Cell Sell Hell

I am considering trading in my current cellie for this model. If anyone has used it I would love to hear your first hand opinion about drawbacks and benefits of this model. Cnet seems to think it is decent product and admittedly it is certainly a step up from the basic little piece of hardware I am currently working with.

The thing that pissed me off about my carrier (that will remain nameless) is that they gave me $100 off the phone and they offered a $50.00 mail-in rebate which would have left a few dollars to the consumer after taxes. Instead of giving the customer the extra $$ left over for the inconvenience of having to wait six weeks for the rebate money, some wise guy figures that the consumer will pay $50.00 for the phone (although the difference between the price and the $100 off was less) and they would just sit around waiting for the $50.00 to come back in the mail so the phone will be free. Who wants to pay $50.00 for a phone when you could be paying say $30 and some change which is what the difference would have been. Then, I saw a commercial from another company offering the same phone for less money! Granted I will ultimately be getting the phone for free, however why do I have to come out of pocket $50.00 well earned bucks first? I could be using that extra cash for all the fancy features they I will want to add like downloadable games, wallpaper and super cool ring tones at $1.99 a pop! Woo hoooooo!!!