[In The Office]

Greetings, all. Please allow me to begin my first post by thanking all the participants on this site for the amazingly detailed, and incredibly valuable, information which you all regularly provide. The knowledge you all seem to display is uncanny, and I admire how much you all seem to know, and how many of you seek to educate others. You really are a credit to this site, and a compelling example of how valuable the internet can be.

I've been following the Touch Pro threads for some time now, and confess to being someone who has in his own way become caught up in the intense hype which has led to the release of this phone. And as someone who has long been out of contract with Sprint, and ready to renew, the release of the Pro seems to create an exceptional time to think about joining the fray and becoming an early adopter of this new hardware.

But you know what?

After reading a great deal on here over the weekend, I am not sure that I am ready to jump.

My current phone is a Treo 700wx. I find it to be highly reliable, especially for my needs. I use the phone as a phone. A lot. I send emails from the phone. A lot. I text, I make notes, and I access the internets (all of them) from my phone. I tether. Almost daily. And I find that the last few months - since I became aware of Sprint tracking this information and making it available on my bill - I have used in the area of 3 gigs worth of data. So I make workhorse use of my Treo. And while it is surely getting a little tired after two years of what I think is moderately heavy daily use (sometimes it doesn't turn on right away when I hit the activate button to either make a call or do a search, ets.), the phone works well in all the tasks for which I use it.

Still, I've had iPhone envy. I've had envy of those who can use YouTube or track themselves on Google Maps, or who can watch webcams which require flash. And it seems to me (unless I am wrong) that I would be able to accomplish all of these things, and more, were I to now "upgrade" to the Pro.

But this past weekend, despite all of the blazing excitement over the release of the Pro, I've read some things which make me think that maybe I ought be a bit more patient before I take the plunge.

First and foremost is my concern that I have read too many accounts of people saying, in sum and subtance, that the phone component of the Pro is not all that special. How can it be that right out of the box this highly advanced piece of hardward requires a tweak to allow the volume to be usuable? Is this not first and foremost a telephone?

And does it not seem as though there are a meaningful number of contributors out here who report other issues which are less than pleasing? LED issues, the need (or desire) to disable TouchFlo (isn't that supposed to be one of the great highpoints of this new equipment?), potential heat problems, and what many are reporting as close to dreadful battery life?

I see as solely personal preference the question of whether or not someone prefer the form of the phone. I often make one handed use of the Treo's keyboard, and have become so used to it's layout that the smallness of the keys are not at all a negative to me, but something I've come to appreciate. I realize that moving to a slideout keyboard is a choice for me, and one I may be willing to make.

But when it comes to the hardware's operability, and the integration of the software - including the OS and any applications - it feels to me as though there is a compelling case to be made that as eager as I am to jump on the Pro because of how beautiful the screen is and how much I'd like to take advantage of some of the capabilities which the Pro has and which my Treo doesn't, it may be a good time to be patient and to wait this one out a bit.

Or maybe I ought to just upgrade to the 800 and have what may be a marginally better version of what I am already accustomed to.

Or maybe I ought to just hold on a bit longer and see what the next few months bring.

I invite the thoughts of this board's esteemed readership.

And even from those of you who are less than esteemed. <smile>

Many thanks for your input. And for all the information you folks have so generously provided over the last few months.

Best,
Ito