New user, problem, returning 755p--Yikes!

[Windwalkergirl]

I'm a former Palm TX user and a brand new Treo 755p user--3 weeks now. I've had all sorts of problems over the past three weeks getting the phone to sync properly with Outlook and PlanPlus from Franklin Covey. Sprint replaced the phone for me once but I'm still having a very odd problem--when I'm on a call the screen will sometimes go to sleep, i.e. I can't see it to either put the caller on hold, speaker phone, use call waiting, or hang up--well I guess I could hang up by using the red button. It usually stays asleep for a minute or too, which I find terribly inconvenient and unacceptable for a phone this expensive and so supposedly high tech. One night I almost called someone at 11:30 by accident because I couldn't see what I was doing on the touch screen.

I've talked to Palm and their stance is that my "data must be corrupt," which just infuriates me. Sort of like when you call for tech support and the hardware guys insist it's a software problem and the software guys insist it's a hardware problem. The tech "guarenteed" me that if I'd do a hard reset that would fix my problem. I assured him that I'd done at least 25 hard resets in the previous two weeks and that I still had the problem. I did the hard reset. It didn't fix the problem.

When I talked to Sprint the guy asked me it I'd turned the phone off lately, to which I said no. He said that leaving it on all of the time can cause problems. He suggested that I make this a regular habit but that at that moment I should do a soft reset which should prevent the problem--it didn't. It used to happen just on really long phone calls but now it happens more frequently on calls of different lengths.

I read Chris' review of the Palm running Windows Mobile 5 vs. Palm OS as 90% sure that I'm sending this phone back this week, though everybody at the Sprint store and people on other forums strongly advise against the Sprint version of this phone because of problems. I'll be very honest, I'm really thinking of exhanging it for the new Mogul running WM 6. Yes, some things require more steps, but a couple of things require fewer steps, and I love the fact that I could actually sync my e-mail--something that is amazing missing from the 755p. I didn't know that the phone couldn't do this when I bought it and it's been a sore spot with me since I bought it.

and I like the fact that (even though I'm really not a Microsoft fan), Microsoft has put lots of money into this OS--they and it aren't going anywhere. What about Palm--I've read that they're releasing a Linnux device next year, which would be great. But what will happen to Palm OS and it's products?

I'm just not getting the warm fuzzy feelings about this device that I'd hoped I would. I'd love it if anybody has a suggestion for me. I really do like a lot of things about this phone, except for the amazing inability to truly sync e-mail. I like the form factor, the ease of use (well except for my problem), the grippy texture of the paint (though oddly some people on other forums see this as a negative).

Please give me a suggestion or a reason to keep my Treo.

Thanks,

[benjie]

Turning the phone off occasionally is about the same as executing a soft reset once in a while - it does clear the memory. Another option is to use an application that monitors the DB cache and clears it at a user specified level.

My phone is never off. What I do is after the nightly card based backup is done by Resco Backup is to reset the device via one of the application's options.

My 650 has the habit you described as the screen going dead. My 700p has the screen active to a degree throughout the call. There is an application called AlwaysOn that might help you on. Also, what do you have the timer set to? Mine is set at 3 minutes. As for the Sprint release of the 755p - bunches of people have no problems with it and of course, one of our resident posters has had serial problems with it.

After you execute a hard reset, does the screen stay on during a call? If it does not, then the device needs to go to the doctor. If it does stay on during a call, though the screen may dim a bit, then it points the finger at a software problem.

Ben