Besides being skinny in its design, the Slice is pretty thin on features too. Though both the Slice and the Slvr L2 lack a camera, the Slice doesn't have Bluetooth, which the L2 does. Since it's billed as a basic phone, we found the lack of a camera and Bluetooth acceptable, and even found the lack of camera a good thing, as certain businesses might not allow camera phones in the vicinity. The Slice comes with a 500-entry contacts list, with each entry able to hold four numbers, an e-mail address, and a note. You can assign contacts into groups and even assign them to one of four polyphonic ring tones.
Other features of the Slice include text messaging, a calculator, an alarm clock, a scheduler, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a wireless Web browser that allows users access to VirginXL, Virgin Mobile's mobile Web portal. VirginXL also provides access to an array of personalization options such as ring tones, wallpapers, and screensavers, as well as exclusive content from MTV and Comedy Central. You can also activate the speakerphone feature, but only during a call. The phone comes with three games (Midnight Pool, Sexy Poker 2006, and Platinum Solitaire) but they were only demo versions. You'll have to access Virgin XL in order to purchase and download more games.
We tested the CDMA 1900 Virgin Mobile Slice in San Francisco using the Virgin Mobile network. Audio quality on calls was good and sounded clear from both ends. Sound quality suffered a bit with the speakerphone, as callers had to ask us to speak up a few times, but otherwise it was passable.
The Virgin Mobile Slice has a mediocre rated talk time of 3.83 hours and a rated standby time of 11.25 days. Our tests confirmed the rated talk time with 3 hours and 49 minutes. According to a FCC radiation test, the Virgin Mobile Slice has a digital SAR rating of 1.47 watts per kilogram.
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