Need a temporary smartphone solution

S

stargirl@night

New member
I run a small web design business and have finally gotten to a point where I need a Blackberry/PDA/smartphone. I'm currently in the middle of a two year contract with Verizon but am eligible to upgrade in August so for right now I'm just looking for a temporary solution that can tide me over until then. As far as features go, I definitely need a phone that can handle multiple email accounts (at least three or 4), has a good calendar/planner and has good PC sync to manage my contacts. After that my preferences, in order of importance are:

- QWERTY keyboard (very important)
- Stable OS
- Good phone quality
- Camera (not too important really but nice to have)
- Speakerphone (I've never actually used the speakerphone with my current VX8300 but again, it's nice to know the option is there )
- Multimedia functions
- While I know I'm probably going to end up getting something dated I really don't want to get too outdated, but this is a very minor concern

Since I don't foresee having this phone for more than a couple of months I don't want to spend more $200. I've checked Ebay and the Blackberry 7250, BB 7130, Treo 600 seem to be the most reasonable options other than trying to luck into a cheap BB 8703, Treo 650/700 or Q. Considering these options and my preferences any guidance, suggestions and help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Personally, I would stay away from Treo 600s and 650s. I had 4 and they were all junque. The Palm (or WM 5) OS is definitely NOT stable.

Buying a BB from ebay can be problems also. You can be left with a lost or stolen device which can become a paperweight real fast. Or you can have one that still has company IT policies installed and/or the BIS account still active. Both require a lot of effort on your part to get resolved.

If you look at the 7130, make sure you are comfortable with its keypad layout, especially if you send a lot of email/TMs.

Can you add a dataplan to your current cell phone and get email? $200 seems a bit much to pay for just a couple months use.
 
I've checked and according to the reps at the local Verizon store I can get the data plan added. I'm already paying for VCast (which I hardly ever use) and a text messaging plan so according to them it would only bump up my current monthly costs a relatively small amount.
 
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