Taking on the competition this season is Virgin Mobile's Slider Sonic by Kyocera Wireless, the first music phone in the wireless provider's line-up. The Slider Sonic -- which comes with a 32MB microSD memory card, stereo headphones and a USB cable -- operates as a phone, MP3 player, video recorder, camera and all-around best mate. With a range of multimedia features and no long-term contract obligations, it is the music phone for teens this holiday season.

A must-have for music lovers, customers will never want to take their hands off this Virgin! Users can download their favorite songs on the Slider Sonic in WMA and MP3 audio formats, record and play back 30-second videos and even check out free embedded videos from Wind-up artists Seether and Submersed. A 512MB microSD (formerly known as TransFlash) memory card is also available for purchase at select Virgin Mobile retailers, enabling Sonic-users to store up to 128 songs right on the phone.

The chic, compact black handset slides open with the push of a thumb, sports a high quality color display and weighs in at just over 3.8 oz. The Slider Sonic by Kyocera Wireless will be available in October at Virgin Mobile retail partners and retail for $249.99.

The Slider Sonic is equipped with Virgin XL, a grab bag of mobile content goodies. Customers can instant message friends through the AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), service, choose from a library of thousands of Superphonic (real-music) Ringtones, identify a song heard on the radio or in a club with Song ID or access exclusive content from *MTV. The perks don't end there though. Slider Sonic customers also have access to content courtesy of Comedy Central, so they can set up a Joke of the Day, download a "Crank Yankers" ringtone or test their South Park IQs with South Bark Brain Probe.

Users can even personalize their phone by setting up a Rescue Ring to ditch a lame date or slide out of a sticky situation, download cutting-edge, full-color games, wallpapers and screensavers, or capture shameful and sentimental moments on the video recorder or camera functions.