I have had Verizon Wireless since 2000 as my cell phone provider. My first two phones were "promotional phones" which were cheap to buy, and really not good quality. My third and fourth phones were upgrades. My fifth phone, well, I took it back twice in a two week period and ended up upgrading to the LG VX8000.The first thing I noticed with this phone is its ability to hold a call. The DC Metro system has cell phone coverage inside the subway. However, it would frequently drop calls, even with the best phones. However, the VX8000 seems to hand off calls better in the Metro, reducing my dropped calls inside the Metro by 75%. Outside the subway, this phone has only dropped a few calls. Each of these calls were in locations with weak coverage or serious terrain issues. Call breakup is rare too. A drawback to this phone is it lacks an analog backup, an issue in certain parts of the country where cell phone service is still evolving. It won't dial 911 even in those locations.The voice quality of this phone is the best yet, with even the speaker phone function being clear. I still prefer to use my headset though.Talk time is excellent, with over three hours of time between charges. Generally I bring mine to full charge every other day.This phone also has a setting to vibrate and ring in tandem, the older LG models had settings for vibrate then ring, but not vibrate and ring at the same time, like some Nokia models. This is a significant improvement for people who keep their phones in their pockets in noisy enviroments.I have yet to use the VCast service, so I can't judge it. To me it seems like a waste of money.The camera sucks compared to my 5 MP Kodak digital camera, but for a camera phone, it is above average. I would recomend getting a data cable for the phone, and the freeware BitPim software, so pictures can be unloaded off the phone for free. The secondary advantage of having a data cable is to back up the phone book, so contacts are not lost if the phone is lost or broken. The data cable will also function as a modem, allowing a laptop user to dial up to the internet.Yes this phone is a brick of a phone, but it's easy to dial, has great voice quality, a long talk time and above average ability to find a signal and hold a call. Yes, this is my best cell phone ever.