Lost Palm, Broken phone - Replacement ideas?

[Quintain]

What a weekend. On Saturday I dropped and broke my T68i in a DIY store and today I lost my Tungsten T on the London tube because the case it was in came away from the belt clip I use. What's worse is that I left my backup card in the case and I have not been synchronising for some months due to Hotsync/Intellisync problems.

Data gone, equipment gone.

But this does give me the opportunity to do a bit of a 'reset' with everything and start again.

The question I have for the panel is do I replace what I've lost/broken with a SonyEricsson T610 and Tungsten T2, wait a while and see what happens with the Tungsten T3, or just go with the SonyEricsson P800? Or is there anything else the panel might go for instead - I'm not averse to going for a Pocket PC? I appreciate that I'm hardly asking in the right place to get a completely unbiased opinion...!

I like having a reasonably small (Bluetooth) phone that I carry everywhere plus a separate PDA that I can leave behind if I wish. In the event, they rarely become separated, hence my indecision.

Colin

[dwinget]

Sorry to hear about your mishaps. But, like you said, it is a good chance to start over.

Personally, I have a Tungsten T and a Sony Ericsson T610. They work great together. If I was to start over, I would probably get the Tungsten T2 and the Sony Ericsson T610. I would only consider the T3 if you want the extra large screen.

There is a Palm OS device on the market already which includes the landscape mode screen. It is the Sony Clie PEG-UX50. It has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is expensive, but is a very nice handheld.

The P800 is very expensive and does not have as many applications as the Palm OS. Plus you would have to start using Memory Stick instead of SD.

Another alternative to consider would be to get a PDA phone such as the new HandSpring Treo 6xx series. That new model has an SD card slot and an ARM processor. I don't know the exact release date. However, I know it will be released very soon.

Good luck with your decision.

[Aardvark]

My condolances for your tragic loss. Let me recount my luck to you which is less than 24hrs old. It could have easily been myself in your shoes. As I got out of my car last night outside a local take-away 300yds from home, at 9PM (it was dark) my TT (inside a PALM HARDCASE) fell out of my trouser pocket and landed on the pavement. There seemed to be no superficial damage immediately but when I returned home, I found that the SD card and stylus were missing. I decided to return to the scene this morning at 8am and lo and behold was an SD card and stylus in the gutter. It was especially lucky as there was dry weather overnight and the street was quiet. No vehicles had driven over the SD card--phew.

The lesson I have learnt is that although the hard case protected the main unit from the shock of falling 3ft. It still sprang open letting the stylus and SD card to jump out. Should we be getting new cases?

[Quintain]

I certainly need a new case - it's gone completely! I'm still hoping that the person who picks it up today calls me having seen my details on my business card which was slipped inside the case. But I really don't have that much faith in the honesty of Londoners.

While I don't keep any sensitive information (passwords etc) I don't password my Palm, so the finder will have access to my address book and calendar (and the window frame dimensions of my home...!) etc. Irritating.

I'll consider this a lesson learned.

Just so that you are aware, the approximate relative costs in the UK of all the toy options are;

Tungsten T; £240
T2; £280
T3; no idea yet - same as T2 currently perhaps?
T610; £100 (as an upgrade and with a contract)
P800; £300 (also as an upgrade and with a contract)
Clie NZ90 £510
HP iPaQ 1940 £290

So the Tungsten plus T610 is actually not the cheap option for me; the P800 is. In fact if I take out certain airtime contracts, some dealers will give me the P800 free. I can also buy a P800 completely SIM free for a little over £400.

As I said, I'm a Palm fan, and like to keep my PDA and phone elements separate normally, but the economics of this decision are starting to make me think...

Also, there are some amazing programs now available for the P800; live traffic information available for an annual subscription, tube maps and email programs with attachment readers etc. No bejeweled though...! Maybe someone will write a version.

Colin

[elbowz]

As a previous Ericsson smartphone user I would strongly urge you not to get involved with the P800 - I learnt enough in a year with an R380 to know they aren't clued up enough to do build the PDA/phone crossover the P800 should be.

If you are set on having a single device to replace your previous two, I'd suggest waiting the imminent arrival of the Treo 600, the SPV e100 or a Communicator. Given that the Communicator is a pretty bulky device and the SPV is a trip to the dark side then I'd be inclined to wait for the Treo...

If you want to stick with two devices (and personally having owned a Communicator, Treo 270 and R380 it'd be my choice) I'd hang on for the T3 if you are of a patient nature or grab a TT or T2 if you're not.

As for the phone, I'd go for the smallest, cheapest BT capable phone you can find unless you have a particular desire for features like a camera or suchlike.

[Quintain]

Thanks - food for thought.

I had an R380 also and didn't find it too bad. The main drawbacks (I found) was in the initial setup (because I never RTFM) and in the handwriting recognition. I ended up using the on-screen keyboard. I udnerstand this has been beefed up nicely for the P800. The battery life was also poor on my R380.

I'm having trouble finding information on the new Treo, but I will certainly think about that.

There are a fair few BT capable phones on the market now but my main criteria are flawlessly standard implementation of BT (Nokia annoy me with many of their device or brand specific accessories etc), neat size, build quality and a certain amount of compatibility with the toys I have at the moment. I know SonyEricsson can do that for me. I guess I could always get another T68i for nothing.

Colin

[dwinget]

There is a little information on the new Treo at HandSpring's web site.

http://www.handspring.com