First off let me tell you that I switched from an iPhone 4 to this phone! Why would I do such a thing? Well, because I am sick and tired of paying so much for a phone contract. ATT charged me $40 for 450min, $25 for 2gb of web, $20 for unlimited texting= $85. But somehow that number always ends up over $100 because of bunch of taxes and fees (and I don't go over my minutes ever). Let's see, VM charges me $25+$2tax for 300 minutes, unlimited web+text. Well, I need unlimited web, because I use pandora radio all day long, so the 2gb limit on ATT wasn't cutting it for me. So I am saving over $80 a month, meaning this phone pays it self off in 3 months. That is the contract part. So, this is the number 1 reason you should buy this phone, FOR SAVING MONEY!!! $80 of savings per month X 24 months (which is the contract you would sign with any carrier out there) is $1820. I don't care how rich you are, I am sure you can use an extra $2K.

Now let me review the phone. To all you android fan boys out there, google limits what you can do with your phone just like apple, but I will agree not as much. Just as I had to jailbreak my iPhone, I had to "root" this phone, to allow such things as tethering. Just check out the app store to see how many "Root Only" apps there are out there to validate my point. The 3G is noticeably slower than ATTs but it is much faster than edge, so it will do. The phone isn't as user friendly or as fast as an iPhone 4, but it is much more customizable. And yes this phone can be rooted. The phone runs os 2.1 but, sprint will have 2.2 so even if VM doesn't update, someone out there will make this possible. Overall the phone is great, and does everything that I want it to do. I'm old school with texting, so I love the fact that it has a keyboard, The battery life isn't too bad, probably because the phone is bulky. Camera on this isn't all that, so don't expect to take breath taking photos. Touch screen and buttons are very responsive, so that's a good thing.

Overall, in my opinion, this is not THE iPhone, or Droid X, but it comes dangerously close. And for $25 a month, you can't go wrong. If you love the iPhone, and can't give it up, I'd say, do it, and get urself a iPod Touch with this phone. And if 300 minutes are a problem, you can always use skype or get 1200 for $15 more. This is not an A+ smartphone, and VM is not an A+ carrier, but the value is UNBEATABLE!!! And as a student, I am willing to sacrifice the unnoticeably small shortcomings for very noticeable amount of savings.