Went into a local Verizon store yesterday. They are selling the 8x for $99 and told me I have until February 4th to try it out and can return it for a full refund and full return of my 2 year upgrade. No restocking fee unless the phone is damaged. I may have to jump on this offer. I would like to try the black and see if the soft-touch-coating-rubbing-off-the-corners-issue occurs. It also allows me to play around with the 8x/wp8 until specs for Ativ Odyssey are released.