Tim's Treo Saga

As many of you may know, I am addicted to my phone.

I am very aware of this fact. Really, it comes in quite handy. I can make phone calls, send text messages (using a full QWERTY keyboard!), check my email (POP, IMAP or web-based!), and even use Google Maps.

As you can imagine, I behave like any addicted person: I LIKE HAVING MY PHONE. So when my trusty Treo 700p died during a recent ZERO-G trip, I was not a happy camper. Have you watched an addict do detox cold-turkey? I can tell you from experience, it is not fun.

I ran through the mall in DC hoping that the Sprint Store could save me from total withdrawal, only to be told that they couldn't help me (franchise retail center only). When I got home (a day later), I took the phone in to a Sprint repair center and was told, "yep, it's broke." Other than being annoyed at having to get a professional opinion on this fact, I was annoyed that I couldn't get another phone right away. They had to ship one to me. Until then, I was out of communication with the world (no land line at the house and no long-distance calling at the office). I might as well have been back in Japan!

When I left on Thursday for the ZERO-G trip to Vegas, I still hadn't seen my new phone. I reactivated an ooooold Sanyo and bought a charger for it just to last me through the trip. It was gross, but it made and received phone calls.

Getting back from my stone-age vacation with a 'normal' phone, I was frantic to discover that my new phone still had not arrived! I made my 15th call to Sprint and (after being transferred to a dialtone once) finally got a smart customer service agent that figured out how to call the repair center in Merritt Island. Turns out, my phone was shipped to them instead of directly to me. "Ooops!"

No problem, let's just get the phone.... and it's a 700 WX. This means it runs Windows Mobile operating system instead of the Palm OS. (Think of it as PC vs. Mac). I was ok with the change, at least willing to try it! But alas, the new phone didn't work! At this point, even the repair tech felt bad for me. It had been well over a week without my Treo. He put in for 2-day express shipping directly to my house. The phone arrived 5 days later.

After 2 solid weeks without my Treo, it was a joy to spend hours upon hours synching the phone, rebooting the phone, installing cool software and resetting the phone (about 3 times that day). I've had to completely start over about 3 more times since then (WinMobile is very sensitive). Still, I can't complain too much: I would rather have my Treo than no smart phone at all!