out there.

If the battery life was a bit longer, and they came with better earphones, I would have given this a full 5 stars. I am very happy, however, and my wife and I are considering picking one of these up for ourselves.

I've had this for over a year now, and have gotten hours and hours and hours of use out of it.

I use it only for audiobooks, as it plays the wma audiofiles that OverDrive Media uses which is what my local library uses as their download provider for audiobooks. Listening to audiobooks has changed my commute from a chore to something enjoyable and relaxing.

A few things: I do NOT have it display the date/time. This gives it a longer battery life. I did invest in a couple of mini-usb cables, which I have in my office(s), so that I can charge it at work. You don't need the software to charge the player, just the cable. I did put on a wrist strap, mainly so I could easily find it in my purse.

I have not had issues with the creative software, but I am only using it for audio books.

For a simple, basic player for overdrive wma audio books (since I got this they now have mp3 books ... but the wma are smaller, so I still prefer them), I recommend it.

As I can't speak to the software for music, or how it plays music, I am only giving it 3 stars.

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Coby Kyros MID7015-4G 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black

• Internal memory: 4 GB, plus flash card slot
• Display Resolution 800 x 480 (WVGA - widescreen)
• A/V Connections: Mini HDMI out, Type C (max 1080p) 3.5mm headphone out
• Android 2.3
• Integrated microphone, Integrated speaker

OK. From what I could find, as far as reviews go, on the Internet, about this unit, the little available was basically worthless for making any kind of informative opinion as to whether this item would be a good buy.

So, after researching what I could of the various Android OS Internet Tablets out there (most with terrible reviews of hardware issues), and considering the purchase price, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Coby unit. I was at first leary of buying something of this nature which is made by Coby, a manufacturer of basically cheap, low end electronics.

I purchased this unit (K-Mart, $149.95(save $30) in 12/12/10 12/19/10 AD I also bought an additional year replacement contract for under $18 a good idea on new electronics!), and immediately plugged it in to charge the battery (it notified of full charge after 1-1/2 hours). I decided to play with the unit a little, since I could not resist. I will say, I was impressed with the quality of the unit, it seems very sturdy and well built. It powered up fine and I found it very easy to navigate thru the functions (both on screen and the case side buttons). Of course, I recommend that you visit coby.com and download the manual in PDF format (as I did several days ago).

Now, as far as the touch screen, it functions excellent in my opinion. None of the quirks other mention about this unit or other units being sold. And forget about HAVING to use yor fingernail or the stylus to select or scroll. It works great with my finger tip, better than even the stylus. I admit, the finger swipe method to scroll thru lists or menus takes a bit of practice, but that may be only me, because I have never used a touch screen device of this type before. Oh, and the actual look of the screen (800x480 TFT), very nice. Again, better than expected. Enough about that. It just works.

Setting up a wireless connection was simple and effortless (using my own home wireless connection). Surfing the Internet was easy too, once you get used to seeing "mobile device formatted" versions of web pages. All my favorite web pages loaded quickly (I mean fast) and problem free. (For those interested, even Facebook loads and works fine I tried it). The Ap for Youtube works great as well. Youtube videos load as fast as my desktop PC and of all the 10 or more that I tried, they played without any delay, chopping or buffering. Way better than I expected.

Using the Email AP, I very quickly set up a POP3 account and sent and received messages effortlessly (all verified).

File transfers to and from my PC went smooth, using the included USB cable (to the Coby's internal 4GB memory I have yet to buy a mini SD expansion card).

The included Ebook reader works perfectly too.

And, the built in accelerometer works nice. The screen will automatically change from portait and landscape mode, with only perhaps a 1 second delay. (The screen self-rotates 360 degrees upside down, etc).

