Help: New Phone Selection (Opinions) & Pricing Question

[badmts]

So I have been using my Palm Treo 680 for around 2 years and it is needless to say showing its age. I bought it knowing the Palm OS was going to stop receiving updates and overlooked some of the other faults as I was a long time Palm Pilot user and this was my way of testing the waters on my first smartphone... and despite it still functioning well enough I am itching for a new phone.

Some Desired Features:
-Must be able to be used on Tmobile (GSM) network
-Must have a QWERTY (physical) keyboard (I wont use on screen keyboards)
-Touch-screen - not a must but its very very high
-Solid internet browsing
-Camera (nothing special but a 2mp or higher would be nice)
-Would like to be able to USB sync with computer
-Solid email functions (easy auto sync) is ideal but if I need to open the browser ok
-Threaded SMS is a must
-Durable... I tend to beat my phones up pretty good so it must be able to take a hit
-Call quality and reception are important
-Good calendar/PDA functions

My Usage:
Heavy text and email
Frequent web surfing
Will play a few games
I rely on my phone for ease of use with schedules of work/meetings/events/etc

The phones I am looking at:
Blackberry Bold 9700 - $130
Tmobile G2 - $200
Tmobile MyTouch 3G Slide (this is on the bottom of the list) - $180

I know the Blackberry Torch checks all the boxes but it is on AT&T and purchasing outside of a contract looks like its going to be in the $600 range which is way outside of my budget.

Part of the benefit to using the Palm OS is that Ive always known I would be changing with my next phone. It gave the Android OS a chance to get fully setup and everything worked out and BB to further develop their software with a couple of upgrades. So I am not married to anything right now.

I am not a huge fan of the idea of having Windows on my phone (I can barely stand it on my PC) but I have opened up to it a little and understand that it is pretty much Android and WinMo as the two heavy hitters in the OS world for phones.


So...

Question #1, does anyone have any of these three phones and can shed some light on them from extended use?

Question #2, is there a phone out there I have overlooked or should reconsider?

Question #3, has anyone here moved from a Palm OS phone to a WinMo or Android phone?

Question #4, pricing, how much would you expect any of those three phones listed above to drop in price between now and Christmas? I havent really paid attention to how phone pricing is with holidays. Do they run Black Friday Deals or no?

Question #5, what are the odds something like the BB Torch 9800 from AT&T gets a Tmo counterpart?

Any insight and information is appreciated.

 

[xxxtwi light girl xxx]

First of all, what carrier do you plan to go with - T-MO? Keep in mind that you can only get 3 G on a T-MO phone since they use a different frequency that the other GSM carriers, meaning AT&T, Rogers, Bell, etc. So if 3G is important, then you either need to switch carriers or go with a T-Mobile phone.

3. I moved from Palm to BB and found the transition not that difficult, but I did not use many additional apps - just email, contacts and calendar for the most part.

4. I would not expect any great deals or discounts for the holidays. You might see a reduction for some slow movers, but not for those that are selling well.

 

[Tiara S]

Thanks for the response.

I am on Tmobile now and with the wife still having a lengthy stay with her last upgrade this is pretty much where we will stay.

The phones I listed I was looking at are all Tmobile phones (G2, MyTouch 3G Slide, BB 9700) and while I crossed it off due ot cost the BB Torch could be unlocked and used (without 3G) on Tmobile.

Thanks for the insight into the Palm to BB transition. I dont use any apps for the Palm right now mainly because the support isnt there. I heavily use the web, email, texting and input everything into the Calendar from my work, wifes work, meetings, my sporting games, reminders, etc. so that is a very important feature to have an easy to use and reliable calendar function.

I love how the Palm OS will show me the next upcoming event on the main screen with a dedicated button to link me into the calendar setup page and entering or deleting events is as easy as a couple of quick taps of the screen.

Did you use the touch screen of the Palm a lot? If so was that a hard transition to get used to? I wont use it as my only method but it is a heavy use and when I notice a typo in an email or text I will tap the screen to go back to that spot instead of the nav. buttons, etc.