I lucked out with my RAZR, then.

I've dropped it on a hinge corner, cracked the glass on the small screen on the cover, and spilled lemonade (very sticky lemonade) on it.

It's still chugging along, though I become more certain by the day that I will need to replace it well before I get the option of upgrading it from Cingular.

I had my Treo 600 for over two years, and was still working OK when I finally replaced it with a Treo 700, with which I haven't had any problems.

Neither the Treo or the Pearl has Wi-Fi, though, right?

Are they weird to use as a phone?

Ooo, yeah, the Sidekick is cool looking.

Depending on the carrier, a Blackberry Pearl might be a cheaper PDA-phone option than the Treo.

Amazon still has them for free with a service plan. The plans seem pretty reasonable though: [link]

Like Theo, I have pay-as-you-go service with Virgin. But I'm using the phone for emergencies only.

Correction: The Blackberry Pearl at Amazon is MINUS $75. It's free, plus they throw in a $75 rebate towards the service.

The Blackberry Pearl at Amazon is MINUS $75.

::goes off to order one million of them::

I don't have a problem with the flat buttons on the RAZR, but I do think in general it's a piece of crap. Luckily, taping the battery down does seem to have worked.

From what I know of the Pearl, they are generally well-liked (totally just typed licked) and are pretty good value and use for their size and money. If I was in the market I'd probably get a pearl, if I didn't want to go on a plan with a sidekick, which I still think are awesome. But then, I wouldn't be using it for work, more my own pleasure and stuff related to my graduate (!!) work.

Raq -- You might want to read the series of posts that start here: lori "Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."" Feb 26, 2007 12:33:57 pm PST

stuff related to my graduate (!!) work.

Totally natter, but I'll see your !! and raise you a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I haven't known you half as long as some of these other people.