I've only had this phone for a few days, but I was able to root it the first night I got it. (Slightly tedious cos you have to sign up on HTC site as a developer to be able to unlock the bootloader, but after that not a big deal.)
My model from Cricket has 8 gigs internal storage and about half was already filled up with pre-installed stuff. So far I found that Kitkat (my first experience with it) does let you move apps to SD (whereas Jellybean on my old phone didn't without some hacking....) So between that and being able to remove stuff once rooted, doesn't seem like a big deal. (My old phone had like barely half as much storage and I got by...)
There's a few features I miss coming from a Samsung device, but overall I'm not hating it yet. It's just different because I'm not completely used to the HTC style yet and using a newer version of Android. The lack of any LED lights for notifications/charging/camera is annoying, but the phone does work and overall performs pretty well. Also, AFAIK it's compatible with the HTC Dot View case that gives you some added and interesting functionality, though at a price. Typically around $40, which is half of what I paid just for the phone and my service... it is however a stylish and practical accessory if you choose to spring for it. (If you don't know, the case not only covers and protects your phone, but gives you a retro-style dot-matrix kind of display on the screen and allows you to do things like see notifications and answer calls and give voice commands by swiping over the cover, without having to open it up, among other features.)
It's not exactly my ideal step-up from what I previously had, but it was dirt-cheap and I was basically forced into it. (Cricket switched over fully to AT&T's 4G network and now only supports GSM phones, so ya...)
So far I don't regret it, even though I had little choice. The screen isn't amazing in terms of quality, but it's large. The phone does pretty much everything my old one could do and in some ways better. I have more memory, all my old favorite apps still work and actually seem faster. The camera is not as nice, but it's not total crap. (No auto focus or flash, but it's really quick and gives you a few nice options and the phone seems to be able to pick up a lot of light even in slightly dark rooms. Or maybe it's just the software compensating by overexposing the shots... either way... you may like it or hate it or not care... this isn't the phone for you if you want a high-quality camera, but then again... the price...)
I only use my phone for some simple casual gaming, and mostly want it to perform well as an actual phone and device to send text/mms messages and I want it to have a reliable browser and gps and stuff, and so far this does the job. If you're on a budget, it's totally usable and fairly modern. If you want a high-end phone that will play the most technically impressive games and movies and stuff all in high resolutions and that also has an amazing camera and tons of storage and other stuff... eh... this ain't for you... but then again, if you're that person, you probably already have a high-end device. This is really mid-range or kinda close to entry-level for the market, and for that it's decent.
My recommendation is to check it out. For the price, it's pretty decent. With a trade-in I got the phone and 1 month unlimited service for 80$. Cricket's site says that you can get a prepaid Visa with a rebate, but the store I went to applied the discount on the spot, so I saved that much more cash and the extra hassle of having to do a rebate.
Edit- Probably not a big deal to most people, but I noticed that I have native Chromecast support without even having to get the app. Most compatible videos that I can find online give me the option to stream to my TV so ya, that was cool too.