LG VX8300

I got this phone because it was the most expensive phone I could get for free for renewing my Verizon contract. It's worked fine for two years, and as probably the only person left in the world without an ipod, it's been great to have a phone that takes a microsd card, so I can use it as an mp3 player with the ear jack (or the crappiest boombox in the world without an earpiece).

No reaosn to buy it in 2008, though, unless you live outside of the industrialized world.

Technically, my wife owns this phone, but since I am not overly thrilled with my own phone, we tend to share this one.

There really isn't a downside to this phone.  It's quite durable- after a dozen drops to the floor (or to the concrete sidewalk), there's a few minor scratches, but the only real damage done was an impressive crack over the camera lens.  Surprisingly, this hasn't had an obvious affect on photo quality- looks like the great cell phone tower in the sky is smiling down upon us.  The picture quality of the photos is pretty good- there's even a bright mini flash on the phone.  We started using a micro SD card to get the photos off the phone, and the only complaint there is once a photo is copied onto the card, it gets deleted from the phone.  Not sure if there's a way around that, but we've lost one of our contact photos...and we haven't figured out how to play the videos taken on the phone once they are on the computer.

The phone's buttons are very easy to maneuver, the speaker phone works great, and there's never been any issues with call quality.   Unlike my phone, there is no annoying low battery beep.  The battery life is pretty good, with moderate use it seems to go a week or so between charges.

There could have been a better system for plugging up the earpiece jack- it was just a little rubber plug, which has since been lost.

We don't use the phone for internet or MP3s, but you could if you wanted to.

We are both happy with the phone- I'd take this over the RAZR anyday.

Overall, I've been relatively happy with my faithful LG.  The best part is that it's a durable little sucker... it's well-armored, so if you're the kind of person who drops your phone down a flight of cement steps every couple days, then this is the phone for you.  Not that I know anyone like that... hehe. 

But it's not perfect.  The most outstanding problem is that people are always telling me that I sound muffled.  Also, for some reason, I'm not able to conduct a normal google search on the internet.... the results are always worthless.  Also, I'm always running out of phone memory... but this might be my own fault for packing it with photos and videos.

This phone has dropped more calls on me than any other phone I have owned. My husband and I have the same cell phone plan and my phone will loose service and drop calls while his phone works flawlessly. There are also times when I make a call and the voices echo so much that we have to hang up and try again.