I've had this phone for two months now and LOOOOVE IT!  I've wanted a slider for a while, saw the T809, researched it and got it to replace my beloved Motorola V-300 which, after three years was startin' to act up.  The keys are flat and small and takes some gettin' used to.  At 1st, I thought I'd have to remove the phone from its case and slide open I wanted to do anything...and that got tired real fast.  Fortunately, this is not the case. You can answer the phone just by hitting the "dial/menu confirm" key on the outside of the phone.  To end the call, just hit the "power on/off/menu exit" key. You can go to slider options and program it so that it's convenient for you.  You can use the slider to answer and end calls or you can have the slider have no effect what so ever on calls.  You can do the same stuff with the slider down as you can with the slider up/open.  Difference is, it's much quicker with the slider open as you can use shortcuts.  When you close the slider, you'll have the option to "lock" it or not.  To unlock, just hit the left and right soft keys in that order.  Soon you'll be doin' it without any thought. There's a volume key on the side of the phone.  The volume's pretty loud both on and off speaker.  Sometimes, I even have to turn the phone volume down cos the caller comes through too loud!  Another thing about the sound, with my V-300, I could barely hear my mp3 ringtones.  Not so with the T809.  You can also adjust how you want your silent alert (vibrate or mute). To put T809 on silent, just press and hold the # key.  Unlike my Motorola V-300, I don't have to wait for the call to connect before I'm able to activate the speaker.