Here in the United States, Virgin Mobile is an oasis in a desert of restrictive two-year wireless agreements and expensive data plans. The popular MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) doesn't offer much in the way of high-end phones, but it does lease quality bandwidth from Sprint. It offers plans with no annual contracts and prepaid options that let you buy minutes by the bucketload. Virgin Mobile's latest messaging handset, the Kyocera Wild Card, brings some features you wouldn't expect to find on a low-end handset, including numeric and QWERTY keyboards, Bluetooth connectivity, an IM client, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Similarly equipped to LG's inexpensive Rumor, the Wild Card is a message-centric device for the cell-phone-contract phobic.

The lozenge-shaped Wild Card measures 3.9 by 2.0 by 0.8 inches and weighs 4.1 ounces. It's relatively small though a bit thick for the average pants pocket. The handset, built almost entirely of shiny plastic, looks less than elegant, although it feels as if it could take some serious knocks and keep ticking. Its rubberized battery cover is inexplicably fastened with a thumbscrew, making it an unnecessary chore to get at the battery.

The Wild Card's horizontally flipping 1.5-inch outer screen sports 128-by-128-pixel resolution and shows caller-ID info. The device opens on the long side to reveal a second 1.8-inch, 128-by-160-pixel screen and a split QWERTY keyboard. The design vaguely resembles last year's misshapen Kyocera Switchback KX21, which had a similar clamshell arrangement.

I have mixed feelings about the Wild Card's two keyboards. The numeric keypad's buttons, five-way control pad, and six auxiliary keys are all clearly labeled but slippery to the touch. I consistently missed keys when typing phone numbers throughout the testing period. I had more luck inside; the QWERTY layout is split like an ergonomic desktop PC keyboard, except that the phone has a five-way control pad and a giant Space key in the center. The buttons have a pleasant tactile feel and aren't as slippery as the numeric keypad. There are also dedicated comma and period keys, which speed up messaging. One nice touch: On either keyboard, press the dollar-sign button and you'll get your cell-plan account balance, deadline to add funds, and available bonus minutes.

The device includes a basic IM client that supports Yahoo! and AIM, but not MSN. I used a test AIM account and had no problems viewing my buddy list or sending and receiving messages. The Wild Card can also send e-mail via Virgin Mobile's system, but no other. Its VXL button brings you to Virgin Mobile's media page, which has games, wallpaper, and ringtones. There's no music player, although the handset has a 2.5mm jack for hands-free earbuds, playing games, or checking out said ringtones. There are some demo games included, such as Namco's Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man, which was impossibly small on the Wild Card's low-res screen. I also tried a copy of EA Burnout for $5.99, which was 2D but ran very smoothly.

The Wild Card has some other handy, though not necessarily innovative, features. You get an address book with room for 500 contacts, a voice recorder, a scheduler, an alarm clock, two calculators (including a useful one for restaurant tips), a stopwatch and timer, and a flashlight feature that activates the weak LED flash (see below). There's also a clumsy Web browser that costs $1 for a Day Pass with half a megabyte, or $4.99 for a Month Pass. But with the phone's glacial 1X data radio, you probably won't use it much.

On the plus side, the Wild Card is one great-sounding phone. Compared with a Motorola Q, the Wild Card sounds warmer and clearer, and even has a touch less static. In fact, other parties thought I sounded quite audible and distinct. Despite that, reception was disappointing: I regularly saw just two or three bars during testing in NYC, but sound quality never wavered as a result. The Wild Card also produced pleasing sound when paired with a Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth headset. Its speakerphone fared less well: While other callers said I came through loud and clear, the sound on my end was exceedingly tinny. The Wild Card's voice dialing was particularly easy to set up. I had no problem dialing contacts by voice via the handset or via Bluetooth. Battery life was decent for a Sprint network phone at 4 hours 8 minutes of talk time.

There's a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, but no video recorder or memory card slot: You have to either send picture messages, which took almost a minute for each 1,280-by-1240-pixel photo on my tests, or upload your photos to a My Pix account. Test photos were more than passable in sufficient light but extremely noisy in dimmer environments, resembling snow on a poorly tuned TV. The LED flash was laughable: It has about the same brightness as, say, a laptop's hard-drive activity light. You do get a multi-shot mode and the usual white balance and color adjustments.

The Wild Card competes with other low-end phones such as the Sprint LG Rumor, the Motorola RAZR V3m, and the Sanyo Katana II. The Rumor is the only one with a QWERTY keyboard, however. At just $49 with a two-year agreement, it's a better buy than this Kyocera handset and is just as good a voice phone. Personally I'd choose the Rumor. But if you're a Virgin Mobile fan, you might want to play this Wild Card, particularly if you want a solid voice phone with a QWERTY keyboard, without committing to a two-year service agreement.

Compare the Kyocera Wild Card with several other mobile phones side by side.