When I get the Epic I'm going to port my number over to it and ride it out for 30 days. Never owning a phone with a slider key pad has me curious to own one. I will be able to really compare the two handsets and do a little book report here. I will also be curious if I will be able to go a full 30 days without having to exchange the Epic 3 times for defects. I'm on the pre order list now. They have already stopped taking pre orders online. The price is $479 without a contract.