Rooting is a form of hacking and it isn't like spreading peanut butter on toast. Not to mention they are usually broken to some degree or another or have a chance of bricking the phone. This is why there is such a large disconnect between regular people and stuck-up nerds living day in and day out in a forum. You can't even come in to ask a question without the locals acting vicious.
My advice is that tech in general, especially cellphone tech right now, is going at such a rapid pace that it is pointless to wait for the perfect one, because it will always be trumped in a matter of months. For someone with a lot of disposable income, get whatever, whenever. For regular folks, that two-year contract is a good cycle to follow, and paying outside of contract is crazy expensive because carriers can subsidize up to $400-500 of a phone's cost when bought with a contract. The Galaxy S (Vibrant) costs $700-800 on ebay or more , unlocked. If you like it, just get it.
I'll be holding back on my first Android phone until something nice looking comes out. For me at least, aesthetics and build quality are far more important, and you will get much more mileage from the looks of a phone than from the tech under the hood. Most Android phones from midrange to high will perform about the same right now and from my experience, an ugly, un-ergonomic, or squeaky phone that's falling apart can really break the experience and elicit tons of buyer's remorse, even if it did come with a 10 gigahertz processor. It also makes my life easier when choosing a phone, since I think most of them are ugly so there's usually just a couple to choose from. Because your feminine side is sometimes right about these things, and better with money.
Hopefully Samsung will release an Android variant of their Wave phone, because that thing is snazzy. Or someone roots it.