The only thing I can mention, which was not expected, is that when you go to the Apps Library onine for additional Aps, many are listed, and listed as free too. But when you choose them (all that I tried) and download them, the start up screen for the Ap gives mention that you can purchase it or continue with 15 day free trial. To me, that is called "limited shareware", not a Free Ap! Perhaps some are indeed free, but I did not bother to search thru the hundreds and hundreds offered, and there is no advance way to know if they ARE indeed free. I am not really an AP person, so none of that really matters to me. The unit does, as it is, what I expected and bought it for, and it does it well.

*One note. If you purchase one of these, there is a firmware update on Coby's site, with a Youtube instruction video as well. You WILL need a mini SD card (8Gb or less in size) to install the update file onto first, as the update takes place in the Coby unit itself (from the memory card). (I have not yet done this, but will next week). After this update, the site states that the unit will show even better performance.

Battery life is stated to be 7 hours (we will see), with it's rechargeable 3200 mAh battery (a larger capacity than most other brand tablets).

That is my experience with this unit. I purchased it for the small, light form factor (no more clunky laptop), the wireless Internet, Email function, Reader and MP3 player, things I use often on the move (outside on lunch break at work, in bed at night or anywhere in the house or workplace, etc), but hate being tied to a power cord or a heavy laptop. So far, it has shown to serve this purpose with flying colors. (Some people have cellphones to do these tasks, but I hate cellphones and believe they are the leading cause of added stupidity in this country).

Included is a vice semi-hard protective case, wall charger, ear buds, USB Host cable (for thumb drives, mouse, etc) and a USB transfer cable to connect to a PC or laptop.

I realize I have not covered everything pertaining to this unit, but I wanted to post a good and a truly honest review for prospective buyers. I hope it will be of help to someone.

I love it and look forward to being productive with it. Merry Christmas to me!

Buy Coby Kyros MID7015-4G 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black Now

--------------UPDATE----------------

So five months after i bought the Coby 7015, it still goes strong. It has this annoying sleep/wake thing if you dont turn it off that drains the batteries, and occasionally i have to reset it, but once again for the price i can not give it less than 5 stars.

However, i recently recieved the Acer A500 tablet (roughly 450 bucks) and i have to say it absolutly kills the Coby tablet in terms of performance in every aspect, the thing is awesome and an absolute joy to use. At 4 times the price that is to be expected, but if you can squeeze out the extra $300 or so, there are some darn good tablets coming out right now that are excellent alternatives to the iPad.

------------------------------

Review of Coby 7015 Tablet.

I got one of these as a 10 year anniversary gift from my company. I probably would have never bought one otherwise. All in all, i think this is an awesome little device for what it is.

I see a lot of things repeatedly addressed, other things are not, im going to try to go over every feature on this.

Please forgive my terrible spelling. ;)

When rating this i am comparing this to my samsung galazxy S droid phone, Ipads, Iphones, and Ipod touches all of which i have used many times.

==========OVERALL BUILD QUALITY=========

Good! This does not feel like a tiny junky piece of crap like i half expected. While it does not have the build quality of an Ipad, it does not feel like a little childs toy either. the buttons are solid and have a nice snappy responce to them. The Mini USB, HDMI, and DC input all seem like well built sockets, and i have no doubt they will stand the test of time. The back is a hard shell with a small speaker and reset button. It has a decent heft to it that implies stoutness, but it is light enough to carry around all day. All in all, much better than the sub $150 price tag lead you to expect. I dont like the MicroSD, there is no reason for that, they could have easily used standard SDHC cards, plus i have about a dozen SDHC cards lying around, but only one microsd. Keep the micro SD cards in the phones folks.

=============SCREEN==============

This is the biggest point of interest to many, and probably glossed over with the least amount of information. As has been mentioned this is a resistive screen. This is NOT the same type of screen as your Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, or Droid phones or Tablets. Those devices use capacitive screens which flat out rock. The resistive screen is not as good, but it is important to know that this screen is NOT Frustrating either! It really works well! If this is NOT your experience, i suspect a faulty unit.

