For the last month I’ve been back and forth when it came to getting a new phone in celebration of my 2-year anniversary with Sprint. My main contenders were the new-to-Sprint Motorola RAZR V3m or the similar-but-different Samsung A900M. Both had advantages; the V3m has a memory card slot and better battery life while the A900M is more attractive, both externally and from a UI standpoint.

Of course, they both had their disadvantages; the A900M suffers from only 50MB of internal, non-expandable memory and I’m just not that fond of the RAZR in general now that they’re everywhere, especially not with Sprint’s 2-tone color schemes.

So where did that leave me? Like I said, hopping back and forth over the proverbial phone fence like a caffeinated jackrabbit. Well now I say no more hopping. I have an answer and it is none of the above.

Sexophone: The Samsung M610

The solution to the problem, as is often the case, was to throw more money at it! I say that only somewhat sarcastically since it is true in this case, but the phone I’ve settled on is the newly-minted Samsung M610, or as the marketeers like to call it, The thinnest clamshell phone in the US of A.

Thankfully, mercifully, Samsung has managed to integrate the best features from both the A900M and the V3m. A short list:

  • Brand new Tron-esque UI (light on black background; totally hot).
  • 2.0 megapixel camera.
  • Micro SD expansion slot.
  • “Less is more” design philosophy. I’m digging the mini monochrome display on the lid instead of the ridiculous color screens that are so common these days.
  • Estimated 3.5 hours talk time, 2.5 days standby.
  • It’s a Samsung, which means I’ll have the same ringtones as my current phone.

Best of both worlds? I’m certainly hoping so. I want to actually play around with the phone before I commit to it so I’m waiting for them to show up locally, but I have a much better feeling about the M610 than I did about either the A900M or the V3m. Or any of Sprint’s other recent offerings.