Hey, everyone! I've been on this site since February 2012, and I decided now that I am a Guide I should post my life story. 
Incoming:
So, that's me! 
Incoming:
So, as of a few years ago, I was on a contract with at&t with a Samsung Impression, which I hated. My coverage was spotty and the phone would freeze and reboot itself constantly. Battery pulls and glitches abound.
So, the phone broke while on-contract, so while I was without a phone for a few months, I decided to do some research into smartphones.
At the time it was about 2011, so the only smartphone I ever considered was the iPhone 4. Of course, I didn't have the budget to stay on another contract with one, so I looked into Android, quite disappointed.
Android seemed like a joke to me. Here was Apple, innovating the phone, while this other little software struggled to play catch-up.
However, my cousin had a LG Rumor 2 on Virgin Mobile for $25 a month. A very interesting concept, so I looked into it.
The first thing I saw was the Motorola Triumph. The huge screen, fast processor, and front facing camera all appealed to me. The price, however, didn't.
I kept scrolling, and found the Samsung Intercept for $149.99, or something like that.
It looked great, to have a smartphone with a slide out QWERTY that I love, but I scrolled some more to find the Optimus V for $99 on sale. It was within my budget at the time, so I plunged.
I had already missed the $25 a month plan, but I figured that $35 a month wasn't too bad.
The phone was okay at first. I thought that Froyo was a bit ugly, and the phone was constantly running out of storage, which had me constantly uninstalling all of the apps my iPhone friends all ran greatly (Mega Jump, Angry Birds, etc.)
Then the phone started to freeze all of the time, not to mention random reboots.
I kept a one week tally of how many times it froze during that week, and it ended up somewhere around 21 freezes and 9 reboots.
Not even exaggerating.
So I did research on how to fix this, and I was pointed towards Overclocking, and I saw a thread about the Optimus V Gaming with Overclock.
I saw it required "root".
I had jailbroken an iPod Touch 2nd Gen before, so I wasn't new to the concept.
So I rooted, and nothing really changed for me.
I got a new kernel (picasticks, I think) and overclocked to the maxx baby. Angry Birds was smooth, all was well.
My accelerometer was broken, so I had to get out of this stock ROM. I tried BACKside 0502 for a while, and that was what I had.
Eventually, I even bought a SanDisk Class 4 16GB microSD card and used guides to get Link2SD working on it.
BACKside was great, it was like getting a totally new phone. I even used Achep's ICS theme to make the UI look much nicer (in my opinion).
However, about 1 month into it, horrible memories of stock came flooding back with lots of freezing and reboots.
I kept the clock speed reasonable, with 748 max and 122 min.
No matter what I tried, this phone had terrible battery life, and no stability.
I hopped around on CM9 for a bit. Nothing changed.
Finally, I had had it. I tried a port of GTR.
Things were looking up. Everything was very stable and nice, but with terrible battery life, and was later told by the OP that GTR was more of a nightly, and that a successive ROM had been put out.
I realized that most of these ROMs were ported with MiRaGe, and I heard many wonderful things about it, so I plunged.
And that's what I have today:
MiRaGe with ICS Theme. 114 apps installed with Link2SD, 60 megs free.
GO Launcher with ICS Theme.
SetCPU profiles to change the clock speed the best for various situations for maximum battery life and performance.
Unlimited {capped} data and messaging!
Sounds pretty wicked for a $99 phone off-contract paying $35 a month, right?
It's just that, MiRaGe isn't all that different. The freezing and reboots are considerably less frequent, but there's no denial of their existence.
I don't think it's the software. I figure, if MiRaGe can't fix my phone, nothing can!
Not to mention that somehow dust and debris are hiding behind the scratched screen.
And terrible Virgin Mobile coverage in my city. Although I spend a lot of time in a neighboring city, with great coverage, it's frustrating to not have it in my local area.
So, here I am, a bit unsatisfied with my phone that can't compete with the iPhones all of my friends have (even 3GS's!).
I get left out of Group MMS/SMS, not to mention can't play all the cool games they do, such as Bad Piggies or Temple Run.
Considering an upgrade with T-Mobile, paying less and getting awesome 4G coverage.
The HTC myTouch 4G Slide really appeals to me.
My friend has one, and I've got some time with it. I love it.
The Bobsled Capabilities, and QWERTY Slider Out all have potential to take care of my heavy messaging needs, with lots of SMS, MMS, and Social Media Messaging.
The processor and RAM seem to take care of running games my friends with iPhones (well, at least the 3GS) can play without issue.
The screen is big enough for a comfortable experience.
The 4G is fast enough for mobile streaming.
The front-facing camera is a plus, so now I can use Skype and SnapChat without issue, just like iPhones!
I can find them for about ~$180 used on eBay, along with a $5 case to cover the scuffs on the casing.