A) Touch and Feel The wonderful capacitive screens feel like glass. This one feels like plastic, and like plastic it has more drag on your fingertips. The resistive screens seem to have several layers sandwiched together so they are not that flat hard surface, but slightly mushy. It does not feel as nice as the capacitive screens, it feels like older technology. The slight mushyness actually does give you somewhat of a fingertip-fatigue over time, where the capacitive (droid/iphone/ipad) screens are always a pleasure and do not tire your fingertips. I know that last part sounded rediculous, if you buy this device you will know what i mean.

B) Responsiveness Very good for a resistive screen, in fact, this is the most impressive resistive screen i have ever used. I used to have an old LG Incite phone a few years back, it had a resistive screen and it was an absolute horrible experience to use. I was very pessimistic about this device because of the screen but once i started using it it worked just fine. It DOES come with a stylus, sometimes you will find that more comfortable, however it does seem to respond just fine to finger swipes and the stylus is absolutly not required. If on a scale of 1-10 with the LG Incite touchscreen being a 1, and the Ipad screen being a 10, this sits at a solid 8. It just isnt quite there, but like i said, this is the best resistive screen i have ever seen.

C) Resolution and Color. Not bad. The color has a slight bluish tint, almost like an uncalibrated Dell laptop screen. You photos will seem to be lacking some of the poppy reds, yellows, and oranges. So if you are a photographer like i am, forget using this as a device to showcase your images, stick with your Ipad,Iphone,Droid. I have looked for a color correction App, so far, no dice. Resolution is 480p, this is DVD quality, for a 7 inch screen this is plenty, however if it is a foot from your face you do see all the little pixels.

========= AUDIO ==============

its a cheap tiny speaker like the kind found in blackberries, droids, ipods, etc. Nothing special, the sound is weak and tinny like any other speaker of that size, but the quality is not overly objectionable if there are no other options. It is great for podcasts, youtube, etc, but it falls far short of a KRELL HEAT system... as expected. ;)

========BATTERY LIFE==========

Maybe it is just mine? The battery indicator on my Kyros is all over the map, 98% one second, 32 the next, then 75%, then 63% then 80%. use it as a guide. it apparently has no idea exactly how much juice is left. I suspect it is trying to give you an idea of how much battery life is left depending on the amount of applications running? Even the battery managers on this thing are all over the board. In the end, i can score 5-6 hours of internet surfing. The screen and tablet stay nice and cool. Maybe this is a benefit of the resistive screen, less power consumption? this is just a guess.

==========APPSLIB APPS MARKET===========

THIS IS THE WORST THING ABOUT THIS DEVICE The apps in thier apps lib market are generally crap, i diddnt find much of anything i was interested in. some of the bigger games like angry birds are there, but there are many others im interested in that dont exist. There are 165,000+ applications for the android platform, so why the hell should you be limited to about 3,000 in the apps lib? plus they are 3,000 of the crap apps nobody wants. basic stuff like some facebook apps, email apps, are there, but other than that it is mostly junk.

But guess what? there is a light at the end of the tunnel! This device can easily be rooted, once it is rooted you can install some nice software to back it up, and once that is there you can side-load applications. Such as... THE GOOGLE APP MARKET! Yes! This is awesome! All 165,000 apps i want are now available!

The problem is you have to root the device (gets superuser permissions) install the backup software (which also enables application installation outside of the apps application itself and to keep a digital backup image of your device, very nice). And to do this you literally have to add a few lines of code(not nearly as scary as it sounds i promise! once of the easiest parts), you have to download several different files all of which seem to require you to sign up to various forum boards and stuff to get.

i did this. I am not a hacker by any means, in fact, im an idiot ask anybody, i dont understand most of what i was doing, other than the basic overall idea of what i wanted to accomplish. It took me several hours, mainly because of my ignorance on this kind of stuff. The key is to go one step at a time, if something is not working, search for an answer. There is a website that gives you step by step instructions, there are many posts on there of problems they ran into and solutions around them. Just google up the ULTIMATE KYROS 7015 and look for a website that is like XDA developers or something. it is a online forumboard where people figured out how to do this junk. It is on a forum thread, read through several pages, you will see what i mean, if you run into a problem, somebody else already has, and the answer will be in that thread somewhere.

