Motorola Triumph Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile)

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches ; 5.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B005DTSBEU
• Item model number: Triumph
  

By : Motorola
List Price : $299.99
Price : $239.99
You Save : $60.00 (20%)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

A sleek and stylish smartphone packed with all the high-end performance features you expect, the 3G-enabled, Android-powered Motorola TRIUMPH for the prepaid Virgin Mobile network offers excellent on-the-go multimedia features--and with none of the contract obligations. With Virgin Mobile, you can choose a monthly plan with unlimited data, text and voice or just purchase the minutes and text you need (learn more below).

Featuring a thin, easy-to-hold design, the Motorola TRIUMPH fits effortlessly into your pocket or small handbag. It features a 4.1-inch touchscreen, superfast 1 GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera/camcorder on the rear, and a VGA camera on the front for video chatting with friends and family. It's powered by the Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system, offering deep integration with Google services--from Gmail and Google+ to Google Maps and YouTube--and providing you access to the latest apps and games via the Android Market.

If you prefer big screen viewing, the HDMI out hook-up lets you easily watch videos and movies on a flat screen (HDMI cable not included). With optional microSD memory cards, you can expand the TRIUMPH's memory to power and store your huge library of pictures, videos and music (supports cards up to 32 GB; a 2 GB card is included).

Other features include ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (for accessing home and on-the-go hotspots), Bluetooth for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, full HTML web browser with support for Adobe Flash, and access to both personal and corporate e-mail (see full specifications below).

Vital Statistics

The Motorola TRIUMPH weighs 3.4 ounces and measures 4.8 x 2.6 x 0.39 inches. Its 1400 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 72 hours (3 days) of standby time. It runs on the 800/1900 CDMA/EV-DO Rev. A frequencies.

What's in the Box

Motorola TRIUMPH handset, rechargeable battery, charger, 2 GB microSD memory card, quick start guide

Android Operating System

The Motorola TRIUMPH runs the latest Android operating system--OS 2.2 (aka, Froyo)--which provides a faster overall Android experience as well as greater multitasking capabilities. You'll be able to receive notifications, listen to music, and even record GPS data without keeping the application open. And it features a plethora of new enhancements, including an improved onscreen QWERTY keyboard, full push corporate e-mail, and support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for access to the full Web. It also offers enhanced Exchange support, with Calendar syncing, Global Address Lookup, improved security, auto-discovery, and more.

With integrated Google technology, the XPRT brings one-touch access to the popular Google mobile services millions use every day, including Google Search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, GTalk instant messaging (with presence capabilities), YouTube, and Picasa. The XPRT also provides easy access to both personal and corporate e-mail, calendars, and contacts supported by Exchange Server and Gmail. And through Android Market, you'll get access to thousands of useful applications, widgets, and fun games to download and install on your phone, with many more apps being added every day.

Virgin Mobile Prepaid Pricing

With Virgin Mobile, you can pay only for the calling time you use. You can choose a monthly Beyond Talk plan with unlimited data and messaging and just the right amount of talk minutes for your needs.

Beyond Talk Unlimited Plans

Virgin Mobile customers have access to the Sprint Nationwide Network, reaching more than 278 million people across the United States (see a map of Virgin Mobile's coverage area).

Connectivity

• 3G data speeds (EVDO Rev A.) (peak download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds of 600 kbps-1.4 Mbps)
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g/n) for accessing home and corporate networks as well as hotspots while on the go.
• Onboard GPS for navigation and location services
• Integrated Google Maps with turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views.
• Bluetooth connectivity (version 2.1) includes communication headset, hands-free car kits, and the A2DP audio streaming Bluetooth profiles.

Google Integration

• Android 2.2 OS (Froyo)
• Android Market for browsing and downloading thousands of free and paid apps
• Pre-loaded Android apps: Browser, Calculator, Calendar (Google or Corporate), Camera, Clock, Contacts, e-mail, Gallery, Messaging, Music, News ; Weather, Phone, Settings, Video Player, Voice Dialer, Voice Search, YouTube
• Google applications: Gmail, Google Search, Google Voice Search, Google Latitude, Google Maps, Google Places, Google Talk
• Google Maps Navigation with spoken turn-by-turn directions showing real-time traffic and 360° views of the destination

Communications ; Internet

• Full HTML Web Browser with Flash 10.1 Support
• Full messaging capabilities including SMS text, MMS picture/video and IM instant messaging
• Personal and corporate e-mail access with support for Exchange ActiveSync as well as personal e-mail accounts (Google push, Yahoo!, POP3, IMAP).

