Virgin Mobile USA today announced that it will begin selling the iPhone 5 next Friday, June 28, offering the device on its no-contract Beyond Talk service plans. The plans start at $35/month for 300 minutes plus unlimited text and data, although the carrier begins throttling data speeds after a monthly soft cap of 2.5 GB. A $45/month plan offers 1200 minutes, while a $55/month plan adds unlimited calling, and customers can earn a $5/month discount on their bills when they sign up for automatic payments.
As for the iPhone itself, Virgin Mobile is offering a $100 discount off of Apple's standard unsubsidized pricing, selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $549.99 with the 32 GB model priced at $649.99 and the 64 GB model at $749.99.
We noted last October that Apple had Virgin Mobile-specific iPhone 5 models ready to go, although it was unclear at the time when they would be released and it remains unknown why it took approximately nine months after the device's launch to appear at the carrier. The iPhone 5 has been available through other prepaid carriers such as Cricket since as long ago as September.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Apple is set to "significantly change" the iPhone's design language later this year, according to a Weibo leaker.
In a new post, the user known "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone's design is "starting to change significantly" this year. The "iPhone 17 Air" reportedly features a "horizontal, bar-shaped" design on the rear, likely referring to an elongated camera bump. On the other...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
Friday February 14, 2025 6:03 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the HomePod mini in November 2020, followed by the AirTag in May 2021, and both still remain first-generation products.
Fortunately, rumors suggest that both the HomePod mini and the AirTag will finally be updated at some point this year.
Below, we recap rumors about the HomePod mini 2 and AirTag 2.
HomePod mini 2
In January 2025, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple is ...
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.
----------
If only there could be a quality prepaid carrier using the Verizon network...
Or have I missed something? Sprint and therefore Virgin coverage in my area is crap.
there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.
So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
Holy ****. Is there NO WiFi in his life or does he just insist on streaming YouTube HD 24/7? The wife & I SHARE 1GB/mo and barely use 75% of that bc WiFi is everywhere.
Kid is a gamer and always seems to be watching walk-through videos on YouTube -- and Google still hasn't figured out how to stream mobile videos at an appropriate quality for the connection and device.
Hmm... If only the people who develop Android could somehow work with the people who run YouTube... Maybe if they were owned by the same company... <scratches chin> /s
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.
----------
there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.
So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
There is hope as AT&T AIOwireless.com pre-paid service is supposed to roll out nationwide with substantial discounts over their post paid service.
So 'Unlimited' actually means 2.5GB. I don't understand how carriers are allowed to use terms like this. What's unlimited about 2.5GB? It's probably plenty for most but thats not the point.
