[chris]

So many have jumped around from platform to platform. Some are pleasantly surprised and some rue the day they moved from their Treo. Having used a bulk of the smartphones out there, there is no perfect smartphone. I certainly agree that Palm has been slow to innovate. The Palm OS, despite it's age, is still a very capable and easy to use OS. Just ask Centro owners. There are plenty of Windows Mobile phones and they have their share of issues. The new trend is to slap a nice UI on top, but it's still essentially a WinMob phone. Not that it's a bad thing. I find Windows Mobile to be a fun OS. I say fun because there are so many tweaks, a ton of software and in my experience it's pretty stable.

Steve will attest to RIM's email advantage. Push email on a BlackBerry is phenomenal. It just works and works very well. I had a good friend who played with the Curve and absolutely hated the UI and the trackball.

Of course, the elephant in the room is the iPhone. To me, the beauty of the Treo design is the one-handed operation and QWERTY keyboard. The iPhone will have third party apps (many of which are coming from Palm development). But the iPhone is not for everyone. It's a different animal. I think RIM is doing things right. They are keeping their QWERTY based platforms and will release an iPhone-eque 9500 series.

Finally, if you are with Sprint, there is the Instinct. Not a bad phone and a great value for the money. They need to make improvements to the web browser, but overall it's a nice platform. The haptic feedback (vibration while typing) is a nice add. It also offers real time navigation out of the box.

I guess my point is that it's really a personal decision. I wouldn't jump because "everyone is doing it". The grass isn't always greener, but maybe just a different shade of green.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

-Chris