You need to dial the numbers that correspond to the LETTERS of the contact, ex BILL = 2455, etc...

My contacts list is about 300 numbers long (not that I use half of them), and when I start "smart-dialing," even if the list has 20 possibilities, the list cuts off at the dial pad and I can continue dialing until I narrow it down. Are you saying that the list opens up past the keypad? If so it shouldn't do that at all. And MUCH faster than looking them up manually, half the time I press the wrong index bar on the top with my finger.

Not saying its perfect, sometimes it doesn't pick up a key press, but I can't even compare it to manual lookup. By the time I hit the 4th or 5th button I have what I need.

EX: I open the phone app w/green button and hit the #2. Over 70 possibilites (anything with an A,B, or C in it obviously). I can only see 5, the rest I have to scroll down to, and all 9 phone number buttons are clearly touchable. I hit 2 more buttons, 3 more, whatever, and the list is narrowed down dramatically, if not completely. I never have any of the issues you are all speaking of, perhaps we're talking about different things- mine was built-in to the VX, I know my Sprint phone didn't have it