All in all, seems like a great replacement, and although I've had a very interesting journey with my Optimus V, I want to now "Guide" new members and even existing members to the best of my ability to ensure they get the great experience that I never had with this phone.
So, the phone broke while on-contract, so while I was without a phone for a few months, I decided to do some research into smartphones.
At the time it was about 2011, so the only smartphone I ever considered was the iPhone 4. Of course, I didn't have the budget to stay on another contract with one, so I looked into Android, quite disappointed.
Android seemed like a joke to me. Here was Apple, innovating the phone, while this other little software struggled to play catch-up.
However, my cousin had a LG Rumor 2 on Virgin Mobile for $25 a month. A very interesting concept, so I looked into it.
The first thing I saw was the Motorola Triumph. The huge screen, fast processor, and front facing camera all appealed to me. The price, however, didn't.
I kept scrolling, and found the Samsung Intercept for $149.99, or something like that.
It looked great, to have a smartphone with a slide out QWERTY that I love, but I scrolled some more to find the Optimus V for $99 on sale. It was within my budget at the time, so I plunged.
I had already missed the $25 a month plan, but I figured that $35 a month wasn't too bad.
The phone was okay at first. I thought that Froyo was a bit ugly, and the phone was constantly running out of storage, which had me constantly uninstalling all of the apps my iPhone friends all ran greatly (Mega Jump, Angry Birds, etc.)
Then the phone started to freeze all of the time, not to mention random reboots.
I kept a one week tally of how many times it froze during that week, and it ended up somewhere around 21 freezes and 9 reboots.
Not even exaggerating.
So I did research on how to fix this, and I was pointed towards Overclocking, and I saw a thread about the Optimus V Gaming with Overclock.
I saw it required "root".
I had jailbroken an iPod Touch 2nd Gen before, so I wasn't new to the concept.
So I rooted, and nothing really changed for me.
I got a new kernel (picasticks, I think) and overclocked to the maxx baby. Angry Birds was smooth, all was well.
My accelerometer was broken, so I had to get out of this stock ROM. I tried BACKside 0502 for a while, and that was what I had.
Eventually, I even bought a SanDisk Class 4 16GB microSD card and used guides to get Link2SD working on it.
BACKside was great, it was like getting a totally new phone. I even used Achep's ICS theme to make the UI look much nicer (in my opinion).
However, about 1 month into it, horrible memories of stock came flooding back with lots of freezing and reboots.
I kept the clock speed reasonable, with 748 max and 122 min.
No matter what I tried, this phone had terrible battery life, and no stability.
I hopped around on CM9 for a bit. Nothing changed.
Finally, I had had it. I tried a port of GTR.
Things were looking up. Everything was very stable and nice, but with terrible battery life, and was later told by the OP that GTR was more of a nightly, and that a successive ROM had been put out.
I realized that most of these ROMs were ported with MiRaGe, and I heard many wonderful things about it, so I plunged.
And that's what I have today:
MiRaGe with ICS Theme. 114 apps installed with Link2SD, 60 megs free.
GO Launcher with ICS Theme.
SetCPU profiles to change the clock speed the best for various situations for maximum battery life and performance.
Unlimited {capped} data and messaging!
Sounds pretty wicked for a $99 phone off-contract paying $35 a month, right?
It's just that, MiRaGe isn't all that different. The freezing and reboots are considerably less frequent, but there's no denial of their existence.
I don't think it's the software. I figure, if MiRaGe can't fix my phone, nothing can!
Not to mention that somehow dust and debris are hiding behind the scratched screen.
And terrible Virgin Mobile coverage in my city. Although I spend a lot of time in a neighboring city, with great coverage, it's frustrating to not have it in my local area.
So, here I am, a bit unsatisfied with my phone that can't compete with the iPhones all of my friends have (even 3GS's!).
I get left out of Group MMS/SMS, not to mention can't play all the cool games they do, such as Bad Piggies or Temple Run.
Considering an upgrade with T-Mobile, paying less and getting awesome 4G coverage.
The HTC myTouch 4G Slide really appeals to me.
My friend has one, and I've got some time with it. I love it.
The Bobsled Capabilities, and QWERTY Slider Out all have potential to take care of my heavy messaging needs, with lots of SMS, MMS, and Social Media Messaging.
The processor and RAM seem to take care of running games my friends with iPhones (well, at least the 3GS) can play without issue.
The screen is big enough for a comfortable experience.
The 4G is fast enough for mobile streaming.
The front-facing camera is a plus, so now I can use Skype and SnapChat without issue, just like iPhones!
I can find them for about ~$180 used on eBay, along with a $5 case to cover the scuffs on the casing.
All in all, seems like a great replacement, and although I've had a very interesting journey with my Optimus V, I want to now "Guide" new members and even existing members to the best of my ability to ensure they get the great experience that I never had with this phone.