Once this is done, and you have google apps, it absolutly transforms your entire experience with this marvelous dirt cheap tablet because they stuff you WANT is all there for you. I highly highly reccommend doing this (at your own risk) and trust me, if I can do it, anybody can, just take your time, when you get stuck read ahead, somebody else probably had the same problem and figured out how to correct it and explains how.. It does require an MicroSD card though. There IS a Possility you will turn your tablet into a brick. however, from what i have seen, this almost never happens, you almost have to have a flawed device from the get-go, or be overly careless.

=========OPERATING SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY=========

Not bad at all! Mine keeps waking itself up which is annoying, but it responds to my commands, has only frozen twice, which is more than i can say for most other devices.

Keyboard Not bad at all, works well, you get used to using two thumbs on it, you have to pace yourself and not get ahead of it, you can not type as fast as on a keyboard, but overall it seems pretty reliable. There is no vibration, so no haptic feedback which i enjoy on my samsung galaxy S phone.

Pic viewer As i said, slight bluish cast, it is slow loading up images too. I loaded a bunch of reduced sized images to my droid phone to display my photography to possible clients, i loaded them on the Kyros and it takes about 3-4 seconds for the pictures to really lock in onto full resolution. I was a bit disappointed by this because this thing has a great little processor in it. The Slideshow is about retarded because you can choose between 2-4 seconds on the intervals and the images never really crisp up, they stay the 1/2 resolution blurry versions because they change before the processor locks them in. stupid stupid stupid.

ALDIKO e-reader.... if you want an e-reader go get a kindle or nook. that is my opinion. I briefly looked at it, it uses a backit screen, which stinks for extended reading. But the size of the text and font is pretty nice, you wont be squinting to read, and it would probably suffice for an e-reader, but it is nowhere as comfortable to look at as a kindle or nook.

The Youtube video app I dunno, i had a hard time getting this to work properly, then i rooted my Kyros and got the google marketplace installed and it came with a much better youtube app.

Email I am sorry, i did not even try this untill after i rooted my tablet, once the google marketplace was installed as part of the process it synched with my email. it works just fine.

Widgets seem to work just fine. I have a Facebook widget, Weather channel widget, Google widget, and a battery widget, it does not seem to slow down with the use of any of them. You ccan use live wallpaper, it seems to run just fine with live wallpaper, i dont notice any lag.

Video playback is smooth and crisp, the 480P quality is very much there.

Wi-fi performance. The wi-fi on this runs as fast as my Dell Laptop, my Samsung Galaxy S Droid phone, or any other wireless device for that matter. It is not pant-leg-flapping insane fast, but certainly nothing to complain about. If this is NOT your experience, i suspect you have a faulty unit.

===============Random things i noticed==============

Twice now in 5 days it has crashed while i was typing. Not sure why.

it keeps waking itself up. Not sure why. i have heared other reports, this may get fixed in a firmware update later.

No volume control on the side, once again, what the hell? You have to set the volume BEFORE starting any videos.

Charges VIA power cord..... will NOT charge through USB. I was actually suprised by this, maybe because it looks like a massive cellphone. That would have been nice. Go on google and look up Kyros 7015 tablet charger, and prepare to realize you will only have one. lol

more than once i had to reset the wif-fi in the device if it has been asleep for a while... annoying, but not a huge inconvenience. maybe a firmware upgrade will address this.

===========Good Bad Ugly=======================

Good -

Very responsive resistive touchscreen.

Excellent built

Solid performance

Expandable memory

Fast capable Wi-Fi

Under

Bad

Resistive screen. (i just preffer capacitive)

Slight bluish cast

No volume controls on side

MicroSD card.. really? Micro? Cant just use SD cards which we all have laying around?

Ugly

Applib. This just stinks. it requires rooting and such to get google market apps, and trust me google market apps is absolutly worth the effort, and it is not that difficult, and appslib just flat out sucks.

