Kyocera X-tc (G2Go, Virgin Mobile)

Pros: Pay as you go, no contract service for both voice and Web. Full keyboard. Nice appearance and form factor (fits in pocket well).

Cons: Keys are small but usable. Menu system is a bit slow although Opera browser is relatively quick. Included ringtones are very basic, and mostly annoying.

Summary: Virgin does not yet offer Opera Mini through its own site for the X-TC (they probably will soon), but you can use the included WAP browser to surf to mini.opera.com, which will recognize the phone explicitly as the Kyocera M2000 X-tc, and will download the browser directly onto the phone. This free Opera browser is ten times better than the WAP browser included by Virgin.

This is a very reasonable phone for someone who wants to occasionally access the Web. I bought a 20MB one month data pack for $10 to get started but for my purposes after this month the $5/month 5MB data pack will be plenty, as the Opera browser is very parsimonious in its use of bandwidth. If you don't buy the data pack at all you pay $1.50 each day that you use the phone, for up to 1MB, which isn't bad for an occasional user. I was able to surf the NY Times and a blog site there (Paul Krugman's) and also explore what films are available at the local multiplex and that entire process consumed less than half a MB. So, if you just want to be able to check fiilms or restaurants once in a while, while away from your home PC, this is a very economical phone and service.

The keys are small, but usable with care. The volume is not very loud, but I would never use a cel without a headset - specifically, one with a hollow air tube to prevent the headset cord from becoming a waveguide for the cel radiation. And, you can always turn on the speakerphone for more volume. The menu system is a little slow.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this phone and service as a package. This kind of cel service gets you off the treadmill of monthly payments so that you only use the phone as much as you need to, and only pay for what you use. That reduces both distraction and radiation exposure, freeing your mind for better things, like living in the real world.