Hello, I did get my initial smartphone through a no contract company (Cricket) thinking it would be a good but inexpensive. BAD IDEA....I couldn't use mobile data; I could use the internet when I was near a router or some place with free wi-fi. The network was always down, etc. The phone was a samsung w/a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard which is what I loved about the phone. I couldn't transfer the phone to a better mobile company....so I got the samsung galaxy s3 on discount thru verizon and now I'm happy lol. But having a smartphone is truly like having a smally computer on the go and that's a SMART idea : )