Hi all,
(long, but hopefully entertaining and informative post) Well, as someone no doubt predicted, even after my initial disappointment with the 755p's specifications, I now own one. Well, two actually. Allow me to describe the journey thus far: My sister, the owner of a falling apart unlocked GSM Treo 600 which she used with T-Mobile, bought a Sprint 755p. Her reasons were: 1. She wanted a carrier that actually supported the Palm device (out goes T-Mobile). 2. She liked the small size and sleeker appearance (out goes Verizon). 3. She's heard my stories over the year about ATT/Cingular/ATT (out goes ATT). Before I continue the journey, allow me to editorialize: T-Mobile really messed up when they stopped carrying the Treo line. I was a 9-year Voicestream/T-Mobile customer when I went to Verizon for the 700p and better coverage. My sister was an 11-year customer of Voicestream/T-Mobile until last week. Both she (a very basic user of PDA functions) and I (a power user, I guess) wanted/want a carrier who supports the device. To continue: She came to my house a few days later and standing in the kitchen of my house she had a full strength signal!! That's very new. I tested Sprint a couple of years ago and it was quite poor around where I live. As I am once again having difficulty with coverage with Verizon, the strong signal got my attention. I visited a local Sprint store and, armed with the deals that the Sprint web site was offering ($279), managed to come away with a slightly better offer than that from the local store. Benefit of visiting a retail store during the last couple of days of the month. I bought two Treo 755p's (one for me and one for my daughter) and a very slick Samsung phone (which makes me wish I didn't need a PDA) for my son. My goal was to evaluate the 755p and Sprint. They give you 30 days. I don't know if these things were mentioned in the other reviews, but here's what appeals to me about the 755p. 1. It feels (physically) much better in the hand than any previous Treo. I suppose 680 owners know about this. 2. It feels (emotionally, spiritually, whatever) better using this device because it looks less gawky than the 700p. I never thought of the 700p as gawky until using the 755p for awhile. 3. The finish is MUCH better than the Verizon 700p: the device feels much more solid and well built. 4. The keyboard is a noticeable improvement over the Verizon 700p. The keyboard is more solid and the key travel more precise. The reverse colors (number keys in white) is easier to use. 5. The speakerphone is better. 6. Bluetooth is different, at least to the extent that it has had NO problems with my Volvo for Life(r) Bluetooth car kit. The Verizon 700p reset itself each time it connected to the car, and the audio callerid always reported the previous (not current) caller when the 700p rang. No problems like these with the 755p. 7. The screen seems sharper. Not sure what's up there, since I'd've bet it was the same screen, but with my polarized sunglass lenses you can see a noticeable difference between the two screens. With the naked eye the fonts seem sharper. 8. Threaded SMS messages no longer slow down the SMS application when the threads get long. This is a big problem with my Verizon 700p. 9. Startup and acquisition of the network are much faster than the 700p/Verizon, as is setting the clock from the network. About 5 seconds vs. up to 20 seconds on Verizon. 10. Google Maps is in ROM, as is Versamail. Fine for me since these are two of my Must Have apps. 11. Uses all the same accessories as the 700/650. Good for those of us who own a lot of them, but I'd sure rather every manufacturer just go to mini-USB like the RAZR. SO much better connector than any of these clumsy proprietary connectors. Now, to Sprint 1. Comparable plan minutes are slightly more expensive than Verizon ($150 vs. $140), but the Sprint cost includes a second phone (which makes sense for a family plan) so the price nets out to the same as Verizon. 2. Text messaging: for $10/month I get unlimited text messages for 2 phones. $20/month for three. That's totally unlimited, whereas Verizon's is $10/phone ($30 total) for unlimited text messages to/from other Verizon phones; 500 free to other carriers, beyond which you pay! 3. Data is cheaper, as noted elsewhere. I've been paying $60/month to Verizon. Sprint will be $40/month. Speed seems comparable to Verizon. For my daughter, she can get unlimited "real" data for the same price as Vcast from Verizon. Vcast gets her Yahoo email, which is good, but Sprint's data gets her MySpace too. We'd have to pay Verizon $45/month for her to get that. 4. "Nights" start at 7pm vs. 9pm with Verizon. 5. Sprint offers a 10% discount to members of certain credit unions (including all the former IBM credit unions; I'm a member of two of them). 6. Net is apples to apples I'll be saving $58/month assuming taxes and fees are comparable. This doesn't include the earlier night minutes on Sprint, and any impact of no longer being able to call other Verizon phones for free (but of course being able to call Sprint phones for free). Yes, it sucks that it uses mini-SD cards. And the battery life is poorer, although not THAT much poorer when comparing a new 755p w/battery to a year-old 700p s/Seidio battery. These small Li-Ion batteries just don't age all that well. The staff in the Sprint store were every bit as professional and knowledgeable as those in Verizon stores I've visited. I have not yet paired it with my laptop (hosted Exchange and Versamail let me have email/calendar/contacts on the device in parallel with the 700p without hotsyncing with any PC - very cool). OH, and the coverage: better that Verizon in and near my home. Better in all the places that Verizon has some trouble. Has its own trouble spots and I'm not done drive testing this yet. All cellular carriers have some trouble spots. The Sprint store guy told me that Sprint phones can roam on Verizon's network where Sprint doesn't have good coverage. Not sure if that means the reverse is true. Anyway, while it's not certain that I'll keep these new 755p's and the ultracool Samsung M610 phone for my son, I'm favorably impressed with what I've seen so far. This may be because my expectations were low, and we'll see how this pans out over the next couple of weeks. Cheers, Don OH! and p.s.: Both my sister and brother-in-law upgraded from a 600 and 650, respective, by installing the software right over the top of what they had before. The installation software handled incompatible applications smoothly, and they were up an running in just a few minutes. Of course I'd had them make a copy of their user folders, but they didn't need them! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
