I'm done with Palm and Treos. I have had my Treo 600 for about 3 years. Unlike many users, I have had the same Palm and it never broke, until now. I think the reason it never failed me was because I treated it like the Crown Jewel:

1) I always wrapped it in a special leather case.
2) I never installed any other software on it besides the Chinese-language app and a time/date software that I fully vetted online and found to have zero problems.

Most of the problems I saw that others had over the years were associated with dropping (Treo is not made to fall from anywhere above 3 inches) and installation of other software. The Treo is SUPPOSED to have other software installed, but so many people complain about other software causing problems that I never ventured to add any.

So last week when I was India, my Treo broke. It is dead. Recharging it won't work. Nothing wakes it up. One moment it was fine and the next moment it was dead. I didn't drop it, get it wet, or install alien software. It was time for it to die.

So now I am using my backup phone–a very small red Panasonic that lacks a QWERTY and can't get online or retrieve email. I am now circa 2002.

I head to Hong Kong next week, and I'm thinking of getting a Blackberry. In a way it is a step down in perceived functionality, but the Treos are just crap.

What's more, their customer service is crap. Before my Treo 600, I had a 90 for a brief time. I still have the emails from the Palm support staff telling me to send my broken Treo 90 to their office in the US (they knew I was in China and the phone was from China–it was written in the emails), but then when they received it they said they can only fix phones in the US. I knew this was the case before sending the idiots my phone, and I even mentioned it in my emails, but it seems that they had a brainfart. They wouldn't even send it back to me in China. I had to have it sent to a friend in the USA, who then shipped it back to me in China. If I had a working Palm, I'd backslap the customer service reps.

You ever try dealing with their PR people? Over the years at ChinaTechNews.com, I have tried to deal with them a few times on articles. They always seem very disorganized–regardless of dealing directly with Palm or with their agencies. No wonder they have bootleg software being installed on their machines in China at their dealerships (I mentioned this to them a year ago via email). A company that can't control its resellers just makes me even more worried that maybe the Treo I buy in China is going to be a bootleg.

Anyway, Palm now has the Treo 700p. I had a good 3 years with my 600, but it was always a nervous 3 years. I couldn't treat that Treo like my old trusty Nokia. Treo has fallen out of favor with me. It will take a monumental change for me to revisit Palm. It is a dingleberry to the Blackberry I plan to purchase next week.