Cell handset for a quaker?

[seti920]

In the heady days of my youth at the Defense Language Institute, I grabbed a cheap flip phone with a verizon contract two years ago.

It has been beaten up, does not have bluetooth capacity, and is clunky for what it is.

I want a new handset.

I am not sure if I want a new provider, so I ask your help on this matter.

I don't use the cell much, and I don't have a landline. I live on the eastern seaborad, in heavily populated areas, , so I don't think I'm going to run into much of a cell dead zone. Other than Barrington, RI.

Would like:

low cost
bluetooth*
removable memory a plus


I want the handset to be quality. The POS Pantech I've had thus far has been repaired a few times with superglue and hack soldering jobs.


This is a very modest list. I would like your experience, suggestions, and advice on how I ought proceed properly.

Thanks all.


*It is my understanding that verizon limits handsets seriously. Some have said that they can pull photos directly from their phones to computers, and have alleged that this capacity is removed from verizon/CDMA network phones. Is this true? I have a real camera, but I don't want my balls cut out from under me.

 

[evident]

i can vouch for sony ericsson's w580i for being low cost, bluetooth and removable memory, and great quality, but it is only on AT&T afaik

 

[uli2000]

If you stick with Verizon, the Razr V3c and V3m fit everything you ask for. Plus, they can be had for little or nothing with a contract.

 

[seti920]

True. However, I want....more.
In my mind, if I'm going to commit to keeping them, on a fairly closed network with limited hardware for 1-2 years, I ought to get as much as I can.

Or, just go SERO/some ATT equivalent?