[dadof5]

I’m a Sprint customer; happy with the phones and service but very disappointed with in-store, phone, and web customer service. I’ve been in sales for about 15 years and use a Palm with Outlook to maintain contacts and communicate with customers/prospects. Obviously I sync my Palm with my PC and use MS Word and Excel daily therefore flawless operation of Documents to Go is essential!

I’ve been on the sidelines observing GPS and smartphones waiting for the right time to act and decided two weeks ago that time had come. I make some calls to Sprint tele-sales and low and behold got differing answers to the same questions; GPS, no GPS, GPS enabled, Google this, My Location that. The rate plans I was quoted were all across the board with nobody seeming to have knowledge of what each plan included.

With this array of misinformation scrambling through my brain I decided to venture into the local Sprint PCS store. The same store I had visited last summer to add two lines of service, the store that bungled my billing so badly it took two months to rectify. But, its 3 minutes away, what are you going to do? I’m greeted by a young lady who seems well-informed and with my criteria laid out for her she suggests the Centro. Sounded good, I told her I would be back. Spent some time that evening reviewing the Centro and was pleased with what I learned. The next day I returned to the store and ended up dealing with a different sales person, even more knowledgeable (I thought). After telling him I was in sales, needed to stay organized, wanted email and GPS, he too recommended the Centro. I took the plunge.

As we completed the transaction he mentions that I need to buy a $40 GPS receiver in order to get turn-by-turn directions accurately from my location. Didn’t see that as a big deal so I paid and left. Tinkered with the phone for a few days and evaluated GPS receiver options. The phone was actually quite nice, remember, it was my first smartphone, I was impressed. Outlook with the use of Beyond Contacts worked well, syncing with Bluetooth was a treat, and the ability to send and receive emails while on the road was incredible. However, the whole My Location/Google Maps was inadequate. I couldn’t get the phone to audibly notify me of emails no matter how many preferences I adjusted and the internet was OK, but at times bogged down to a stand still.

With that long winded preface out of the way, I currently have a smartphone (Centro) that works well, does a lot of neat things, but leaves me wondering if there is more. Hence, my search for the contemporary ultimate smartpone began. I’ve narrowed it down to the Sprint Curve 8330 and the Sprint Treo 800W. I’ve been researching the web, rifling through blogs and forums. If a review has been written on the Curve or Treo 800, I’ve read it. All this time I’ve invested (wasted) and I still can’t determine which way I should go.

Meanwhile back at the Sprint stores… I visited all but one Sprint PCS store in my city, now looking for guidance on upgrading my Centro. All but one representative said I should go with the Treo 800 and sited the following reasons: BlackBerry has a less stable operating system, there are more steps with a BB to access programs and features, can’t edit or create Word documents, fewer apps available for BB, no touch screen (dah), and in general the Palm is more user-friendly. All of these Sprint staffers owned a Palm (755 or below). The only rep who said BB Curve was the better choice had little credibility. He was young, ****y, non-phone carrying, and disrespectful. With most of the staffers recommending Palm without giving BB any consideration, I questioned their motivation. Was it fact based, did they get spiffs for selling Palm, or were they able to buy Palm cheaper for themselves? These store visits didn’t clear things up.

Back to the comparison. Both phones seem to offer similar features with the Treo having WiFi and the ability to text pics & files. My priorities are: reading & writing Word files, contact management with Outlook, turn by turn audible GPS, quality phone conversations, and relatively fast internet. Email on my Centro is more than adequate for my needs so I’m sure both Treo and Curve will be even better.

Some things I really like about Palm and am concerned I might miss with BB: include: touch screen; really like this feature, document facilitation and contact management, reliability; my Palm Tungston has been perfect for years and two weeks using the Centro has been flawless. Obviously I’m leaning toward Palm with one hesitation; virtually all techno-reviews (cnet, etc.) have rated the BB Curve higher than the Treo, both editor and user ratings are higher with BB.

If anybody has actually read my entire dissertation and can provide objective insight that will aid in my decision, I sincerely appreciate your input.

Thanks, Dave

[timothyausten]

i'm interested in hearing about the treo 800, too. i'm not so interested in the touch screen--i'm a keypad purist. i'm also interested in p2p connectivity with my pc.

[zerog46]

Wow that's a lot to read. My whole reason for going to and staying with the BB is the OS, it dosent crash, unless of course you have a problem with an add on app. it's secure, no question about it. And it just works day in and day out. It's not a PC so you can't get full web, but that is why I have a PC. To me it's a tool and does what it does very well.

[arivera2]

LOng story...one short answer: Blackberrry Curve 8330

[dgiznya]

Originally Posted by zerog46

Wow that's a lot to read. My whole reason for going to and staying with the BB is the OS, it dosent crash

I think BBs are stable for the most part, but...

How many of us are pulling batteries on a regular basis or suggesting to others to pull batteries.
So while they don't crash a lot, the ain't perfect either.

DG

[sunny10702]

blackberry CURVE

[weosdfl34]

On "Sons of Anarchy," Lucking plays Piermont "Piney" Winston, an ailing Vietnam veteran and bike-club member whose three-wheeled motorcycle EQ2 plat carries his oxygen tank. He spoke to us by phone last week from his home, in the wilderness a couple of hours north of Los Angeles.Q: Do you see similarities between the biker characters you've played and the cowboys?