Well, my 7135 finally bit the dust with an SCRP error. So I had to go to a new phone, and here is what I learned along the way.

My provider is Verizon and I really didn't want to move. So first I tried a Pantech PN-820, mainly because it was a little cheaper and because it was a flip-phone design. But it runs Windows Mobile and doesn't have a touch screen. I didn't think the OS and touch screen would matter, but it turned out to matter much more than the clamshell. Also, the sound quality on the thing was terrible.

So I went with the Treo 755P. Thought I was going to hate the candy-bar form factor, but it's not too bad, especially since the phone sits facing in when held in the holster. And there've been a couple times when I pulled up the phone and actually enjoyed not having to open it.

I also thought I was going to hate not having Graffiti, and I was right about that. But I loaded up MobileWrite and now can enter text via handwriting on the screen, or via the tiny keyboard. Speed and accuracy is about a wash between the two. I also like that MobileWrite allows you to select either Graffiti I or II. I've always liked version I best.

The sound quality is excellent and using the phone as a handset is very comfortable; not quite as comfortable as the 7135, but definitely good.

The 5-way controller is pretty cool and intuitive. Navigation is very good.

I went with a Verizon data plan to get a $100 discount on the phone. By trimming the number of minutes per month (which I didn't need since most of my calls are in-network freebies) I was able to keep the same price and get broadband to boot. Haven't played with it enough yet to see what all it can do, but the Google Maps software is pretty cool. The browser sorta sucks, but maybe there's another one that can be loaded up. I don't do much web browsing from the phone anyway. Speaking of software, I like the world clock.

Some of the things that bug me are:
- Teeny, tiny keys. Someone will one day wake up and realize that some of us have large fingers.

- Holster and cradle are optional accessories. The cables have tiny connectors and it feels like they may break at any minute.

- The Palm cradle came in today and while it's probably the best of breed, it's inferior to the 7135 cradle. Kinda lightweight.

- The headset cord plugs into the bottom of the phone. It makes putting the phone into the holster a little tricky if the headset is plugged in. Also, you can't use the headset with the phone in the cradle. Palm probably figures that everybody will be using Bluetooth headsets, but I haven't been impressed with any so far and I like the corded sets better.

All in all, this transition has been much better than I'd thought.

Interesting analysis. The item that caught my eye was the fact that you can't use a corded headset while the 755P is in the cradle. Unless I am behind the times, I thought most currently available Bluetooth headsets are monophonic (many helmet mounted Bluetooth headsets are stereophonic for use with IPods, etc.). So, that implies that you can't listen to stereo music loaded on the phone when using the cradle. I suppose you could use the charging cable rather than the cradle if you want to listen to stereo music while not running down the phone battery, but it seems a little inconvenient.