Thanks for the warning on the standard case. I'm using the leather belt case and although it isn't as bad, it too can leave little marks if the snaps rub the front of the phone. I've turned mine face-out so if it rubs it will only mark the back.

As to backups, it should be automatic. The Palm Desktop software apparently makes a backup of the handheld everytime you sync. I had gathered all my installed software together before turning my phone in, in anticipation of having to reload everything. Brought the new phone home, sync'd once without reloading anything just to see what would happen, and bingo, everything was back in place including address book, Eudora, games, everything. It should be noted however, that this isn't 100%. For example, your voice dials will be lost and you'll have to re-record them, and I found that after the re-load, my Pocket Quicken wouldn't sync right anymore, so I had to reinstall it. Other than that it it was a simple swap.

My advice is to make sure you have your installation software available just in case, but I don't think you'll need it.