If you are going to get a smartphone wait for the droid X. You might as well go all out if you are going to get your feet wet in the smartphone market.
I think it is the droid X. IT has a large screen. No need for a hardware keyboard due to the fact that the screen is so large. Multi touch onscreen keyboard. It will be fast, have a good cell phone camera, and a great hq screen.
They are charging this fee because they know they will be able to get it. If when Verizon rolls out their 4g network and if they don't charge extra to use the 4g; watch and see Sprint drop that $10.00 fee.
This will be my next phone. I will be coming from a moto droid. I find that I no longer even use the keyboard. All in all I think it is a great phone. With the large screen I don't think I will ever regret losing the hardware keyboard.
I am not an apple hater or lover. I am really indifferent. I think the iphone has the best app market by far. On the other hand android is catching up pretty fast. A lot of people like to jump on the iphone bandwagon.