PalmOS - Time for me to move on...

I've been using PalmOS devices since the Palm Pilot 1000 (w/1MB) came out in 1996. I also own a V, Vx, Sony Clie 760, Tungsten C, and now a Verizon Treo 700p. Over the years I've collected a number of useful applications, some bought and some free. All the PalmOS devices were reliable and stable... until the Verizon Treo 700p, which I will have had for exactly two years the end of next week. The problems:

1. It will decide it wants to do a soft reset, when opening the browser, email, or other application. I've determined that this problem can be mitigated if I so a soft reset every morning and evening, and at other times during the day when I think a reset might be needed. I still get random soft resets, but not as often.
2. Sometimes applications become corrupted and won't run or will crash. Or sometimes an encrypted ebook will be clear text to a point, and gibberish beyond. This is probably caused by the known NVRAM issues. As well as regular Hotsyncs to my PC, I also use RscBackup to make regular backups of the 700p to the SD card. I've used RscBackup to restore corrupted files many times over the past two years. Great program!
3. Luckily I've only had one random hard reset. RscBackup saved me on that one too.
4. There have been times where the calling party could not hear me, but I could hear them just fine. This could just be a signal quality issue, so I won't harp on this too much.
   

I did update the firmware a few months ago to the latest version. Initially I thought it had helped some, but now I'm not so sure. I've also stopped using some applications I've used for years, that may have helped some too, but again I'm not sure. I think it simply comes down to this: the more I use it, the more likely it is to have problems. I've learned what to do to make the 700p usable, but it is getting quite annoying.

What to do. I'd buy a new PalmOS device so I could continue using my PalmOS software, but from what I've heard the Verizon Treo 755p is neither a significant step up with regards to stability or features. I don't want much, I simply want a smart phone to work well, all of the time!

Time for a change I think, even if it means abandoning my investment in PalmOS software, and changing how I do things. PalmOS is quite antiquated now, and it seems unlikely there will be a major upgrade until at least the end of this year, 2008.

Despite using a RIM 850 seven years ago I've been a bit anti-BlackBerry over the years. Now I'm starting to consider one, though getting it to work with my flow of data is challenging. But I'm sure that even with their periodic data outages it would be an order of magnitude more reliable than my Verizon Treo 700p has been!

My Verizon New Every Two comes up next week, so perhaps I'll be ordering a BlackBerry 8830.

2/22/08 Update: I ordered a Verizon BlackBerry 8830 WE in red, it is due 2/26/08. The Treo 700p seems to know its days are numbered, it has been crashing more often during the past week.