Sony Ericsson K700i

So, I finally gave up Sprint PCS after, what, 8 years?
I will say this about Sprint: their service is probably less shitty than most others, and they were first in the game to really provide decent nationwide coverage without invented ass-ramming charges such as “home regions.”
Anyway, that was then. It’s highly competitive right now, so it’s a wash as to what’s better, and coverage is pretty good no matter where you are. (Of course, all this will change as all the providers merge into one… ugh.) I won’t go into the CDMA vs. GSM/GPRS argument right now, but in short, CDMA is the superior technology. Slightly.
But Sprint’s phones blow. Big time. Crap Korean phones, few Nokias, and only one Sony Ericsson — ever — which you had to call a special number to acquire. No Bluetooth unless you bought the $600 Treo (and then another $100 card) or got that secret SE phone mentioned above.
Sick of drooling over all the cool gee-whiz-bang shit other people had, I bought an unlocked SE K700i. (No carriers in the states sell this yet, anyway.) This is the way normal sane people (read: Europeans) buy phones. Buy phone, then buy service. The two aren’t connected as they are here. So I had my pick for service: T-Mobile, Cingular, some smaller ones. And when I travel, I can just pick up a local SIM card and pop it in. Bitchin’.
So I took my ass over to Cingular, just because it was there, not because I heavily researched the various providers, and because I have a friend who works there who I must work on myself to receive some sort of discount on my $108 monthly bill. Anyway, the process was surprisingly painless.
So, setting up the various data inside the phone is somewhat of a pain in the ass and involved much Googling: GPRS settings and Bluetooth dialing from my Powerbook. I still haven’t figured out how to set up sending pictures via email yet, but I don’t have my MEdia Net (or whatever the fuck it’s called) stuff set up completely yet, I don’t believe. Word on the net is I may have to call Cingular and use a bit of subterfuge to get some needed services enabled. We shall see.
So, anyway, I’ve been playing with the phone for just a few hours, and the following things are totally rocking my pussy:

• Bluetooth! I had this before, but it’s much smoother/faster on than my old T608. iSync works. Remote Desktop! Will have to play with Sailing Clicker too.
• FM Radio.
• I can finally use normal SMS. Up yours Sprint.
• Camera and video. I had a camera with a Samsung A600, and ended up missing it with my T608.
• Speakerphone
• 41MB onboard. Huge for a phone.

Anyway, so far, quite pleased. Kicked your locked phone to the curb…
UPDATE: Use Sony Ericsson’s configuration service here to simplify things. It sends configs directly to the phone, and you just select “Yes” to import. Worked beautifully for setting up GPRS, WAP, MMS for my phone and Cingular.