Hardware

• 1 GHz processor speeds up everything--from playing games to watching shows to opening files from work.
• 4.1-inch multi-touch capacitive display (480 x 800 pixels) with light and proximity sensors and scratch-resistant glass.
• Onscreen keyboard
• Removable battery

Memory

• 2 GB microSD card with support for optional cards up to 32 GB.
• 2 GB onboard memory
• 512 MB RAM

Camera

• 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 4x digital zoom
• Video capture capabilities
• VGA front-facing camera for video chats

Multimedia

• Music player compatible with MP3, WMA, and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
• Video player compatible with MPEG4, WMV, H.264, H.263

More Features

• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Organizer tools including calendar, voice notes, and alarm clock
• Speakerphone for hands-free communication.
• Hearing Aid Compatibility: M3

Also Available for This Android Device

Amazon Appstore for AndroidGet a great paid app for free every day.

KindleBuy a book once and read it everywhere with our free Kindle Reading App for Android.

Amazon MP3Shop 15 million songs and stream your Cloud Drive music directly from your Android device.

IMDBFind local movie showtimes and TV listings, watch trailers, and search the world's largest source of entertainment information.

AudibleDownload audiobooks directly to your Android device, then listen wherever you go, get audiobook news, earn badges, and more.

Amazon MobileShop for millions of products, get product details, and read reviews--right from your mobile device.

Motorola TRIUMPH allows users to rev up their smartphone experience with a superfast 1GHz processor, 4.1-inch touchscreen, 5MP camera and, front-facing VGA camera for video chat, 720p HD camcorder with HDMI output, to allow for playback on HDTVs (requires HDMI cable sold separately).

 

Motorola Triumph Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile)

 

Technical Details

• 3G-enabled, Android-powered smartphone with 4.1-inch multi-touch display and access to wide range of Google mobile services
• No monthly contracts with Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk unlimited data, text and voice plan (or by-the-minute PayLo plans)
• 1 GHz processor; 5-MP camera/camcorder; Wi-Fi networking; Bluetooth stereo music; access to personal and corporate e-mail; GPS navigation and location services
• Up to 4 hours of talk time, up to 72 hours (3 days) of standby time
• What's in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, 2 GB microSD card; quick start guide

Costumer Reviews

If this phone came out a year ago, it would be among the top performing phones from any carrier on the market. Its very fast Snapdragon processor, vivid 4.1" touch screen, and rock-solid Android 2.2 performance were cutting edge 12 months ago. I don't say that in a disparaging way, but rather want to show where this phone fits into the spectrum of available devices. If you want the newest, best, phone, you'll still have to go to the contract carriers.

That said, this phone does everything I need very well, and at $300 upfront and $25 a month for service, can't be beat. It works even better than the Samsung Intercept that I replaced with it, and is reasonably priced. $25 a month, compared to what plans cost on the contract carriers, and you'll make up the $300 upfront cost in about 6 months. Brand new customers, may have to pay the $35 a month that they are changing their bottom plan to, but that is still a great deal ($35 a month for 300 minutes, unlimited web/text; $45 a month for 1200 minutes unlimited web/text; or $55 a month for unlimited everything).

This is my second phone on Virgin Mobile, and it made me realize that a lot of the problems that I was attributing to the network were actually the fault of my Samsung Intercept. This phone is more stable in every way. Wifi, GPS, 3G, Voice, the touch screen, applications, everything about this phone works better and is more stable than they did on the Samsung.

Beyond this comparison to my previous Virgin Mobile phone, here are a few comments about the phone:

+ very thin and lightweight. I miss the physical keyboard of my Intercept, but only slightly. The thinness makes up for it.

+ durable design. There aren't many cases available yet for this phone, but even without a case it seems durable. I already dropped it once, on concrete, and other than having to replace the back cover, there were no issues. The battery didn't even come out.

+ vibrant screen. The screen looks great on this phone. I almost say that it looks as good as the display on my wife's iPod Touch. The only concern with the screen is that it is 4.1 inches instead of 4.3, which has kind of become the new standard for Android phones, but I don't really think that .2 of an inch makes much difference.

+ very good touch screen. The touch screen on the Intercept had issues, compared to this phone. We are finally able to play games on it, and type quickly on the touch screen. Again, I think it is safe to compare it to the iPod Touch's performance. Very good.

+ fast processor. Cutting edge Android phones are now starting to have dual-core chips. The Snapdragon chip in this phone is single core, but that hasn't stopped it from doing everything that I've asked it to instantaneously. Very snappy.

+ Cameras. The main camera on this phone is awesome. Probably not as good as in an iPhone 4 or a real camera, but every bit as good as the stellar one in the iPod Touch. The pictures and video it takes are amazing. I don't think I'll ever be taking my real camera or my video recorder with me again. Even the flash works well and doubles nicely as a flashlight.