============Conclusion==============

I cant believe how much bang for your buck you get. This can be had for well under !!!! a handheld lightweight internet browser that potentioally has access (if rooted) to 165,000+ applications, games, etc. Anybody who complains that this device does NOT do enough for seriously needs to get thier heads examined. Im suprised this is not sold for closer to .

A few thoughts...

To address a few points, one person wrote a review and said the batterys dont last long enough, they popped it open, saw the batteries, then decided to return it. No mention if they actually USED it though. 5-6 hours of internet browsing is not enough? Really? Show me a droid phone that has that kind of battery life on wi-fi, it is right up there with the Ipad. To say that 5-6 hours of battery life is not enough is flat out stupid, because nothing really has much more battery life than this! its reviews like those that i just dont understand. jump to conclusions rather than try it out yourself.

Another person mention that it sucks because you have to root the device to get google apps and such. Well. True. Either do it or dont, Coby restricted the potential on this great tablet for some stupid reason that i could care less about, the fact is the option is there, take it or leave it. Those who are willing to do so will have a DRASTICALLY better experience than those who dont. If you dont want to root it and install google apps, then go spend on the Galaxy S tablet (which looks awesome) or the iPad. To be perfectly honest, i would only give this device a 3 star rating if the option to root was not there.

Others complain about the screen, yes, it is not the same as the Ipad. That is why it costs less. Not sure why you would expect to get a ferarri at a honda civic price tag.

If price was not considered in the rating at all, i would give this a 7 and the Ipad a 10.

if price IS considered in this rating, i give this a 10, and the ipad an 8.

Somebody mentioned non-child appropriate content on the apps market, i checked, i did not see any "porn" per se, but there ARE plenty of sexy wallpapers and stuff. This may or may not be a concern for you.

And then there are some stupid reviews, like the guy chiming in about how the processor, memory, ram, stuff like that are all not known, i disagree, they are clearly listed in every bit of literature, i think he must have been digging through thier grandfathers medicine cabinet again.

I see several reviews that give 1-2 star reviews that seem very contradictory to what my experience was. This leads me to believe one of a few things, unrealistic expectations(40%), ignorance on how to use the device(20%), or possible QC issues at COBY(40%). lets be honest, when you think of "quality" is COBY the first brand that comes to mind? Keep your reciept and check the return policy, apparently cobys customer service sucks, make sure the store will take it back.

That said, for bucks this cant be beat, im floored at how well this works (for $).

If you are not willing to root, this is a great internet browser while yer on the couch, but you are missing out, i suggest either root this device or find one that doesent have an idiot in charge of what can and can not be done with it.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Read Best Reviews of Coby Kyros MID7015-4G 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black Here

The problem most negative reviewers have here, is what so many others run into before buying something with hopes and expectations. Simply put, you have to do your homework before purchasing anything in order to keep from getting let down by false hopes. I have 3 of these coming in the mail for my kiddo's, and spent about 4 to 5 days researching all of the current Android tablets available in this price range before picking anything. Out of all devices under $200, this Kryos has the best performance, and hardware options available. There are a few that run right up there with it, but still cost $30 or more per unit.

I already know what to expect as the positives and negatives of these devices, primarily the resistive screens that are not as nice as our Moto Driod's Etc. But with facts in hand, the tons of functionality they offer, and the extremely low price tag, I was very comfortable purchasing three of these as Christmas gifts for my loved ones.

If you have considered an iPad, and are looking at one of these Android tablets as a cheap alternative, then you have already set yourself up for upset. These do not perform the same way. The screens are not the same technology meaning they do not recognize a soft swipe of the screen, or multi touch like most of their mobile phone brethren. They are resistive screens much like the older Windows mobile phones that react to pressure on the screen. A stylus is going to be more precise of course, but not always needed to operate the touch screen.

