[Kri77777]

Hey all,

We are looking at moving from Verizon to MetroPCS when our contract expires. The price is unbeatable, and the coverage is good enough for what we do (we barely travel, and we stay in the major florida cities).

I don't really know how well phones work with the MetroPCS service. I know they are CDMA as is Verizon. My mother is barely able to use a basic phone and is happy with the cheap Motorola she has, so I want to keep her on that if possible. My father has an older LG smartphone that is also good enough for him.

I am a different story. I have had the Apache in the past and have had the Titan for over a year. I loved these phones (especially with custom firmware). However, my Titan has been through the rounds, runs a bit poor, is beat up, and the keyboard fails. We didn't have internet service on the phones under Verizon (I did use WiFi), but I expect that to at least be a major thing for me, as a tech geek.

I don't know what I should do. Should I keep trying to get by on the phone I have, get a new Titan, get a new(er) Windows Mobile 6/6.1/6.5, get an Android, or wait for a Windows Phone 7 unit.

I MUST have a tactile keyboard, as I just can't use onscreen keyboards very well. It also must have a touch screen (multitouch preferred but not required). Bluetooth is also a must, though I suppose wifi is no longer required since I will finally have web.

I haven't used the Android system but it has shown solid. Windows Phone 7 sounds very tempting from the early reviews, but the price of a new phone may be too high. I don't really have the money to spend and will likely be buying a used phone off of ebay then hacking it. No price is too low.

I just don't know which models to be looking at, from price, performance, hacking capabilities, usability, and MetroPCS capability perspectives. Any recommendations that narrow my search would be GREATLY appreciated.