+ battery life. The battery life on this phone is very good. With any Android phone you can expect to have to recharge it daily, but this one at least uses its battery consistently and gradually. That might not seem like a lot to ask for, but even with Android 2.2 many phones have battery management issues. This one does not.

+ GPS. The GPS gets its signal pretty quickly and does a good job. Not perfect in that sometimes you have a wait a few seconds, but none of them are.

+ Vanilla Android. I really like the fact that Virgin Mobile doesn't "Skin" their phones or put a bunch of bloatware on them. This phone is pretty much stock Android 2.2 with a couple extra applications pre-installed. Much better than the experience with other carriers that fill the phone up with their own software and interface.

A few comments on Virgin Mobile:

+ Network. Network performance always depends on your location. In some cities Verizon is great and AT;T is terrible. In others they both work great. Virgin Mobile's phones operate on their parent company, Sprint's network. Sprint and T-Mobile's networks as a whole, are not as good as Verizon's, but that does not mean they are terrible. In my experience, this phone works very well in metropolitan areas, and pretty well in rural areas. If your cell phone is your life-line and you spend time in rural areas, you may want to check the coverage for your area on Sprint's website. Otherwise, I really having had any problems with the network.

+ International. Sprint and therefore Virgin Mobile only have network coverage in the US. That means you can't roam internationally, which is both good and bad. International roaming on any phone is very expensive. When I travel outside the US with this phone, and want to make calls, I connect to Wifi in my hotel or at a shop, and use Skype. It works perfectly and is much cheaper than international roaming, and is often free.

I very strongly recommend that you ditch your contract phone and consider this phone or other Contract Free carriers. AT;T especially, and Verizon to some extent, are trampling all over their customers, and people are letting them. The way to fix this situation is not archaic government regulation or laws, but rather consumers showing that they won't stand for it. Get a contract free phone because it is the best thing for your wallet and works very well, but also know that if enough people do it the big carriers will have to improve the way they do business.

/// Update after 3 months of use. ///

I don't have much new to report on this phone, but wanted to provide an update after 3 months of use. They are still working great. Both my wife and I have had one from the beginning. Neither of us have it in a case, and it is holding up very well both to purse life and hip life. No scratches or anything despite normal drops and use. A few points:

+ Service continues to be great on this phone. Virgin works much better on this than it did on the Intercept.

+ I have had about 5 unexpected restarts in the three months of having the phone. That isn't bad for an Android phone that gets a lot of use. I think that some of those might have been caused by putting the phone 'power button side down' in the case, and inadvertently keeping it pressed. Either way, I don't think that 5 is bad, especially if 3 of them were caused by the case. My wife has never had an unexpected restart on her Triumph, though she doesn't use hers as much as I do.

+ Screen. The screen on this phone is great. You do have to push a little harder on this phone than on some others, but you get used to it very quickly, and in the long-run, it is better.

+ The camera is great (for a phone).

I continue to be very happy with this phone, especially after its first three months of real life use.

[UPDATE: My initial review was posted after using the phone for 2 or 3 days. I've now used it for one or two more weeks, and numerous problems have been revealed, leading to me downgrading my review from 5 stars to 2. See my new comments further down.

UPDATE 2: I've had the phone for nearly a month now and it is getting returned. The final update is at the bottom.]

I won't do a comprehensive review of this phone because they're already out there. In general, I will just say that this phone is far faster and smoother than the LG Optimus V I was using. Download speeds are also greatly increased - apparently this has as much or more to do with the phone itself as it does with the network. It's easiest to see the difference in download speeds over your Wifi at home, where the speed should be the same as it was with a different phone yet in fact it's now much, much faster.

A few key facts then, both pros and cons:

Swype: The phone does not ship with the Swype keyboard pre-installed. Nevertheless, it is possible to get Swype for the phone easily, and without rooting the phone. Just go to Swype's official website and click on the "join" link to get access to Swype "beta" (I'm not sure what's beta about it, it's unbelievable and vastly improved over the version of Swype I was using on the Optimus V). Swype will then send you an e-mail with a link in it. Open that e-mail on your phone, click on the link, and the rest just happens.

Screen Protection: I'm 99% sure this phone ships with a screen protector already on it. I know this because 1) I saw a video somewhere (I think Howard Forums) of a guy who claimed that his came with a screen protector on it, and who then removed that protector on the video (he didn't like screen protectors), and 2) now that I have the phone myself, I can see that at the very edge of the screen, there is a line that can be seen that seems to divide between a layer underneath and something that's on top of it but doesn't quite perfectly cover every millimeter of the surface - though that's probably on purpose, so that you can remove it if you want to or it becomes necessary. With the factory screen protector on, the screen nevertheless looks vibrant and clear, and feels quite smooth. I'd think it was just glass if I didn't know better. It's pretty glossy and picks up a fair amount of glare, and is prone to lots of smudges and fingerprints. FYI, the guy on Howard Forums claimed that after removing the screen protector the screen was somewhat more vibrant but also had more glare. However, he was most impressed by how much more responsive the screen felt now that there was no separation between his finger and the actual glass. If you don't want a screen protector, or want to swap out the factory one for a different one (perhaps at a later time if the one from the factory gets scratched up), you can remove the factory one. The video guy pulled up the edge with a thumbtack.