As for browsing, it is only as fast as your wireless connection will allow it to be. Many of the reviews others have made during test drives of the Colby show excellent response times loading web pages. But just like any device including your high performance notebooks, wireless signal strength, internet speeds, and many other factors come into play when you decide to hit a website.

I can honestly say, that these are by far the funnest little gadgets you can pick up for this low of a price, that offer so much features and functionality. They will and should never be a comparison to a high dollar iPad with a ton more hardware resources available. But at a third of the price, I am much happier playing my HD movies and MP3's, surfing the web, checking email, etc on an Android then paying the price of an Apple.

And I must correct all those out there bashing the lack of Android's mighty marketplace. This is not missing due to not having mobile connectivity, or even funnier, "an obscure legal loophole" LOL! This is due to the fact that Google requires high cost licensing from manufactures against their devices to allow access to their Market. The Android Tablet arena is still very new, and has not reached the sales yet needed to take on the cost of this licensing, and still produce a profit worth production. Once these devices are welcomed into the community, and sales become profitable, most manufacturers will have the leverage they need.

For most, the offerings of these tablets will provide allot of satisfaction as a media and internet device in your home. For those with little patience, you can't save money and be happy at the same time. Whip out that wallet and go get yourself something more expensive so we don't have to hear your whimpers of an another poorly researched purchase. And for those who are driven heavily on performance, and not scared by technical challenges, get out there and upgrade this Kryos and you will open up tons of limitations and performance from the hardware and OS.

Hope this helps some out there. Good luck, and happy smart shopping for the holidays!

Some of the great resources I used: (remove spaces in URL)

-Colby Kyros MID7015 Hands on Review (Unbiased)-Competing Android Tablets Test Drive Comparison Data-Colby Kyros MID7005/MID7015 Resource Page (Contains bugs, apps, and mods)-Manufacturers Site (Contains Manual and Firmware Update)-Excellent video on Home Shopping Network showcasing what it offers (if you can get past HSN's cheesy sales guys)(very biased of course)

Want Coby Kyros MID7015-4G 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet - Black Discount?

I have been using this tablet for almost a week now. Here are my first impressions:

It is quite thin and light. Ignore other reviews as they are talking about the model 7005.

It comes with a protective case, USB cable and USB mini-to female connector. The latter is very useful to mount USB drives. Be warned the tablet mounts it as the 'scsi' drive.

The battery life is quite decent (capacity is 3600mAh).

It has only 256 MB memory and the available memory is usually vey small. So you need to kill the backgroud apps from time to time.

It plays Angry Birds (with some font problems) and other 3D games quite well. Looks like there is a support for 2D and 3D acceleration. However, the Quadrant Benchmark marks around 300. Compare it with Galaxy Tab around 900 and Viewsonic gTablet around 1800.

No problem with any book readers. Actually can be a decent book reader considering the size and weight.

No Google Market as it has no Phone support. Not a big deal as I was able to install apps/games from various web sites.

Wi-fi support is good and Wi-fi stays on without any problems.

The is a manufacturer's support web site (cobyusa). It has the latest update zip package and installation video alongside with the online user guide. So you are not alone when it comes to update this tablet.

The screen response is OK if you know how to deal with a resistive screen. You should not use your finger , but the tip of your finger nail or the stylus provided.

Overall a decent tablet, very compact and light (again this is 7015 not 7005) and performs well within the price range.

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I got this Coby Kyros Android Tablet for $139.99 at Kmart during the Black Friday Deals that went on. Everything with this tablet works good, I especially love this Pad compared to Apple's iPad which has limited functionality and is priced at several of hundreds of dollars compared to the Android Pads because I only need something like the iPad for the internet, checking email, reading books, and playing movies but was surprised that it can do a whole lot more than just that!

This Pad uses Android v2.1 OS, it has AppsLib which is a marketplace for apps to install specifically on Android Pads and not Android Phones. The reason why Android Marketplace is not on this Pad is because it does not have Phone capabilities, the Android Marketplace has apps that are for every feature for the Android OS. Other than that, the AppsLib is for Android devices that would not have phone capabilities, hence, Android Tablets. I assume they weeded through the apps that would work on Android Tablets and just created AppsLib. The HDMI output for the device works great! I bought a 16GB microSD card for this and works good. I played a couple of movies with HDMI out in DVD and 720p Quality to an LCD TV and it looked great, sound was great, and there was no delay, lag, or anything wrong with the video! The Pad seemed to play every video format I have thrown at it. I've also used the USB port on this Pad and it recognized my 4GB PNY, 8GB Kingston, & 16GB Patriot Xport flash for additional storage which is a big plus!

The only issues I have had with this Android Pad though is that most games I have played on it so far, the G-Sensors (Accelerometer) are reversed on it. When I play a racing game such as Asphalt or Raging Thunder, you're suppose to twist the Pad to the right or left to turn right or left and it's reversed. This is a big disappointment for me and I hope a fix is released for this. Another problem also is every application I install on this Pad, only about 75% of them will work, and this goes for games and apps.

Overall... the Pad satisfies what I basically need it to do so far and everything else is just a plus for me.

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Lorell 60985 Wall Clock, 9 in., Arabic Numerals, White Dial/White Frame

• Sold Individually as 1 Each
• 9 in.
• Arabic Numerals
• White Dial/White Frame

Bought one of these clocks six months ago and had no problems with it finding signal and keeping correct time through daylight saving time change. It stopped working about a month ago, and worked for another month with a fresh battery. When it died, I sent an email to Nordisco to ask what my options were and was VERY pleasantly surprised by the Nordisco customer service email and phone call! I received a new one this morning and it found the signal almost immediately.

Buy Lorell 60985 Wall Clock, 9 in., Arabic Numerals, White Dial/White Frame Now

I got it on May 12 to replace regular battery operated clock which ate battery and not accurate any more or even stopped.

Once I received this clock, i try it in my work place, it did not seem to adjust the time, I believed there is metal roof affecting the signal reception with Google how radio control clock works. I brought back home and installed in middle of the house. It was facing west with lots of windows opening. Having slope outside house, I still worried with signal reception issue but the clock seems run well and keep the time.

Last weekend, Nov 4, was daylight saving end, the clock told me it works perfectly because the time was adjusted, set back one hour and compared to oven clock was still showing summer time. I am very happy with this clock that always keep the time right. The clock is made with plastic in white, not fancy with big hour numbers that can be seen from a distance. I highly recommend.

For reference, I live in Birmingham, AL. Since the product title just say wall clock, so customer may over look this great clock too.

Read Best Reviews of Lorell 60985 Wall Clock, 9 in., Arabic Numerals, White Dial/White Frame Here

I purchased one of these Lorell wall clocks and thought that it worked great for the price and not having to set the time manually as I've had to in the past. This clock sync's up and keep the time very well.

Want Lorell 60985 Wall Clock, 9 in., Arabic Numerals, White Dial/White Frame Discount?

I purchased this clock as a simple replacement to our current clock which couldn't keep time anymore. I have to admit, until it arrived I didn't know it was a "radio controlled" clock which gets it's time from a radio station in Colorado. Well, since I can't pick up any radio stations from Colorado on my radio (we live in Southern California), I figured it wouldn't work. It pretty much says in the instructions that if it can't get the time from the radio station, it won't work.

Well, low and behold, it received it's instructions within hours and has been showing the exact time since then. I think it's supposed to ping (check) the Colorado radio station once a day or so to keep itself in sync. I'm imagining it only does this once in awhile because it does take more energy (battery power) to do the checking.

Our clock is located in an outer room on the east side of our house (the side towards Colorado). I'm not sure what it would do if there were more walls to interfere, but the fact in itself that it's finding Colorado at all amazes me.

I've only had it about a month so I can't speak for it's longevity or battery life, but so far it's worked great.

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Not impressive to look at, but keeps perfect time. Took 24 hours to capture the signal, but it was through several walls.

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