Quick Hit: Motorola Mobility’s Triumph on Virgin Mobile might very well be the best Android smartphone your monthly payment can buy.
Review: Stacked up against all the other Android smartphones, the new Triumph from Motorola doesn’t particularly stand out, but in the long run it can beat all the others on price.
The Triumph is very much a black slab with minimalist design and subdued branding. The 0.4-inch thick smartphone sports a 1 GHz processor, a 4.1-inch touchscreen display, a 5-megapixel camera and 720p video playback via HDMI.
The Triumph can’t beat many of the other Android smartphones on store shelves, but this device is decidedly being targeted to a specific group of customers — contract-hating customers to be precise.
Virgin Mobile offers Beyond Talk monthly plans ranging from $35 to $55 per month. Those prices are all in for data and messaging, leaving customers only to decide if they need a plan with 300 minutes, 1,200 minutes or an unlimited voice plan.
Of course all those savings aren’t so obvious on the front end. A contract-free existence in mobile isn’t cheap at first. Customers who opt for the Motorola Triumph will first have to shell out $300 to buy the device, but once it’s theirs they have no contractual obligation for service going forward.
No one ever said freedom was free and it most definitely comes at a steep upfront cost with the Motorola Triumph at Virgin Mobile, but the long tail savings will add up quickly. Patience is the virtue with this device. If you can stomach paying $300 for a second-tier Android device, the money you’ll save each month with over time with a prepaid plan should be noticeable.
The Decision: The Motorola Triumph is one of the most sophisticated offerings in the U.S. prepaid space today. Once customers get past the initial cost to own this device, the super low monthly price paired with a solid set of features and specs makes the Triumph a solid A-.
