Switch_Back to Virgin Mobile and text to your heart’s delight

There’s no doubting that this latest addition to the Virgin Mobile lineup is targeted squarely at teens and their obsession with text messaging. The Switch_Back (yes, that underscore is part of its official name) handset is made by the good people over at Kyocera, and functions as a candybar phone for when you actually want to talk to a human voice, but if you’re all about sideways smileys and l33t speak, you can open it up like a horizontally-oriented clamshell to reveal a second screen and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Both displays are colour (65k), of course, and you’ll be able to snap a blurry pic or two thanks to the integrated VGA camera with “five-step digital zoom”. The 32MB of on-board memory won’t floor any techie, but it’s sufficient for what this phone can do. Other features include “superphonic” ringtones, WAP 2.0, and a loop antenna. Lemonade Tycoon and Sexy Poker are the included games.

The price is fair though, as the Kyocera Switch_Back is available through a number of stores throughout the nation for a mere $150.