Glad to know the Minimal doesn't force you to use their own network--the website kind of implied that was the only choice. The eInk screen is the feature I would find most appealing about it, since it would eliminate the need for a separate ebook reader, but I don't think they're quite there yet in terms of speed so I'll wait until someone finally solves that problem. The keyboard would be fun to have too.

Yes, Sunbeam's no videos thing seems weird, which is too bad since video would actually be usable on the Pro model with its much better camera resolution than most other flip phones' basically useless cameras. I guess it's something to do with their goal of minimizing distractions.

As for texting, I don't use T9 input for that (I do use it for some other things)--one of the main reasons I went for the Sunbeam was that it had the other input options. I always use the touch screen keyboard for texting now. I was worried it wouldn't be very good because of the small screen size and was prepared to have to use the dictation app, but I was surprised how well and fast I can type on it in landscape orientation so I didn't need to use dictation--even though it worked well when I tried it out.