LG Flare User Reviews

I have had this phone for around 3, 4 years. I love because it is just that: a phone. The battery lie is great. I only leave it on for an hour or two and that will last me days. Never had to deal with a bad call quality so I suppose it's good as well. The one thing I really like about it is how physically tough it is. It has been splashed on (water) many times, fallen to the ground, thrown against a wall for fun, ect ec... Yet it's still here and works perfectly. I don't have to worry about being too rough with it. I would recommend it to those who just want a phone and not a delicate mini-computer.

Great First Phone!
I loved everything about it, and plans were cheap! + Games & Apps were included. The camera was a downside for me because there wasn't one. And Customer Service was great. I loved the default choices of ringtone & wallpaper. And themes were Spectacular. Something I Care about in a Phone.

Ive had this phone for awhile and so far its pretty cool.  Id reccomend it to someone wanting a basic phone.

First off, I'm one that takes good care of my things.  Just like to get that out there before I list all of the problems that I had with the phone.
I've been having problems with this phone since day one (I got it back in August '08), service was always horrible, Virgin Mobile's rates weren't that good, the list just goes on and on.  I rarely texted anybody, but whenever I did, the text would fail the first time, and resend itself without notifying me and just keep resending that same text.  Even if I deleted it, the text would still be sent, so that added up really fast.  Every single "Virgin Alert" cost money (15 cents), and sometimes it wouldn't go through, so it would be sent multiple times.  You get charged on how long you spend on the voicemail (20 cents/minute), so if your friend has a blackberry and calls your phone on accident and leaves a 45 minute message, you're screwed if someone sends you a very important voicemail because you will have to pay about 10 bucks to get to it.  I also keep getting notified about that unheard voicemail, and that costs money too.  And 9 times out of 10 for me, whenever I tried to purchase a ringtone, it would fail, and cost me 2 dollars and 50 cents each try, so that ran my bill up even more.
Ok, I'm done ranting about the crappy service and there rates, let's get to the good stuff: the phone itself.  The design and everything is good, but the hardware is crap, it breaks really easily.  If you're like me, you probably keep your phone in your pocket or backpack, so you can expect a few scratches on the front.  But my phone's battery cover was ripped off when it was in my backpack's phone pouch, the faceplate was scratched, and the outer lcd screen got that spiderweb thing.  What makes it worth, is that I always keep the phone in a hard leather case, so that stuff wouldn't happen to it.  I was very disappointed in the quality of this phone.
 
All-in-all, it would be fair priced at like 15 dollars with a 6 month card for virgin mobile, but that would put them out of business.  But if you have my bad luck, you're better off going with a Verizon plan or something, it'll cost you less.

I had the LG flare for quite some time, until it found its ultimate demise in the washing machiene. It was a good phone, reliable, decent battery life. Its a solid phone and at a good price. I have also been with virgin mobile for a lont time and I have been very pleased with their services. It has decent responce, but has no real intriging extras like a camera. Over all its a solid phone, nothing facy, but solid.

I like the look and feel of the Flare.
Both screens are bright and easy to read, the buttons are relatively large and respond well.
Pressing the TALK button will cause the phone to say "SAY A NAME OR DIAL" to prompt you to say a name (sound) that you've linked to a name (you've recorded and associated w/a phone number) OR you can talk the number in.  You can also get this by pressing the Talk button on the Bluetooth transceiver, once.  Touching either TALK button twice, calls the last number you spoke to.
The sound is easily set from soft to loud with the rocker switch on the left side of the handset.
I really like the dedicated Back, Web and Speakerphone keys.  It makes it really easy to use these functions!
You do have to be careful to turn off the Bluetooth device when you're not using it as the phone uses more power when it's linked to it.

I just found out today when I tried to call home and pick up my messages from my home phone answering machine that I CANNOT DO IT!! I am so tatally bummed to find out this and I would not have gotten the phone if I knew that before hand. I find the OK button and the back button to be very touchy and sometimes if I am not very careful it will cycle through 2 or 3 steps w/o much touch at all. Bummer. Also, I spent 25 minutes on the phone to Virgin trying to find out how to access the voice dial function which I have already put the voice names into per instruction. I can't find out how to use voice dialing since the how to is not addressed in the book and is unknown to the live advisors. Totally unacceptable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD_qzots6Bo
 

it turns off on me while i text and it just isnt very good.  i guess its good for the price but i really dont like it

Great little phone for little money. After an unpleasant contract with Sprint, the freedom of pay as you go is great. This basic phone is perfect for anyone who wants just that.........a phone.

This is easily my favorite Virgin phone yet. It's comfortable to use, has a great interface, and doesn't look like a cheap toy. Honestly, it's the first Virgin phone I'm not embarrassed to use.

I was really hoping to use Bluetooth to sync contacts, but it appears as though Virgin may have limited the functionality. The only available profiles are: HSP, HFP, and PBAP. Great for hands free, but nothing else.

AFTER A FEW DAYS WITH THE LG165 --"FLARE"--one thing really sticks out--there is no call log record of minutes used per call or in the aggregate--you must go to the "my account" space--which after four hits in one day costs an absurd 2 cents per hit ever after on that day!!
Let's see--2 million x 2cents===Sir Virgin is no fool:)--that's a big negative for me and i am sorely disappointed-it seems to me that in a pre pay there ought to be a way-as with the lowly 20 dollar "oystr' to keep closer track of your minutes used per call.
Great business plan poor customer relations i think--So i love the phone but i will keep the oystr until Virgin makes me able to check the time of my calls on the "flare"---

As an addendum--since i left these things out and they are good to know--the phone feels very comfortable in the hand-the flip is solid and the hinge is solid-the screen is bright and easy to read and the side mounted button under the volume rocker lets you check the facia without keeping the backlight on all the time--should have a great battery life. Push the button time date etc "flares" up-release--fades to black--very neat.
I do my web browsing from a computer so i have no input or serious interest in those features-sorry--calls are whati need to make and texts -okay that's the lot!

This is the fourth Virgin phone i've purchased--i have been using an oystr for almost two years and it is in my opinon an amazing value for 20 bucks--anyone who thinks otherwise is either very rich or a techno junkie:)
The Flare is a very neat phone-only have it a couple of days and still getting used to it-Call quality is much better than the Aloha which i have read it being compared to--no comparison at all.
The speaker phone on the flare is exceptionally good-great sound-as is the non speaker call quality-so far so good-still trying to get a feel for the sound when i call different services out of state or upstate.
Texting is a bit more cumbersome than the oystr-more moves to set it up-but the keys are soft and firm and large enough for my large fingers.
The name bar in the phone book is limited in characters allowed-ifind that a negative--not enough room for address etc as there is in the oystr-not a dea lbreaker but a bit annoying.
So all in all for thirty dollars--really not bad at all-as a matter of fact damned good--
So until a real jinx crops up i say the flare rocks!-size -appearance-what's not to like????