I got this phone three weeks ago. It has alot of very cool features- none of which can be used, however because verizon has them locked out. If you are cool with paying for every piece of music you want to easily move onto the phone, go for it. If you want to use motorola's phone tools software to keep your contacts & calendar you're SOL. Same with Bluetooth file transfer- SOL. Basically everything that would make you want this phone is blocked out. If you'll notice- in the amazon review & description, almost every feature is discussed in conjunction with a handy dandy pricey verizon tool, like v-cast. I dont need news downloaded to my phone, but I'd love to have my outlook calendar sync to it, shame that wont work... The ONE way they have it set up so you can move music without the "convenience" of buying it thru V-Cast is by using windows media- which you need a patch for because there is a known "bug" with the phone. I called tech support, and they walked me thru it, but couldnt explain why they were selling a phone with such a known bug.I was never really bothered by the verizon branding & product pushing, until I got this phone, and realized EVERY reason I got it, were for features I wasnt "allowed" to use. I've been with VZ for 10 years, and after the rage I've felt with this phone, I'd seriously consider switching in the future.Luckily its easy enough to crack the phone to retore SOME functionality if you're feeling up to it. If you buy the phone, spring for the insurance so if you hack it unsuccessfully, you can run it over & get a replacement...;)**EDIT** At this point I've spent 60+ hours trying to make this stupid thing work. I cant get the phone to see the removeable memory card, I cannot take pictures, because the phone says its full, yet it will not permit me to move the pics onto the card. Go figure. There are probably 30 pictures on the phone from my friends at verizon- stupid graphics which I will never use- but cannot be deleted, they just sit there hogging up the extremely limited hard drive space. This is by far the worst phone I've purchased, and I've had at least 10 of them...The fact that its cute & pink doesnt come close to making up for the locked out & reduced capabilities of this thing.Why does motorola allow verizon to destroy their product??