New Cell Phone?

[Chill]

I have a long history of picking shitty phones, so this time I'm actually spending the time to find a good one. The iPhone and G1 are certainly on the top of people's list, but the price always scares me off. Anyways, found this deal (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=1260527) today and its been tempting me ever since. Word around the webs has been generally good. Well, except for low battery life and slow GPS performance. Neither seems like deal breakers. Batteries are cheap enough to pick up a spare. And, from what I've read, the GPS can take a few minutes to initially lock-on but works fine after.

So, anyone have advice/cautionary tales I should know before pulling the trigger? I still feel like a mobile newb, so I may be missing something. Just wanted to make sure. TIA.

Oh yeah. Since this is on Sprint and running on the CDMA network, does that limit the customization? One of the great things about the Touch Pro is that it runs Windows Mobile and the huge library of software it can run. Definitely don't want to lose that.

[Disgustipated]

Windows Mobile rocks, and it's an HTC... so it's gonna be a solid phone. You can hack the shit out of it, and there's tons of great custom apps etc. I'm running Windows Mobile 6.5 (beta) on my phone and it's great.

[Stmfuller]

make sure they have a good return policy...test the fuck out of it and don't be afraid to return it if you don't like it.
also, more information on current phones out there: http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=5856

[axion]

Make sure you try the real phone out before you buy it. I know I have a friend who has that and hates the keyboard because there is no distinction between the keys. Also, my girlfriend works for Telus up here which sells a lot of HTC phones, and they do have their problems but YMMV.

[Chill]

Ah, fuck. Forgot about this thread. Well, as happy I am with the phone. I've had enough people tell me to stay far away from Sprint that I finally started to listen to them. I live in upstate NY and Sprint just isn't very good up here. Too bad since Sprint seems to be the only carrier I would consider affordable. Oh well. New phones are hitting the market in May/June, so who knows?

I'm starting to really see the attractiveness of unlocked phones. Carriers really are the devil.