[Sussex] Mobile phone/organiser/pda device question(s)

[John D.]

Hi list,

Been looking into replacing my O2 XDA2s phone/pda. I haven't really got
on with it very well, the contract is about up and various searches etc
have lead me (vaguely) in the direction of maybe a Treo 650.

Anything that is linux based, seems to be pretty much the holy grail in
UK/EU.

Whatever I end up with, I'd rather not have something that is windows
based (the XDA is a bugger for crashing/freezing etc).

I don't really need mobile surfing facilities, but mobile e-mail scores
pretty highly on my list of "wants". A qwerty keyboard is definitely
prefered.

3G ? well that does seem to offer distinct possibilities, but would it
really be necessary to keep costs down (yes cost effective is reasonably
important)?

Also PalmOS based, how "easy" is it to link that to my linux system (as
synce/multisync aren't very intuitive - and no I haven't managed to get
the damn XDA "talking" to the linux box since Steve assisted me by
setting "it" up when I was still running Gentoo)???

The biggest stumbling block seems to be, that I'll have to opt to go for
something that comes with a contract, to reduce costs (and as I'll need
the phone anyway), but it's probable that I'll switch providers as I
haven't been overly impressed with O2.

Am I thinking on the right lines ?? I know that some of you (especially
the "self employed types") will appreciate the need to keep the numbers
down - plus whenever you check through the various pricing/cost options,
the curious (intentional ?) ways it's all explained seems to do quite a
good job of covering up hidden costs in this area i.e. cost of device +
calls + gprs for email??/3G etc.

So any advice/suggestions etc are much appreciated (unless anyone knows
how I can get Linux installed on an XDA2s, while retaining the
functionality :-D ).

regards

John D.

p.s. Plus something that can run some of those little java based games
for boredom prevention when I'm working/waiting to "make a drop" somewhere.