[srsizzy]

Well, just to warn you, this is going to be long. If you can help me, please do...

Here's an introduction: I bought a cell phone for a trip to New York, and decided I wanted one that I can keep afterwards. I'm 17 and I have a job on weekends, so I'm making 150-200 a month. I got a Virgin Mobile Slider Sonic with a 6.99/10 cent plan (for a bit under 200 minutes), with $8 a month WAP access and maybe $1-2 in texting. I got an mp3 phone because my mp3 player is broken, and I use it often (as well as the video player).

Now after a while of having my Slider Sonic and getting a microSD card for it, I have lots of problems. It doesn't sort music, if I want shuffle or repeat on I have to turn the options on EVERY time I go to the music player, there's no way to exit the music player and then resume where you left, sometimes doing stuff in the music player (i.e. deleting a song) takes me back to the main screen, scrolling through songs takes forever, there's no way to make play lists outside of the phone and on the phone they take forever, if I don't have service then the music stops every 15 miutes to tell me that "Power Saver Mode" is on because I don't have service, I have to reencode all my music because iTunes encoded music doesn't work, for no reason it's not reading the ID3 tags so it doesn't show the artist or album at all, there are only 4 levels of volume even though the call can have about 8, the web browser has enormous text and loads slowly, there's no downloading from the web, there's no way to put custom content on the phone, I have to pay to use this as a camera that I can get pictures off of, videos can only be 30 seconds but voice memos don't have a time limit, I have to pay loads for ringtones or games, it's kind of clunky, its plastic case makes me think it's going to break easily, and there's probably stuff I'm forgetting. Oh, ALSO there's an option for 3 alarms and for some reason the top alarm stopped working and I can't turn it off, but it doesn't matter because nothing happens when it's on. It's basically functionless.

Now I just kind of vaguely thought of getting a new phone (from a different service provider, obviously), then I found out that you can get free phones (sometimes with extra accessories) when you start a new plan on a website like WireFly.com. With texts and Mobile Web I think my total with VM is around $35 or more a month, depending on how many minutes and texts I use. Sprint would be costing me $20 more (200 minutes, 500 texts, Mobile Web, and free home calling) a month, but I guess it might be more with taxes. It would also be a two-year contract, that may be exitable with a site called www dot celltradeusa dot com. I don't know how well that site works out though.

So, on WireFly (and CellularChoices) there are four phones I'm mainly looking at, and I'm trying to figure out the best option since I will be stuck in a 2-year contract, and there's no going back really.

So there's the UpStage, which would come with a free BlueTooth stereo headset ($120 value), and would cost $50. It comes with 2 $50 rebates, one instant, and one that can be used 150 days later (free money for being a loyal Sprint user). It requires a lot of flipping, has a low battery life with a "clunky" wallet, and the touch controls are annoying, but besides those three things it's reviewed well all around. There seem to be very few problems.

There's the Musiq, which would be $50 and then you get a $50 rebate. It is similar to all the others, seems to have a few less complaints around it, but I haven't done as much research. It's a classic flip phone with mp3s and controls on the outside, it also apparently can send music to FM radios similar to an iTrip. It seems more reliable than the other options because the others have various unavoidable downfalls (UpStage has annoying touch buttons and flipping, Chocolate has annoying touch buttons, small keys, and other issues, and I've heard the KRZR breaks easily and I've read other complaints).

There's the KRZR, which seems the fanciest in some ways, and more reliable than the Chocolate. I would certainly choose the chocolate over the krzr if the VX8550 were cheaper and not so new (I can't get it free). But the VX8500 has issues that are addressed in the new model. The KRZR is a good phone, I just remember there were some issues a reviewer mentioned.

And last there's the Chocolate which I would definitely get if I could afford the VX8550. I like the slider style better, I like the way it manages music, and other things. Downfalls are the key size, the touch keys, no speaker phone, etc.

Then there is also the question of should I choose Verizon or Sprint? Both are far more expensive than my current phone. I wouldn't choose either if I lived in a different area. T-Mobile, Cingular/AT&T, Alltel, and Cricket are not available in my area. For near the price of what I'd pay for either Sprint or Verizon I could get an iPhone with unlimited web and 450 minutes (and 5000 nights and weekends which is basically unlimited since I wouldn't use that many) AND rollover, or a Cricket phone with unlimited EVERYTHING except roaming.

With Verizon the cheapest plan is $40, but web is only $5, and then for texts I have to spend at least $10 a month or else its 15 cents a text. That's $55 a month (plus taxes according to someone). With Sprint I can do $30 for 200 minutes (I don't use my phones much), $5 for a text pack, $5 for unlimited calls to home, and then $15 for web (and limited TV and internet). That's $55 a month.

Just looking at service it's a questions of do I want more minutes, or more extras. If I went for Verizon it would be for the Chocolate. Is it worth it? Which phone is the best of these, and what plans/provider? At the same time, it's undeniable that Virgin Mobile is the best option in terms of pricing, besides the ringtones and games.

I'm not even sure if I SHOULD get a new phone and if this is worth it at all. With the money I'm making a month I could just get a new mp3 player, and just use this phone normally, but then it's kind of a waste of $120 (including microSD cards) because some of VM's other phones that I could've gotten are way better and don't have mp3s. I wish I had done research into this phone before choosing it. $55 a month is a lot, and I could use that money for more permanent things (Xbox 360, mp3 player, laptop). I'm just really disappointed with this phone...

So any advice you have would be great, or if you know of somewhere else I could post this where I could get some good advice. Thank you in advance.

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