Internal Memory: Initial reports indicated that this phone had only 512MB of internal memory, and as of now the Virgin Mobile site also indicates that. That appears to be incorrect. According to the App2SD app, I have 1.05GB of internal memory. By contrast, the Optimus V had only 140MB of internal memory, and for me that ran out VERY quickly. With Android Version 2.2 and above, many apps can now be "moved" from the phone's internal memory to an SD card. Nevertheless, how much usable internal memory you have is critical, because 1) many apps are not movable to the SD card, regardless of what version of Android you're running, 2) many apps only have full functionality if you're keeping them on the phone's internal memory (this most commonly comes up for apps that have widget functionality - the widgets cannot be used if the app is on the SD card), and 3) EVEN when you move an app to the SD card, all apps still leave portions of themselves on the internal memory. You can see how much internal memory an app is using by going to Settings Applications Manage Applications and looking up the particular app (if you want to see how much memory an app is taking up on an SD card, use App2SD). On the Optimus V, I had a number of apps that, even though officially "on the SD card", still left 2, 4, even 10 MBs on internal memory. Thus, having 7 1/2 times the internal memory of the Optimus V is huge.

Conclusion: I give the phone 5 stars because it not only does everything I expected of it but is also snappier and has more internal memory than reported. The addition of a factory-installed screen protector (without air bubbles!) is also, to me, a plus. The only negatives are that the screen is prone to smudges, and that the phone ships without Swype - but, as I explained, that's easily rectified.

UPDATE: After using the phone for another one or two weeks, numerous problems have cropped up. First, two additional positive points:

LED light - The Triumph has an LED light that is located behind the earpiece grille. It glows red when charging (green to et you know it's done), and pulsates when you have a new notification message. This is a handy feature that the LG Optimus didn't have.

Netflix - The free Netflix app is now available for the Triumph in the Android marketplace. Streaming to the Triumph over a Wifi connection works nicely. Last I saw the Optimus didn't have this app available, and maybe it couldn't because the phone needs more processing power to handle the streaming.

And now for the problems that have cropped up:

Restarts - The phone randomly restarts itself every so often. It was not dropped on the floor nor did it get wet.

Battery life/Reception - The battery life of this phone is decidedly worse than that of the Optimus. I can only say this anecdotally as I haven't done "testing" per se - the phone just dies way too fast, and this is with options like Wifi, GPS< and Bluetooth turned off. As further evidence, I have a widget from the "Juiceplotter" app. On a full charge for the Optimus, it would say I had something like 17 hours of battery life (presumably in standby conditions, not if you talked on the phone for 17 hours straight, obviously). On the Triumph, the same widget gives me a maximum of 10 hours on a full charge, but in practice the phone doesn't come close to matching that. The reception is also definitely worse than the Optimus was, but again I can only comment on that anecdotally.

Non-responsiveness - Sometimes the "back" button on the phone simply won't work for a while. I'll be using an app and won't be able to get out of it except by using the "home" button. The fact that the "home" button works indicates that the phone's CPU isn't just completely choked on something. The app and phone are working, it's just that the back button checks out every so often. The "menu" button does the same thing, but a bit less often.

Build quality - In the lower left corner of the phone, where the glass screen meets the outer hard plastic border of the phone, there is light leakage whenever the phone's screen is on. It's only in this one spot. I find it distracting and annoying and wonder what it says about the build quality of the phone.

NEW Conclusion: It's always possible that the problems I've had are isolated to my particular phone, but all I can do is report on my own experiences. If other people have the same experiences, then I think this phone's problems seriously outweigh its advantages, and you're better off going back to the more humble but more reliable Optimus.

FINAL UPDATE: I've had the phone now for almost a month. Its habit of restarting itself randomly has only increased, and the touch screen and touch-sensitive buttons remain unresponsive at times. In addition, the battery life has been revealed to be absolutely abysmal. In standby mode, the phone can lose up to 10% of its charge per hour, and of course loses it far more rapidly if it is actually being used. I've decided that even if a phone wipe could somehow clear the first two problems, it certainly wouldn't improve the battery life or poor signal strength, so the phone is being returned. Back to the Optimus V.

 

Motorola Triumph Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile)