Touring the Kyocera Event (pictures)

The contract-free Kyocera Event was announced today for Virgin Mobile. Considered a midlevel smartphone, the Event features Android 4.0, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a 1GHz processor -- all for $79.99.

The phone sports a 3.5-inch IPS capacitive touch screen that has a 480x320-pixel resolution. This isn't top-tier by any means, but during my time with it, text and app icons looked crisp. Below the display are three spaced-out hot keys that light up when in use, for back, home, and menu.

The Kyocera Event is a simple device with severely rounded corners and a textured back plate. It looks similar to the Kyocera Hydro in both size and shape, with neither handset feeling especially luxurious due to the glossy plastic design.

The Event is 4.53 inches tall and 2.41 inches wide. With a 0.46-inch profile, it is a little on the thick side, and it weighs 4.1 ounces. On the left sits a volume rocker, and up top are a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Micro-USB port for charging. The right edge hosts a sleep/power button.

Powering the handset is a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. It will have 4GB of ROM, 512MB of RAM, and 32GB of expandable memory thanks to a microSD card slot.

The rear of the phone houses a 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash. The back plate is textured with a fishnet design, and if you pry it off, you can access the 1,500mAh removable li-ion battery.

The Event ships natively with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. During my hands-on, the device came stocked with a few standard Google apps like Maps with Navigation, Chrome, Gmail, Messenger, Search, Talk, YouTube, access to Play Books, Magazines, Movies and TV, Music, and the Store portal.