Ned

The discussion has gotten away from the original post quite a bit and I wanted to make some personal observations concerning Jerry's original post.

I got my phone to make calls and do email. It turns out I do some text messaging too, but only with my youngest who seems to like to text message me instead of talk with me during the day, but that's another tale. I get about 10 emails per day from clients on the phone who use my address on the phone for emergency information which I need to help them with a follow-up phone call.

The phone is a quad gsm phone. I got that kind of phone because I travel all over the country and to Europe, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The phone is also a flip. I don't find talking to a candy bar style phone comfortable without a headset and when closed I want my phone to be small.

Incidentally the phone has a camera. It just came that way. I used it once, when a trash truck rear-ended me and I wanted so photos for the insurance company.

I have a Palm and an MP3 player. I have no, make that NO interest in a phone which can be a phone, PDA and MP3 player, or any combination thereof.

I want my phone to be small. I always carry the phone. I don't always take the other units. I want to be able to carry the phone in a jacket or shirt pocket or a pants front pocket so I can take it anywhere. At work I always have my Palm, but I don't need it during other times such as social engagements, and I don't want to carry anything that large then, like a Treo. I do want my PDA to have a large screen, so a small PDA doesn't cut it for me. I have more than 30 programs on my Palm and many really utilize the large T5 screen including the 5 I use every day in addition to the calendar and contact list.

I want my phone's battery to last a long time through standby and calls (I have a 2000 min/month plan and pretty much use up the minutes.) and if you add a PDA and/or MP3 player to the phone you've shot the battery or made the phone too large to have a really big battery.

As for the MP3 player, for me the small ones are of little value. I use it only when I travel or go to the gym. I like lots of kinds of music and my playlists are eclectic. I don't walk around with it or to and from work. My MP3 player is a 20G unit with 16G used.

I have talked with many people over time about what they want in a phone and have followed this and other forums. I have concluded that the cell manufacturers are indeed either making up stuff as they go or clueless about what people want.

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Ned "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." Mark Twain