At the 11th hour, I chose to return my Sidekick and buy a Sony Ericsson P800. No thumbboard - my biggest criterion. Now I've gotta figure out how to handwrite with this thing - it's not the traditional Palm method. I get about 2/3rds of the letters right. Still can't find the period!
Beauty won out over the beast. This is gorgeous! It's got a 208 x 320 pixel screen. It's nicer in the hand - more phone like. Here's what I got extra: touch screen. Symbian 7 OS, which is very popular in Europe. Bluetooth. Voice recording and a speakerphone. MP3 player. A 640x480 camera - I wanted to be able to play with that. Memory expansion slot. 200 mhz processor. Synching cradle with desktop synching to OS X's iApps.
Because they don't officially sell the P800 in the US, the support from my cell phone dealer (Fone Art in Berkeley) or T-mobile is minimal. Since T-mobile sells the Sidekick themselves, they know about it. Not so with this. T-mobile customer support doesn't even have the P800 in their tech support database.
Like last time, the phone worked immediately, but I don't have Net access yet. I have to work for a living and learn this little guy at the same time (tough life, huh?). Bluetooth synching and control of iTunes etc. is a priority. Tips and links to good sites for more info will be greatly appreciated.
I love this phone! My Sidekick didn't quite cut it as a regular cellphone but this one is great for phone - with its automatic speakerphone that is loud and clear, you can use your phone as a PDA while talking to look up information, see your notes, look up another phone number, etc. Paid $495 with 12-mo activation. More soon!
In depth Epinions review. Flashy and extensive Sony Ericsson P800 site. My-Symbian.com's P800 page. Mobiledia review. c|net gives it an 8.3.