Rolling out of Camp Hill, a suburb of Harrisburg, my family ran into a situation in which a local policeman stopped our car. Not happy about what was going on, my high-school aged daughter pulled a Samsung Rant cell phone out of her pocket to text her friend whose home we had just left.

Before we pulled away, we learned from her friend and her family that this was not an officer that was about to cut us any slack. This time, it didn't help us avoid a ticket; but perhaps it would have in similar circumstances elsewhere.

As good texting cell phone can come in handy in ways that you can't always forecast -- but when it's time to use it, you'll know it.

The Rant, which runs on the Sprint network, is a solid performer as a texting device; yet beyond that, my daughter and I have different opinions on the pros and cons of the device.

The Rant has both a telephone keypad on the face and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard hidden behind the face. We both like that. But while my daughter says she usually ignores the interior keyboard, I probably would use it more frequently when texting. She is well versed in T9, the standard technology that completes words when you tap the first couple letters. I have never taken the time to learn to use T9 proficiently. Instead, I'm a fast touch typist, so a QWERTY keyboard is easy.

We both feel differently about the Rant's QWERTY keyboard, too. She thinks the buttons are too far apart slowing her down when she types her text messages -- another reason she uses the numeric keyboard more often. For adults though, the spacing of the keys is superior to most cell phone QWERTY keyboards. It makes it easy to hit the keys one-at-a-time. To me, that's a primary reason to choose one texting phone over another -- the ability to not hit the wrong key or multiple keys at one time. The Rant does well here.

Like many other phones, the Rant allows you to create shortcuts to the commands that you use often. You'd think a 15-yearold would have several of them set up. But she didn't -- she says they had her set up with all the shortcuts she needs: Facebook, Google and YouTube.

The Rant, like other Sprint phones, has some other smart features. I like the way it automatically changes the screen orientation and displays a menu for various keyboard oriented tasks as soon as you slide out the full keyboard. That removes the extra button pushes when you want to send a text message, instant message or email.

The camera, at 2 Megapixel, is average resolution, but gives you more control than most cell phone cameras. You can zoom in 10 increments up to 4x the original size. And there's a night shot feature that allows you to adjust the brightness, making it easier to get a good shot in low lighting. It even comes with multishot and timer modes.

It has an MP3 player and accepts microSD storage cards so you have someplace to put your tunes. But you need to open the case to get to the microSD slot, making it inconvenient to change the card.

With a two-year cell service agreement, Sprint offers the Rant for $50 online in red, purple or black.