Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 1

Since October I have had a minor problem left unresolved. I have been unsuccessfully searching for a wireless phone I could use every day. I have written previously about how my Treo 680 had been causing me too many problems so I was on the outs as my day to day mobile. The issue is I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement. As much as I jump from phone to phone (I do about 1 a year and maybe toy with an alternative one during that time but never switch over to it) over the years, I have been sticking to Palm based Treo’s relatively consistently. I did go from a Treo 270 on T-Mobile to a Treo 600, then to a Treo 650. From there I went to the Treo 700 on Verizon. When I left my last company I switched my number to a Treo 680 on AT&T. It has been several years using the Palm OS on Treo phones. As I have said in the past it has been a love / hate relationship.

So even though it sounds kind of silly I am stuck on what phone to use day to day. I guess it is such a big deal because I use it for allot more than making calls. In fact I use it for other stuff more than I use it as a phone. I check my mail on it. Read the news on the way to work. I keep track of my expenses on it. I use it as a calendar, and more importantly I track all the tasks I need to accomplish on it. I use it to track notes, and I take notes with it more than I use pen and paper. If I am in a meeting playing with my phone, it is because I am actually taking notes or updating tasks related to what we are talking about on it. There is tons more things I use it for, but that is enough for you to get the point. Because of all my requirements I am a bit picky.

The Palm OS on my Treo 680 did everything I needed it to. It just would freeze up for no reason I could identify (maybe due to loss of cell signal but if it was that it is a retarded problem) and would crash or reboot at least once a day. Recently I also had huge issues syncing my Treo to my Macbook. The Missing Sync is a great product, and I have used it for years but since they updated the Palm version it has been buggy. I have had to reset the data on the phone dozens of times due to corrupt data or the software simply crashing on syncing some conduits, especially my task lists. So I can have everything I want, but deal with problems all the time. It kind of feels like WIndows, but I solved that problem by getting a Mac.

Leave a Reply