Verizon recently offered a “Friends and Family plan” that includes unlimited calls to five or ten persons (depending on the agreement), anytime, anywhere. Although this has been available to customers of other networks for some time, this is a brand-new plan for Verizon.

Because of this new plan, I was able to switch to reduced minutes, saving me more than $200 per year, while also giving me unlimited calling to the people I call the most.

I also decided to upgrade my phone at the same time. I currently have the Samsung SCH-A930. It’s been a fine little phone, but it’s a bit bulky, and the reception quality isn’t that great. I chose for a replacement the LG Chocolate 3. Based on the reviews, I’m hoping for better sound quality. I also considered the env2, but I personally hate external keys on phones, so that was the deal-breaker for the env2. I don’t really care about email or messaging at this time, so while the flip keyboard in the env2 is cool, it’s not really that compelling for me.

As long as the sound quality on the Chocolate is better, and I can sync its contact data with Bitpim or Address Book, I will be happy.