Have you used the "Redeem" link, Vortex?

I knew that the buffistas would have the answer!!

I'm contemplating getting my first cell phone. I'm not a big phone person, I only want one so I can contact Hubby at home when I'm at the grocery story or something or he can reach me (I have no work phone).

I'm leaning towards a bare bones thing, Hubby is thinking it's a good opportunity to get a digital camera as well. He's also thinking I could get a phone that would let me read the kind of text files I continually read on my Palm. Is there a phone that acts like a Palm for text files, or am I headed to Blackberry land on that?

connie, the Treos are Palm phones. I actually got my first Treo because I was tired of carrying around my Palm Tungsten C and my cell phone. Although it has its critics, I've found the Treo has been excellent at combining the phone and pda functions that I normally use plus a lot more stuff that I don't use so much. In other words, why not dump the Palm completely and just get a Treo?

Blackberry's totally not where I'd go for text files. Palms, Windows CE, and Symbian phones will let you read text files, and Word and Acrobat to a degree.

I've heard good things about the Palm Centro, which is like a Treo but cheaper and supposedly works better.

Thank you, fonts of wisdom!

Maybe Centro's my next stop. I basically stop looking at phones until a few months before contract renewal so I don't make myself sad with all the functionality I don't have and can't afford.

I think I'm going to stay with my Palm and find a bare bones phone, because I have very limited requirements from my technology. I am the despair of technology designers everywhere.

Them: "It lets you surf the Net! It communicates with Wherethehellitstan! It launches the space shuttle!"
Me: "I just want to call home once or twice a week."

I'd agree, Connie, based on your phone needs -- go with a prepaid service instead of a contract, and get the cheapest phone they have. These days, the cheapest phone often does have a camera and such, but you won't find the kind of reading quality you want from a Palm upgrade without a much more elaborate/expensive setup. Which sucks.