One word – BlackBerry!

Works on every network type (GSM, iDEN, CDMA etc..).
The only two bullet points of your it misses is the camera (buy a real camera anyway, most camera phone cameras are horrible), and possibly the cost – though I’ve seen some generous plans from some carriers.

What did you end up getting?

Phil, don’t screw around. Get yourself a Sony Ericsson P900 (they’ll have a new 910 in Q3) and get on with life. Use a Smart Phone. With an open source Symbian OS with complete compatability with iSync and a boat load of free or shareware… you won’t regret it. The other phones are just phones. You don’t need a phone. You need a Smart Phone!!!

When I was a kid, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Imperial Earth and was entranced with his description of what we now know as the PDA–small keyboard, IR interface, etc. Now that I’m older, though, and have had a chance to work with them and cellphones, the more I think a cheap, simple phone and a notepad are the best way to go. No need for batteries, they’re light, and if you drop them, there’s no trouble. I like Levenger’s Shirt Pocket Briefcase.

I wouldn’t go for T610; it’s already been superseded by T630, which again has been followed by K700. T630 is T610 with an improved screen (much needed), slightly improved design, and a newer version of the same software. K700 is more advanced, as far as I know.

I have a T630 myself and am very pleased with it. It does do Outlook integration, but whether it does the specific things you look for I don’t know; I don’t use Windows.

I can second what someone wrote about the T68, but the T630 is far superior to it. I had the same problem switching from a Nokia to the T68 for two weeks, but I’ve had no such issues with the T630.

I have been uing the Motorola MPX200, avalible for $249 (or $0 at amazon with a 2 year contract), for 7 months now, just upgraded to Smartphone 2003, and its been great with syncing all the MS information I could imagine! If you hold out to august the Motorla MPX220 comes out, it has built in bluetooth and a 1.2mp camera with 3x zoom and flash as well as a color lcd on the outside, pretty spiffy but comes in at a heavy international price of ~$600.

P.S. I’ll take your Treo when you chuck it.

Maybe you should pony up $370 and buy American: Quad-band GSM, bluetooth, camera, and the pleasure of knowing a corrupt U.S. CEO is profiting from your horrible technology experience (rather than some foreigner).

Some advice from a person who’s not a technophobe by any stretch (two CS degrees, decade plus IT experience)

Go with a paper Franklin planner and the cheapest phone you can get. Can’t beat the combination. The standard I use for “smart” phones is that such a phone should not cost more than the cost of the individual components added up.

Thus, a phone with organizer and camera should cost no more than about $150-175 given that an entry-level Palm costs about $75, and a 2 MP camera costs about $100, and a phone is essentially subsidized by the carrier.

However for someone as itinerant as yourself, one cannot just count on the reliability (NOT) of the phone’s organizer saving your data safely. The better idea is paper! 100% compatible with everything out there, can easily back up (throw it all in the Xerox machine’s autofeeder). And, best of all, does not crash or require reboots! Heck most binders easily take a fall of 10-20 feet.

As far as a camera goes, if you’re really looking for a cheap variety, why not go with the new “digital plus” disposables? These are ordinary film disposables with the cost of a CD priced in.

I have seen a lot of phones come and go, both for myself as well as my friends and colleauges. The coolest, most feature rich were always the Ericssons. They were also the ones where every owner – proud to own one the first day or even week – complains about the crappy UI and they were the first to break.

After owning one Ericsson phone, most people vow to never own one again and as soon as their provider will give them a free or cheap new one (every year in the UK) they flock back to Nokia like former Texas governers to middle eastern countries.

Caveat Empor. Or something.