Dump Palm Treo for Cingular Blackjack?

I've been a Palm fan for years ever since I bought my first Palm Pilot and it seamless synchronized all of outlook so that I could get rid of my bulky Franklin Planner and always have an up-to-date backup on the computer or the Palm in case anything happened.

I went to the Treo 600 after it had been out a while and had a decent experience. It was certainly better than carrying around a Palm and a phone. And it ended up doing much more for me that I originally expected. I could now leave my laptop behind and still check critical emails on the go. And of course, I could find and access my 1200+ contacts with a few simple clicks.

After the 600 became worn out I switched to the 650. That's when the problems started. The 650 seems to lock up on me - sometimes during critical calls with clients. There are times when it will be sitting on the desk next to me and simply reboot itself for no apparent reason. And there is a bug wher if another Cingular user with a 650 calls you then after the call whatever you do next completely re-boots the phone. To top it all off, the synch cable doesn't fit snugly, so sometimes I can't synchronize. And sometimes the device isn't recognized and I get a message that a new USB device has been connected and needs to be installed. Finally, just yesterday I did a routine synch and all of my appointments in my calendar ended up being duplicated on the Treo, so I had to spend half an hour deleting them. Worst of all, every Treo I have owned has had to be replaced three times under warranty, with the problem being that it takes them 7-10 business days to get you a replacement (can you imagine trying to run a consulting business without a phone for that long?)

The original product promise for the Palm devices was the synch was seamless. Given all of the trouble I'm having I don't believe that promise anymore. Don't get me wrong - it is a great productivity tool, but I'm wondering if the downsides are not outweighing the upsides.

I've heard that the Treo 700 is much more solid and reliable. However, I dropped $400 on the 650 only about a year ago, and given my experienes I'm hesitant to pay yet more money to trade up.

Enter the Samsung Blackjack phone that my wife just purchased. it is slim, has no external atenna, has a crisp and bright screeh and a great keyboard. It runs Windows Mobile which, despite the many things I've heard from Microsoft bashers seems to be pretty darn easy to learn. And it has lot os functionality that the Treo doesn't have - a voice recorder, spoken numbers back to you when dialing so you can be sure you dialed the right number. It has better video capture capabilities, and it works with any standard Bluetooth headset so that have a better selection and can save some money (the only bluetooth headset I could get to work with the treo was Palm's, which was $129 at Fry's.

I've got the Treo mastered and can be very productive. The queston is, should I bit the bullet, get a blackjack and learn all of the shortcuts to get proficient on it. It sure seems a lot more stable than the PalmOS - it has never crashed for my wife. However, we haven't tried the syncing yet. Or should I wait until the 650 completely dies in 6 or 12 months and do the trade up then.

Anyone had a simliar experience or opinions to share?

Comments

[Mobile Technology Rx]

If your looking for a phone that can access email, easily send text messages, play music, watch video, access the internet, or use it as a modem for your laptop. Buy the Blackjack!

[Ryan Junee]

I just switched out my Treo 650 for a Cingular 8525 (considered the blackjack but I wanted a touch screen). Windows is certainly easy to learn, feels nicer than Palm OS, and has a lot of cool features. BUT my biggest gripe is the lack of a decent email program. I used chatter on my Treo which is pretty much perfect. No similar solution exists for windows (although if you get your mail from an exchange server it may be a different story).

[Ken]

I have a treo 650 and it works great, There were bugs but I downloaded the patches (sprint) and is still working today, I bought the Treo 700wx and it works great as well. DO A GOOGLE search for forums they have, you will get all the scoops on the phones, good and bad.. PS the treo 650p sucked at bluetooth as I tried 11 of them, the 700 has dealt with that I hear, I use another phone to talk on so I havent tried it.. All phones have some glitches , treo has been great , there is another phone that I am really consdiering and it is made by HTC, it is the Mogul (pc6800) and I hear good things fromthose who use it, check out the forums thay have ,,

Keep the treo for backup phone in case you lose or drop ?? the phone .. thanks Ken